Awkward Money Conversations: When a Client Doesn’t Show

Let’s be honest—it’s the worst when a client  doesn’t show up.
Your time matters, and when someone ghosts your table, it feels downright disrespectful.

Do you smile and let it go? Do you charge them for the missed session?
Here’s the truth: enforcing your cancellation policy isn’t mean—it’s boundaries with love.

When we don’t enforce it, we’re teaching clients that our time (and energy) is optional.
When we do, we’re modeling what healthy professional respect looks like.

So, what’s the real move here?
First—make sure you have a clear, written cancellation policy. (You do have one, right? No? Okay, friend—it’s officially time to put one in place!)
Second—communicate it upfront, not after a no-show. That way, you’re not having an awkward “money conversation,” you’re simply following the agreement you both already made.

Boundaries = respect.
For your time. For your craft. For you.

For the first offense, you might decide to waive your policy as a gesture of good-will, but for repeat offenders you really should enforce it, otherwise you’ll continue to attract clients who take advantage of you.

I send a quick reminder when they are five minutes late, assuming that they must be running late

Subject: Our session now?

Hi Anne,

We’re supposed to be having a session now.

Are you running late?

Hope to see you soon

Very simple. No apologies (you might be tempted to say things like “I hope I didn’t get the time wrong!”). Double check your calendar, but don’t apologize, or assume that it’s your fault.

Then get on with your work, checking your texts, email to see if they send you a message.

After their session time has expired, send them your cancellation email:

Hi Anne

It looks like you missed our session today. I hope everything is okay?

As you know, I have a 24 hour cancellation policy, so you do lose this session as it was booked and confirmed. Next time, just let me know asap if you can’t make it, and we can reschedule, no problem.

See you on our next session,

Kind regards,

I’ve actually had clients respond, “It wasn’t in my calendar and you didn’t send me a reminder.”

Seriously? Adults are responsible for their own time.

I don’t recommend that you ever send manual reminders unless you can do it automatically. For example, if you use a scheduling software, it will send an automatic reminder.

But seriously - don’t do it manually. It’s too time intensive and it’s not scalable unless you can completely automate it.

When booking (whether you did this manually over the phone, or via email or your calendar scheduled it) tell your clients that they need to add it to their calendar, and remind them of your cancellation policy.

You can also add a “add to calendar” link on your email confirmation.

You got this!!

Reflection Prompt:
How comfortable are you enforcing your own boundaries around money and time?
If your answer is “not very,” what would make it easier next time?