Now, the red flags are a little confusing because you start with a quote from a customer and then switch to the designer. I’d like to add these tipps:

“this should be easy” – clients have a way of underestimating design work, because they usually only see the end result and just assume some kind of magic happens in between. If the client is receptive and you have some time at the end of discovery, talk a little about the process involved. Also, a great way to alleviate missing appreciation is to to counter with an example of the customers’ own business. They, too, charge money for what boils down to their expertise. Being a good designer you should know how they do it and be able to make a great case. If you can’t because the customer really isn’t sure how he earns money, jump ship.

“I’m flexible” – If you have a customer that is keen on waffling about during the process (or, even worse, design by committee) you have to make a cut there and then. Yes, you should have a number of free revisions allotted in your contract, and yes, you should also charge some cash up-front and during different stages of design (for example after discovery, after comp presentation, after the graphic design process and finally after completion). If the customer is already out 75% on the deal, this will reduce their interest in stalling drastically. But you should really make sure you take on jobs where the customer actually knows why they need a website (to generate profit) instead of “well everyone has one” and “but it has to be cheap, I can’t really waste too much money on this”.

Websites are an investment, not an expense.

that one really stuck with me, Ive seen it happen over and over how they reconsider what they were willing to pay before and after the initial meeting