Figuring out who — and when — to trust is the biggest challenge when choosing who to work with.

Now that my Copyblogger guest post is up, it’s time to present the companion piece that’s been kicking around in my brain.

When I argued on Copyblogger that one’s rates should be dictated as much by value as by price, I was indirectly pointing out the overarching importance of trust. If that seems obvious, it is. Trust is the bedrock, and when it cracks there’s very little one can do to salvage anything else. But just because this is obvious doesn’t mean it’s easy. The key to making it work is balance.

You cannot assume that you definitely will get screwed (although I have seen this approach advocated elsewhere). If you do that you may as well just set a countdown clock right at the beginning and pack everything up when it reaches zero. On the other hand, it’d be equally foolish to assume that the person/company you’re dealing with has your best interests at heart. They might, but you’ll only learn that with time.

In order to find the balance, ask yourself a handful of questions in advance, such as:

Once you’ve reached the point where you’re comfortable moving forward, the most critical thing to do is be trustworthy yourself — without exception. The second most important thing to do is identify the lines you will not cross. Decide this, and don’t waver.

In most cases things will probably work out just fine. If things start to go badly, however, you’ll naturally want to do everything you can to right the ship. That’s good. Sometimes, though, you might feel like you need the work so much that you end up letting the client walk all over you. That’s very, very bad. Once it starts it will never, ever stop.

At that point it is time to walk away. Even if you need the work, and even if things started out great. It sucks to have to fire a client, but making a graceful exit early will always be better than forcing yourself into a bad position. Always.