Personally, I&#x27;ve never regretted walking away from a deal I didn&#x27;t feel good about and have regretted not walking away from several that I took...though I&#x27;ll admit there is selection bias inherent.<p>My gut is that it&#x27;s a red flag. Partly because your intuition is that it might be one and you&#x27;re ready to walk away. Partly because moving the venue to Florida signals that the <i>potential</i> client (they&#x27;re not an actual client until they write you a check) is more concerned with you enforcing the terms of the contract against them [a Florida venue is an impediment] versus a concern about having to enforce a contract against you [a Florida venue is an impediment]. To put it another way, a Florida venue hedges their non-payment over their enforcement. It&#x27;s a bet that it&#x27;s more likely they won&#x27;t perform than you.<p>My experience is that people are able to live with not paying because they give warnings up front. That&#x27;s why I like retainers. If a <i>potential</i> client balks over paying a retainer, then the odds are higher they will balk over paying an invoice. Anyway, there&#x27;s only two reasons that a client would balk over paying a retainer: they don&#x27;t trust me in which case I don&#x27;t want them as a client; or they don&#x27;t have the money in which case I don&#x27;t want them as a client.<p>Good luck.