Comments on: Your Clients Problems Are NOT Your Problems

By: rob

rob — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:19:39 +0000

Oh man I am at the tail end of a projects where a nightmare hosting scenario fell right on our lap… Without “solving it” myself, the project would have stalled so naturally we handled it but none of it was billable and all of it was pure aggravation…

Something I’ve learned along the way is that not everyone is clear of the delineation of web professionals areas of expertise and simply assume that if you can build a website then you obviously know everything about hosting, email and ay related issues… Which might be true in some cases but regardless we are only “paid” for what we were hired to do which is develop the best website we can for the individuals business…

In these situations we handle it just like above (depending on the client) and then set the expectation where past a certain threshold the meter starts running again… If your lucky, you have a great client who appreciates the hoops you jumped through to help them out and has a clearer understanding of the different rolls web professionals play…

By: Salman Razak

Salman Razak — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:09:50 +0000

I totally agree with you. I have been through such kind of clients.
We all have the same pain…. :)

By: Ashely Adams : Online Printing

Ashely Adams : Online Printing — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:40:26 +0000

Clients. Can’t live with them; can’t live without them! So stop complaining and keep working folks. Nuff said.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:45:42 +0000

I used to work for an online poker website. I made just under £1000 a week. I was constantly getting asked to do freelance work so I decided to quit my job and go freelance. Now I work twice as many hours for not much more money, for exactly this reason.

Why do so many people think professional web services should be free? Despite what some people in the industry say, you absolutely have to charge by the hour. Let your clients know how many hours it will take to do the work they have requested, and that you will be billing them for any additional hours that result from services you didn’t initially agree to.

You MUST stick to your hourly rate. Discard any ‘more work will come from this’ pitches. If you are good you will get the work, there is lots of it out there.

By: gern

gern — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:36:17 +0000

I’ve even worked with clients who read and understand contracts and are told out loud by me certain terms, but continue asking for things not documented or even discussed. One of my clients even said “Certain aspects of development are self-evident and don’t belong in a contract.”

That’s absolutely priceless. Obviously, if you have to tell me, then it’s not self-evident. That’s what contracts are for.

By: Philippine Outsourcing

Philippine Outsourcing — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:44:55 +0000

Sounds like the kind of client I don’t want to have again but the ones I most often got before, until I decided to do outsourcing jobs which makes my job simpler and much more defined and my clients are from outside the country so it already filters out a few other issues that a nearby client might throw at you! hehe ;-) Nice post.

By: September Round-Up | My 10 favorite blog posts | The Dogg Blog

September Round-Up | My 10 favorite blog posts | The Dogg Blog — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:35:41 +0000

[...] Your Clients Problems Are NOT Your Problems by FuelYourCreativity.com [...]

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:05:04 +0000

Feeling your pain and have lived through it myself. Usually telling the client that there will be a charge works to get rid of them for me. I have had call backs after telling them there is a charge, and I don’t even inform them the second time. I just send the bill. Most of the time it even gets paid, but it usually ends those calls from that person.

By: Ben Rama

Ben Rama — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:08:46 +0000

@ justin lol ‘ Like a bad burrito.’

By: Justin Galvin

Justin Galvin — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:01:51 +0000

This is why we NEVER get involved with tech/development side of web. Purely design, creative and strategy only. The tech stuff will haunt you. Like a bad burrito.

By: The week in links 25/09/09 - Craig Baldwin's Blog

The week in links 25/09/09 - Craig Baldwin's Blog — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:02:56 +0000

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By: The Aleksandar

The Aleksandar — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:05:04 +0000

I think Marge actually called hosting company but she just looks like a person who will try several times to get what she have on mind so she will try to call them again.

By: joe

joe — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:38:13 +0000

piss on that..

i get this all the time…. most times the client doesnt even want to call support or write out a ticket on thier system to handle the situation. and wants me to do it with no pay. … no way.. there you go..

“No Pay. No Way” WOOT WOOT!

i have alot of clients in LA and im on the east coast.. they expect me to be awake at 4am to answer phone calls and fix thier problems…they mostly just come off as demanding and overly inconsiderate.

they are in a city Full of creative professionals so it shows how cheap they are.

By: Affordable website designers

Affordable website designers — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:09:34 +0000

The amount of times these situations arise. You can go the entire length of a project with no negative outcomes from decisions made by yourself, the client or together. 2 months down the line something which you have no control over is deemed your issue?

if you have a healthy relationship and think to your self, “well theres an excellent chance of repeat business” then you tend to give them a helping hand. What’s 10 minutes of your time?

Make out everything you do is breaking your balls and your going 500 miles out of your way to help them. The second you say “that was nothing” , “no problems at all, that was easy” you are doomed.

Great article, Brilliant!

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:18:52 +0000

This is really good advice, for your personal life as well as for business.

We all seem to have our own “Marge” tales of woe. Mine fall more into my personal life, but it is still great advice not to let yourself become downtrodden by absorbing someone else’s problems. We all like to help, but we shouldn’t let others play helpless just so we can feel good about being helpful.