I received a referral from a good friend of mine today; he
mentioned an acquaintance of his was looking for someone to help with her web
site. Apparently the potential client had been through a number of freelance
designers before and felt she'd wasted an incredible amount of time and money
on the wrong people. My friend thought I might be able to help her so I gave
her a call.
After talking with the woman for about 10 minutes I could
easily tell she was frustrated and angry with the designers she'd been working
with in the past - she described what they did or didn't do in pretty good
detail. I remember her saying, "I've
made up my mind that this ends today." I sympathize with her - feeling
like you've been ripped off isn't a fun feeling, especially when it's happened
as many times as this woman indicated.
The 15 minute conversation moved along nicely, and I was
beginning to sense she felt pretty comfortable with me: she'd seen my web site,
and I could tell she feeling that I might be a good fit for her until she asked
me a question I didn't quite understand. I responded back with, "I am not sure I understand you, what exactly
do you mean?" It was at this point that she got frustrated and short
with me. (Keep in mind that until this point the conversation moved along
perfectly). I indicated that I only wanted to make sure I understood what she
was asking so I could give an appropriate response, but her frustration with
freelancers and the whole situation bubbled over at that moment.
Flummoxed and
at the end of her rope she tried to rephrase the question so it was less vague,
and I was able to easily answer it - but this jarred me into thinking that this
is not going to be a good fit. I felt badly for this woman, but I couldn't
escape the feeling that she (because of her negative past experiences), is going
to suck to work with. Kenny Rogers in The Gambler, said it right, "Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em..."
Here's someone that's frustrated, angry and pissed off at
freelance designers - and now I am going to be asked to come in and save the
day for her. Nope, as soon as she got upset with me for not understanding her,
I was no longer interested in working with this woman. It's sad really, I can
empathize with her - it would suck to feel you paid the wrong people and now
you're faced with having to pay someone else to get the job done right. At the
same time, working with someone who's upset BEFORE you even start to work with
her/him can be an ill-advised opportunity that I was unwilling to take. You may
decide to take a gamble on someone like this, just be careful. Often the best strategy for potential clients like this is just to let them go. The bottom line
for me was: if you've already got two
strikes against you, don't go up to bat...
What a college design instructor recently said about the Being a Starving Artist Sucks book:
"It is a great resource for all designers who wish to begin a freelance design business but are terrified of having to do all the things that go along with having a business, such a client communications, promotions and pricing. A plus to this book’s approach is that it comes from the standpoint of someone who has made mistakes and isn’t afraid to share what normally takes beginning freelancers a couple of years of hard knocks to figure out for themselves.
This book is one you can pick up and read just a section of to get help when you need it on what you need; it is like having a personal business coach at your fingertips and I look forward to sharing this resource with my graphic design students." - thanks for reviewing the book, Brenda. See her testimonial and more by clicking here.
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