From person to person, I think hobbyists and dreamers are great. After all, where would this world be without those that reach for the stars while the rest of us keep our feet firmly on the ground? Nevertheless, from freelancer to potential client, I can’t stand these people.
The Being a Starving Artist Sucks book goes into this subject in detail, so I won’t rehash it here. The bottom line is that hobbyists and dreamers that may contact you for a project are often a waste of time. Instead of going into details, I’d like to tell you of a disappointing encounter I had with a hobbyist and dreamer, shamefully, I was him.
Through a colleague, I contacted a developer that I hoped could help me create a couple of mobile apps ideas I was kicking around in my head. Mind you, I already have a steady source of income, so having these apps developed was just something I was curious about. I, as much as I hate to admit it, am a hobbyist in this scenario.
I contacted the developer via email, gave him a three paragraph synopsis of what I was hoping to achieve. I then asked what his initial thoughts were. Within a day or so the guy responded, “What sort of budget are you working with? What is the time frame for the projects? If you send me some details I would be happy to get you some estimates and if they look good to you we would look forward to working with you.” Reasonable, wouldn’t you say? The trouble is, I didn’t really have a budget – most hobbyists don’t. Rather, I had a rough idea of what I would be willing to pay for the project, which coincidentally had nothing to do with the developer’s skill level or how much time he would need to invest. This is precisely why you have to be wary of potential clients that don’t necessarily need to have a project completed, most of them aren’t all that motivated to do so and the value they place on the project isn’t what is it is truly worth but what they are willing to pay for it.
Honestly, I am not sure what I was expecting this developer to do for me, give me a rough quote based on virtually no information at all – who knows? Perhaps, like most hobbyists and dreamers, I was looking to satisfy my curiosity. To be fair, I did indicate in my first email to him: “I wasn't sure if I'd be an idea fit for you, but I figured I'd ask. If what I am looking to do does not really sound interesting or a fit for you, just let me know - no worries. If you have some very quick, initial thoughts (don't invest a load of your time, I do want to be respectful), feel free to float them over.”
It took me a few days to get back to his first email; took me longer to get back to the second. I didn’t mean any disrespect in this, I just found myself preoccupied with other priorities, again, like most hobbyists and dreamers. In the end, I’ve decided to hold off on moving forward in having the apps developed. I don’t have the time and energy to put into them right now. And while I can take some solace in recognizing that I didn’t take up much of this developer’s time, I still did (I kind of suck for doing it). And it hits home with me – something that I’ve always known but so much more clearly now that I’ve been on the other side: hobbyists and dreamers aren’t typically folks looking to screw over freelancers, but they often don’t make good clients.
In your business, have folks contacted you that were in a similar situation to the one above? Did you end up working with them?
I experienced this once while trying to do collaborative work for a video game some years ago. It was not exactly a client-customer relation, but I treated it for one as I was eager to get some projects done to further develop my skills and to add something for my resume.
The idea sounded lovely and I really wanted to do it. I was in charge of the graphics, he of the programming. I was given a lot of freedom, maybe a bit too much. Unfortunately, he did not supply *any* facts and frames to work with. Starting from the resolution the game should be published in, over major game design decisions to the amount of graphics needed. All of that was promised but never given and I was put on hold - my favourite quote was "but can't you just start anyway and then we'll see further?"
It went from a promising project with a lot of potential down to something I hoped I'd never agreed on. He seemed to lose interest for some days just to bombard me with questions and ideas the next day. Inexperienced as I was, I spent much more time on that than I would today, including giving ideas away that I should have kept to myself, but I learned some vital lessons during the process. The mistakes I made might cause some serious amusement among more experienced artists (as well as certain embarassment in myself), but at least it ensured that I learned my lesson well. It also helped me to develop an organized way of approaching such projects (and to make sure to sort out the "dreamers", for business and my own hobby alike), which I couldn't have come up initially as I didn't even know in which particular ways communication and agreements can go wrong. Needless to say, I stopped working with him quite soon - one of the main annoyances was him giving me bits of information I could work with (such as measurements for a starship I was to design along with information that seemed consistant and solid) followed by "but this is not yet known"s oder "no quite finished"s. Today I think he might have underestimated the actual amount of work involved in such a project, while I overestimated the amount of work already done by him. I wouldn't say he was an incurable dreamer, but merely think it just was wrong to ask for graphics at this stage of the process. So maybe dreamers still can be good customers or collaboration partners - as long as enough initial work is done and then a synergy effect goes off. This was the case with some customers I recently had - it all started off very vague and with a lot of polite "ifs" and "only if you're ok with that" etc, but ended in a great project that gave me a maximum of independence and freedom and, as conveniently reflected in additional payment, responsibility and the opportunity to not only "deliver graphics" but to help forming and seeing a project "grow" that I could truly identify with. I admit, I wouldn't have been able to help pushing the project if I had not encountered Mr. Flashgame earlier on my way.
So maybe it's a good thing to have the occassional dreamer or hobbyist among your customers - it all depends on their potential and commitment once the "spark" has flown.
Posted by: Sarah | June 09, 2012 at 12:23 PM
Great story, Sarah...well, great in that does further illustrate the point that dreamers don't often make good clients. I am sorry the project didn't work out better for you. It sounds like you did everything right, but sometimes clients insist on not wanting to put the work in. You were also right by guessing that your client underestimated the amount of work required. Many clients believe there's a new "creativity" button in Photoshop CS6 that designers can push -- with the click of the mouse button, out pops a wonderful project!
Maybe the additional lesson in here (for all of us) is that when you estimate that your client is a dreamer and a hobbyist, make sure you invest some time upfront in laying out the ground rules and the project expectations. The trick is that you have to handle the client gently in this area. Remember, she/he is full of...well excitement about the project, so you don't want to rob them of their initial joy. Instead, praise them for their excitement, but gently let them know that the project will take time and effort on their part. And while you'll do your best to make the project enjoyable, let them know there will be times that they'll need to invest time and energy into it - in those moments it won't be quite as fun.
Anyway, thanks for taking some time to share this story. You learned a good lesson, and it sounds like you won't get fooled again. Good for you!
Posted by: Jeremy Tuber | June 19, 2012 at 07:10 AM
I know someone who actually has brought clients to her computer and asked them to find the "van graphics" menu...
Posted by: StephTech | March 18, 2013 at 02:01 PM