Recently I accepted a simple and straight forward project from a referred client. The project scope and steps were clear and simple so it was easy for me to quote the rate.
When speaking with this new client about the project, my intuition was telling me to charge more but I didn’t because I’ve done this type of project many, many times and it’s pretty routine for me.
Note to self: Listen to your intuition. Always.
Things spun out very quickly and had I charged more, I would have been less triggered by that occurrence.
The project started as a move this course from its current platform to a new platform, and get it ready for a launch on this date. Easy peasy since I’m super familiar with both platforms.
Quote made, invoice paid, project time booked in my calendar and we’re off!
I get underway with it and before I can finish, I get an email from the web host to hold off because he’s moving the client’s site to a new server. So I stop work figuring it will be a day or two – I know how long moving a site takes. I was wrong.
There was a 10 day delay pushing the project past my projected completion date and past the place in my schedule where I had open time to work on it.
But wait, there’s more!
Now all of the sudden this simple project became a horse of an entirely different color and…
- I’m pulled into a ProGo collaboration site to work with the team which was not the original deal at all. No team or collaboration was mentioned or needed for the project. Teams require more involvement so everyone stays up to speed.
- The launching program changed to a different program instead. So now there’s urgency when before the change, the launching program was ready to go.
- The launch dates changed. Redoing work.
- The e-commerce solution changed completely (to one not ideal for the new platform). This way overcomplicates things and now makes this not the best solution and requires additional workarounds to work at all.
- I’m not happy.
- The client isn’t getting as strong of a system as she should be getting. It will stay problematic for her.
So what’s the lesson here?
There are many, including:
- For a client, plan things out and know the plan before hiring someone to do any work.
- For a client, check in with your service providers when the plan changes.
- For a client, don’t switch up who the service person is required to communicate with or how they communicate. It matters.
- For me, listen to my intuition.
- For me, do not try to accommodate madness.
- For me, quote a rate that won’t leave me feeling resentful when things get changed up.
Now for the record, I do believe that this client is actually a beautiful person and when we spoke, she didn’t foresee this change up happening (back to you gotta know the plan FIRST).
I also think she’s getting jacked around by some service providers but I digress.
She also understood and respected my position.