Comments on: Find Better Work: Fire Your High Maintenance Clients

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:31:02 +0000

Is it reasonable to fire a client if they are always late on payment and won’t pay up until they have some new things that they need to fix?

By: #7

#7 — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:20:20 +0000

@MJ, Thanks for sharing your experience with firing a high-maintenance client, and way to make way for better clients.

@Contestant #2. Nothing like a revision tennis match to ruin what could be a good working relationship. I’ve learned to limit the number of revisions. But problem clients often don’t understand limitations. That’s what makes them high maintenance.

@Cheri, I use information from Nolo. http://www.nolo.com There’s a whole section on freelancing “Independent Contractors” and you can buy books that included boiler-plate agreements of all kinds. Be sure to keep your receipts for the books, as a tax deductible expense. Also check Amazon.com for the Nolo books, as their prices are often cheaper than purchasing directly from Nolo. Some of titles can be purchased as e-books so you don’t have to wait for shipping to have a boiler-plate contract in hand.

@Jaq, Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. It’s hard to step away from a project or client. It’s hard to lose that income. But when it starts to impact your health, your stress level, your sleep, it’s time to walk away. Hope you are feeling much saner now.

By: Jaq

Jaq — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:24:41 +0000

I have had an experience like that. But not for “Dan”. I was also blinded by money. But as a result, I didn’t sleep for days and even more after the deadline and I still wasn’t finished. I had to give it up if I wanted any kind of sanity to remain.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:23:55 +0000

Great post. Was wondering if you could point me in the direction of a good boiler-plate non-binding client agreement – ?

By: Contestant #2

Contestant #2 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:58:51 +0000

I think I worked for Dan too. This gig was one posted on craigslist.org – yes sometimes you actually do get the job. My ‘Dan’ begged me for content for their website – they were desperate. I sent idea after idea – bingo – my ‘Dan’ liked idea number 10! I wrote the article, back it came with further instruction. I rewrote it, added interviewee quotes and sent it off. Back it came again and again like a tennis ball being lobbied over a net. By the final edit -the article did not even closely resemble my query. Good Grief – 3 weeks worth of work for $50 and not payable until publication – whatever century that may be!

By: Roberta

Roberta — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:29:50 +0000

#7, Anytime, I really enjoyed the article. I like it when people write kind of like they talk. It’s easier to relate to, for me.

And thank you, glad you liked my “baby”. It’s a fun blog

By: MJ

MJ — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:10:30 +0000

I should say I fired a client- a script writer- nightmare of all nightmares! Supposed to check it for historical accuracy, had an arguement every time I pointed out an issue, and EEEK never did get paid. I finally had to absolutely refuse to talk to him at all.

By: #7

#7 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:45:47 +0000

@Jodee, That’s funny. Now that’s going to be stuck in my head forever. Thanks for the laugh.

By: #7

#7 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:21:18 +0000

@Roberta, Thanks for the complement. I’m glad you liked my writing style on this post. I tried something new: short & sweet, usually I write too much. Oh, and darn you, I clicked over to your blog and now I’m hooked.

By: Jodee

Jodee — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:18:30 +0000

@ #7: I must have had “D.A.N.” on the brain when I copied your post. I like to deal with the text first and then put the candidate number at the top afterwards when I post stuff on behalf of our candidates. I did a typo and referred to you as “DANdidate #7″, LOL!