The Ink Spot

12:50 PM

good friday!

1:33 PM

hello nerds

2:25 PM

@Yisela hello nerdette, long time! How have you been?

hi Ryan!! very good, but really crazy between the new job, language school and life itself

how are you?

I'm doing well, looking forward to the weekend

what language are you learning?

german

in the morning, then working 6 hs after lunch

but really happy to have work, and happier to not be a freelancer anymore

haha I know that feeling. Own hours and more potential is great, steady income and benefits is too though

yep. I like to switch every couple of years :P

2:30 PM

I want to pick up one or two more clients but I don't even like the ones I have :\

haha

maybe the new ones will be beter!

I don't know, I've heard a few people complaining about terrible clients. Feels worse than before

we should have a "How to spot a difficult client" post... if we don't already

well I got a referral from a print shop I know for some website updates. Okay no big deal, gave them a good price. Then she passed me off to some employee to handle, then some other employee. Now I've got the two employees messaging me for stuff not really discussed originally, not aligned with each other, and not providing me the content the Owner/Mgr told me they would.

ughhh

so the price was for the whole thing? maybe you can tell them that your base was that number, and after that it's $XX an hour

Just a joke at this point, I knew it was going to be bad as soon as she passed it off to the employee and he immediately showed me some flyer he made for them in photoshop with all pictures stolen from google images, and I would imagine a bootleg copy of PS

as soon as you mention more budget people chill

oh my...

2:35 PM

I'm charging them $120/mo for 3 hours. Trying to be reasonable this first month and hoping it goes smoother next month. So far I've spend almost two hours working on their stuff

(They paid 6 months up front)

you could use a time tracker, those that take screenshots, so they know how long each thing takes

greetings

unfortunately sounds like you will have to educate them

hi Matt!!

the queen of GD!!

hope you've been well

If it goes over I told them initially that I'd have to charge my regular rate which is higher so to use their time wisely. They were supposed to provide me with the product photos and such, instead I've been having to scour the internet for whatever I can find about this crap I know nothing about

2:38 PM

@Ryan congrats

@Darth_Vader on?

getting freelance

oh wait.. still reading.. err

that blows

so glad its friday

@Ryan maybe they can use some of next month's budget

absolutely not

that's a terrible idea

@Darth_Vader me too!!

2:43 PM

then I have to track how many hours over they went, so now next month they have fewer... or do I let them use more time in advance? So what they basically paid for 18 hours (6x3) just let them burn through all of it in two months?

I don't have the time for much side work, and they'd probably be annoyed and not resign with me which is the end goal

I see

but you probably need to communicate with them, so it doesn't get worse

I will next month if its the same, I think it'll get better though

hopefully!

how are things going over there @Darth_Vader?

very slammed. trying to get a lot of heavy projects and work done before I move