I have awesome clients. Really. I’m not just saying this to butter you up either. I am saying this in the most sincere way I know how: I have clients that are wonderful people. You are genuine. You are caring. You are respectful of my knowledge and experience, and that I have clients and other activities outside of working on your site.
It occurs to me that most of you don’t know that. Further, I bet you didn’t know that this Gaggle of Awesomeness didn’t happen by accident either.
You didn’t just pick me. I picked YOU.
That’s right. I don’t take every job that comes my way. I don’t take every job just because someone dangled cash or an interesting project in front of me. I choose my clients and projects on the basis of whether we’ll be a good match.
Because when it comes to making a website, it is a team effort. The team is me, the web designer/developer and you, the website owner. It is YOUR site so your input is valuable. Your feedback is necessary. We can’t make websites in a vacuum. Well, we can, but they’re a total waste of your money.
I have turned down projects. I have fired clients.
All because I learned the hard way, like many business owners, that high maintenance clients just mean you lose money. You also get a lot more gray hairs and your blood pressure goes up. You lose sleep. You get crabby and become this black hole of negativity. All because of that one nightmare client that you are bending over backwards to help. Meanwhile, they don’t know how hard you are working, how much you care, and how much money you are losing on their high-maintenance whims.
Have you been there before? Do you feel me? Look at my photo on my Facebook profile. See those gray hairs? Those were there before I had twins. Since that photo, the main things that have increased the gray hairs are the kids. I don’t get many from my clients.
If you own a business and/or are a freelancer, you may be thinking, “but I need the money!”.
Trust me, you don’t need this. You won’t get enough money to make it worthwhile. You’ll start sacrificing better paying work for the client that is easily angered. You’ll sacrifice your health for that. And if you don’t have your health, well, any money you make is going to be used to treat all your health problems. Even if you get too sick to work due to stress, that’s still lost wages.
So for these reasons, I’m picky about who I work for. From my day job, to my freelance work, I’m picky. I’m a big believer in positive work environments and work environments where people complement (and compliment!) each other. One of the many things I love about being self-employed: the option to say “no”.
“NO” is a powerful word. Try it some time. It’s quite liberating. And it gives you fewer gray hairs.
To my clients, I say: thank you. I truly appreciate you as my wonderful client. I know of no words that can convey just how much I value each of you. No words that can describe just how much I want to see you succeed.
So to all of you: thank you and good luck.
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