When I say OBVIOUS, I mean "Things you should have known before you did them, but you did them anyway." In looking back upon doing them, you say to yourself "DUH! I should have known better!"
And then you mark it down in your mental notebook not to do it again.
1. Only give to your client the images you want them to use on their web site. If you give them the original HUGE GREAT QUALITY images, they will use them...and then complain to you that their site is slow. And then you have to go in and re-upload.
2. Never give your client full access to their own website. Really. God access will allow them to screw things up in the most colossal way. Give them ONLY what they need and nothing more.
3. Give your clients the metrics they need to see and nothing more. Otherwise, they will get into web site metrics overload and try to make mountains out of molehills. Especially since they don't know what most of the numbers mean.
What have you got?
1. Don't have clients
What Paul said
...but, if you must have clients, make sure that there are plenty of tasks that they need to do for their website - keep them busy so they always have lots of stuff that they have not done yet.
Keeps them off your back and makes it more difficult for them to bollock you for stuff that they think you haven't done yet.
There's no friends in business
Sell hard to the people who are a good match for what you offer and don't sell at all to the people who are not.
If you're friendly and nice to people, they'll try to buy from you even when you try to talk them out of it.
I've learned these things because I was just trying to be friendly and nice and tell people why they'd be happier going somewhere else and, since nobody else is that friendly and honest, they decide to go with us even though it's not the ideal fit - at least they know they aren't being bulshitted. But once they make this decision, armed with all the negative info I can give them, the *become* a good fit even though by the "facts" they shouldn't be.
1. Don't follow the crowd.
2. Only work with people you like.
3. Set some goals, but don't worry if those goals lead you somewhere different than planned (as long as you are getting something positive from it)
I'd love to see this as a long-term thread, so that it is added to as people gain new experiences.
Watch where the puck is going, not where it is now.
When you see your opening, don't hesitate.
When you are doing well, save for a rainy day... because it's coming.
Invest in relationships
There is no such thing as easy money, but never stop looking for it.
If something works fairly well, replicate before you refine.
Never stop building and breaking new ground. Once you get to the point that all you do is check email, stats, and manage a business, you have already lost focus.
Always seek to see the biggest picture before you put your head down and get to work.
Recognize your own limitations, the limitations of those around you, and the market... then use your creativity, determination, and ingenuity to make the most of what you have.
Never underestimate the worst case scenario. Stretch your mind to make a list of every one, check it twice... and then add them all together.
Enjoy what you do, for the most part. If you arent making money, or you are not having fun, you are doing something wrong.
Your health, your family, and your friends are more important than anything else. Pay attention to them.
Now that's a post
Quote from: 4Eyes on April 21, 2011, 06:05:55 PM
but, if you must have clients, make sure that there are plenty of tasks that they need to do for their website - keep them busy so they always have lots of stuff that they have not done yet.
Keeps them off your back and makes it more difficult for them to bollock you for stuff that they think you haven't done yet.
I've just started doing this now.
Earlier this year I also came up with/stolen-and-re-wrote a client requirements document - tells them exactly what they will get and not get and explains in detail when I want paid and why I want paid then and how long they have to pay.
If you have to work with clients...
Always make the time to give a detailed planned spec for the client to sign off before you begin complicated developments and warn them that changes made during development WILL cost time and money. To avoid the 'could you just do....', erm yes okay I will rebuild the whole site then shall I!
Give them the facts warts and all and put the decision in their hands. I always operate a brutal truth policy on any proposal, this way the client knows the facts, the unknowns and possible issues before they make an informed decision. If I don't know, if I haven't done it before, if I am testing a concept/service/program, I tell them. It is much better than throwing bs at them then figuring out how to do it later and finding out you can't!
Under promise and over deliver wherever possible.
never assume everyone in the room understood the pivotal decision in the same way - clients or internal - unless someone writes it down in plain english and sends it to everyone else there will be one person at the critical point who didn't hear what the others did.
In any negotiation or deal, make sure the initial contract/agreement specifies all parties who have decision-making an veto power so that you don't get to the end and find out there's one guy who's been totally outside the loop the whole time who can kill the whole deal.