Comments on: 3 Stereotypical Clients and How to Handle Them

By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:33:05 +0000

Actually, discounts you give to charitable organizations are NOT tax-deductible. I found this out the hard way. The only deductions happen if you are selling a physical product. Designers basically sell their time and since it is an intangible element, the U.S. gov won’t let you deduct discounts. This was confirmed by two different CPA’s.

Beware designers, you discount charities out of the goodness of your heart!

By: John Hamelink

John Hamelink — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:47:50 +0000

What about the “fussy designer” client. I had great fun with one such designer who employed me for a reasonably small job. I had it finished in two days time, and he came back with a PDF full of changes, including things like “move the navigation 1 pixel to the right”, and “make the text more compact without changing the line spacing or text sized, or changing the padding”. What’s more, he supplied me with a fireworks PNG (yuck, who uses fireworks nowadays?) that had been flattened so I had to cut it out myself, and was quite contempt having me work until the early hours of the morning (5am, anyone?). When I finally put my foot down, he simply ignored all contact I tried to make and hired some other poor soul to do the work. I was left with nothing but the deposit.

Never underestimate the evil that a designer can be. I must note, however, that not all designers are that picky and (frankly) unprofessional. I have worked with many others that have been nothing but helpful and not fussy. I love those clients :)

By: John Sparrow

John Sparrow — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:30:37 +0000

Sorry, I meant @Brant!

By: John Sparrow

John Sparrow — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:28:56 +0000

@brent
Amen to that. I now have a regular client whose work I embarked on along with a designer who outsourced programming to me.

To this day she asks my advice, makes suggestions but i 100% on the level. She is a prompt payer and has ensured I am being fairly paid. She treats the designer the same way.

Little wonder that for her, I will go the extra mile and do the work I’m proudest of. gold dust!

By: Rch

Rch — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:02:39 +0000

Good article, In fact I use the rush tax strategy a lot. It is a very natural way that helps the clients to prioritize their tasks and understand the value of time and money. Since most freelancers are working on economical rates, clients seem to take undue advantage. So they pay the rush tax when their marginal costs are high.

By: Josh L

Josh L — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:34:00 +0000

When it come to doing discounted/free work for charitable organizations (great for portfolio building), any discounts you give them are 100% tax-deductible. :)

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:14:08 +0000

I sure wish I had the option to simply walk away from clients. Must be nice to have a fat enough bank account to pick and choose jobs. Sometimes this isn’t the case, and needing to rely on the “Skimpy” client is a regrettable, yet necessary, evil.

You must weigh up the pros and cons of each scenario, because at the end of the day, I’m not “taking one for the team.” If I need £5K (for example) and it won’t actually kill me, I’ll do the job. Someone else will! The notion of turning down work to educate clients (ie – spec work is a no-no) is one of those pipe dreams. I agree in principle but pronciples don’t pay the bills.

Wow, am I really this bleak. Ha!

By: Elcoj

Elcoj — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:11:50 +0000

Not sure that this is true:), but thanks for a post.

By: David A

David A — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:36:17 +0000

Just be honest with yourself. Any project under $2000 that is going to take more than one week (because we all know it’s never as simple as one week) is not paying the bills!

By: CSS Brigit | 3 Stereotypical Clients and How to Handle Them

CSS Brigit | 3 Stereotypical Clients and How to Handle Them — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:32:43 +0000

3 Stereotypical Clients and How to Handle Them…

Throughout your freelancing career, you're bound to come across a whole range of interesting characters, whom are going to want to hire you for the services you offer – some of which may be more trouble than good, so here\’s how …