>On Thu, 2005-04-14 at 18:01 -0700, Josef Lowder wrote:
>
>
>>FWIW:
>>I have been a management consultant for 30 years and I have always
>>either been on a retainer or billed clients _only_ for completed work,
>>and my invoices have always included the following unconditional
>>guarantee:
>>
>>"You must be satisfied that you have received
>>a value in service greater than our fee or
>>we gladly accept any adjustment you deem appropriate."
>>
>>I have never been burned and there have been occasions
>>when clients have paid more than I billed them.
>>
>>
I've had that philosophy for years, but never put it that way; I like it!
My clients (except for this guy) end up being long term relationships,
many become friends, and get much
more than their money's worth in free advice and phone support.
They send good referrals my way so it works out well.
I think part of my issue with this guy is that I never should have taken
him on as a client.
There were many warning signs up front, all pointing to the likely
possibility that he really couldn't afford what
he wanted to do and wasn't entirely honest. I've been 1099 contracting
on the side for years and never had a
problem getting paid for the work I did, but I always dealt with
established companies.
In that setup they treated me more like an employee and paid at
reasonable intervals.
When my former partner and I created my company 18 months ago, the first
year as expected had a 'funds deficit'
which required personal financial contributions to keep the bills paid.
As I built infrastructure and did all the work, my partner was supposed
to be selling.
He meant well, but didn't really have the time or energy to follow
through.
I've been trying to play 'catch up' and became less choosy about work I
took on.
I suppose I should have been more suspicious when this client mentioned
that another developer
had started it and he quit due to lack of time. After several
escalating demands from this guy
today and refusal to pay any part of the balance he owed without me
finishing the remaining
critical parts of his project first, I decided that it was best to stop
working on his project completely.
I already feel 100% better. It's probably a blessing that this happend
this early in my company's life.
One Lesson learned... a thousand to go.
Craig White wrote:
>I think that we share a similar philosophy
>
>It's interesting though, that if you get fairly specialized, that this
>attitude and obtaining payment is probably a bit easier than if you
>could easily be replaced, as if your value were more for the sweat hours
>than for the knowledge and application of that knowledge.
>
>
>
Very good point. That's been true for me too.
When I do custom Oracle database work it pays well, everybody is happy.
Mysql doesn't have the same barriers of entry.
Once in awhile I run into someone that wants something for nothing,
though they never put it that way (grin).
They have a great idea with promises in the distant future as long as
you'll do all the work now,
the future they dream about seldom happens.
Thank god I *usually* walk away.
.
>A lot of it also depends upon your interests, your attitudes and your
>goals. Myself, I invest the time to learn if not as completely as
>possible disassemble the mechanisms of how something works so I can feel
>comfortable with newly learned technology and even fix it if it breaks.
>Not everyone has that all out commitment or the demands upon their time
>might not allow that same amount of energy to be devoted to it.
>
>
>
I thank my lucky stars that I have the same natural drive, it saved my life!
I grew up a poor redneck kid; my parents are poor and really couldn't
give me much.
Everything that I know that is worth anything was learned on my own.
I still remember the first day I loaded Linux on my 486 back in 94...
I loaded freeBSD on it first. I downloaded a boot disk and did the rest
over FTP via dialup to a local BBS,
Once I had a working BSD system, I didn't know what to do with it (grin)
Since I had just bought a book on Linux, I wiped BSD and loaded it instead.
I think, had I had a BSD book instead that I'd be on that side of the camp.
BSD is a great OS though.. I never understood the rivalry.
It took over a week to get everything working and lots of time
downloading stuff over ftp with 9600 dialup to a local BBS,
compiling the kernel over and over adding in new devices. I had another
computer loaded with os2 and used that most of the time.
Had IBM supported it better and Microsoft not been so 'dastardly' in
their means of constantly breaking 'winos2' I'd probably still be using
it.
OS/2 was nice. By mid 95 I was using linux as my primary desktop and
learning a lot. I probably recompiled the kernel more in the first
three years than I have since! Now days I'm too busy getting work
done to be staying on the bleeding edge of the linux kernel like I did
the first 5 years or so.
It's great that 10 years later Linux has become as popular as it has;
it's come a long way since then.
>But my basic premise is simple - sort of a Ray Kroc thing...I do what I
>can to help my clients do what they do better and make more money and
>expect that in return, they give consideration to my financial well
>being. When that basic understanding becomes one sided, it ceases to
>work.
>
>Craig
>
>
>
Thats it exactly.
JD
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