I don't share this to complain, but more as an interesting lesson and to hear feedback.
To give a little backstory, I'm working on a mixture of freelancing and building my own business centered around online advertising - mostly pertaining to paid social (FB&IG).
Now my mindset in the beginning of starting a company, is more on the lines of you take the potential opportunities given to you and you make the most of it. You don't really have the "right" to be too picky as you really haven't earned it yet. So again, on this line of thinking, I'm typically very willing to go above and beyond while simultaneously asking for less - yes I know, some argue know your worth etc etc but if you haven't EARNED it, you're not really "worth" anything IMO. Also, I frankly don't care about the money, I just want to succeed and get damn good results for whoever it may be.
Anyway, I digress. To the point. I accepted to work for a client who was actually a neighbor who owns a local business and is promoting an event he's holding - which isn't really a fit for what I'm looking to do but figured I'd give it a shot and help him. In order to help him out further, I reduced rates, waived any set up fees, agreed to do much more than normally involved in my scope, etc etc.
The reward? One of the most combative clients I've dealt with (granted that's a rather small pool). Consistently wouldn't respond to important emails, refused to do any of the work necessary on their end (giving access to brand assets, video assets, inputing their billing information, setting anything up on their end, etc), the list goes on. Not only that, but they then would continually ask to meet for no apparent reason or to set up things for them which was accommodated once (mistake).
I won't bore anyone with all the details, but the choice was finally made to "fire" the client. It was at this point it really hit me just how true it can be that not all clients are good clients nor do you want to work with them. And I think that's an interesting lesson, I'm sure many others have experienced similar situations.
I also wanted to spark a discussion.
Do you think it's better to accept opportunities even if you don't think it's a good fit or say no and continue working for opportunities that are more in tune?
Should you charge "full price" or not discount work because people then don't value your time or what you're doing for them - or as I stated you ain't worth sh*t till you prove it?
Is it a good idea to go above and beyond, especially in the beginning, as people then will expect that from you always and continue asking for more?
I don't think there's any right or wrong answers, just curious on people's opinions and experiences.
To give a little backstory, I'm working on a mixture of freelancing and building my own business centered around online advertising - mostly pertaining to paid social (FB&IG).
Now my mindset in the beginning of starting a company, is more on the lines of you take the potential opportunities given to you and you make the most of it. You don't really have the "right" to be too picky as you really haven't earned it yet. So again, on this line of thinking, I'm typically very willing to go above and beyond while simultaneously asking for less - yes I know, some argue know your worth etc etc but if you haven't EARNED it, you're not really "worth" anything IMO. Also, I frankly don't care about the money, I just want to succeed and get damn good results for whoever it may be.
Anyway, I digress. To the point. I accepted to work for a client who was actually a neighbor who owns a local business and is promoting an event he's holding - which isn't really a fit for what I'm looking to do but figured I'd give it a shot and help him. In order to help him out further, I reduced rates, waived any set up fees, agreed to do much more than normally involved in my scope, etc etc.
The reward? One of the most combative clients I've dealt with (granted that's a rather small pool). Consistently wouldn't respond to important emails, refused to do any of the work necessary on their end (giving access to brand assets, video assets, inputing their billing information, setting anything up on their end, etc), the list goes on. Not only that, but they then would continually ask to meet for no apparent reason or to set up things for them which was accommodated once (mistake).
I won't bore anyone with all the details, but the choice was finally made to "fire" the client. It was at this point it really hit me just how true it can be that not all clients are good clients nor do you want to work with them. And I think that's an interesting lesson, I'm sure many others have experienced similar situations.
I also wanted to spark a discussion.
Do you think it's better to accept opportunities even if you don't think it's a good fit or say no and continue working for opportunities that are more in tune?
Should you charge "full price" or not discount work because people then don't value your time or what you're doing for them - or as I stated you ain't worth sh*t till you prove it?
Is it a good idea to go above and beyond, especially in the beginning, as people then will expect that from you always and continue asking for more?
I don't think there's any right or wrong answers, just curious on people's opinions and experiences.
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Access Restricted: Unlock 1,000,000+ Posts
Stop Peeking Through the Keyhole.
Open the Door.
You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.
- Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
- MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
- Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
- Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."— User Richard Peck
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?
