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findtim

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i just have to write this , perhaps i have before but its all come back again this last month. ( this post involves nobody i know on dnt or through dnt )
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so this is a story, go grab a beer....................
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when i started in 2001, i wasn't looking to build peoples websites, just my own, but i know in most cases newbie web devs need clients and the first place they look to is friends, mine was different, as i grew the friends came to me, so i gave them special deals as it was just "cream" on an already profitable gig.

so over the years CONSISTENTLY its turned to heartache for me, almost lost some friends ! as they under value my service and knowledge and i could b*tch on about this for hourssssssss

so around 2014 i solved it and said "mates rates", my normal rate minus 33%, i thought fair call, and most people accepted, those who didn't were just taking the p*ss anyway.

but mates rates is also a problem as WHERE does it stop? so i started CLEARLY defined briefs before starting and saying that after that it would be an hourly rate, that culled another lot.

next i'd say "i'll setup the base for you, heres a BUNCH of great link tutorials " build it yourself, and even give them free hosting, but they felt its better to waste my time asking me questions that were answered in the tutorial that they DID NOT WATCH !

so even after all that and all these years i still got sucker punched this month by a friend, a unique case i guess as this one is a LIFE LONG friend so i am stuck with them LOL, i should have seen it coming ! helena said " you let that happen AGAIN " and she is right.

the moral is for newbies just be careful, set guidelines, if you WANT the work for a folio to get more work then do it /cop it/ move on until you don't need to anymore. Just say from the outset " i am doing this once to build my folio of work " so when they come back again you can say great...........here are my terms i am now skilled.

hourly rate: say " to be fair, i'll charge you what you charge" , oh man that throws them off track , they then basically have to tell you that they regard their skills more then yours BUT they are the ones coming to you, go figure, a doctor wants a website, he doesn't know how to build it but it will make him $X per hour so all you want is the same as you don't know how to "doctor".

it takes some tough love and now many of my friends are great clients and also friends that i pissed off ages ago now come to me WITH a budget and not an empty hat.

i've also got friends using WIX and others like it and complaining to me and all i say is " are those snags ready yet" whilst next to the bbq.

at a party the answer to a question that starts with "how do i....." is " i can give you a quote, here's my card"

reality is, if you want a folio my suggestion is you go make 10 DIRT cheap sales to local businesses that have no website, tell them you will sort it ALL out, GET A DEPOSIT,

rule 1 ) never start without a deposit
rule 2) deposit must cover ALL fixed costs
rule 3 ) get a signature on end result $

thats just the basics.

tim
 

Data Glasses

Top Contributor
'It's like this your honour. I didn't drink until I started reading FindTim's posts on DnTrade, the thing is many of his post's say "go grab a beer" So I started to follow his advice. Soon after reading many of his posts, well you you know the rest. At this point I can only plead for leniency'
 

findtim

Top Contributor
 

findtim

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scott7: as a VICTORIAN i am BITTER about your comment, this FOSTERS problems and my friend HARVEY NORMAN would agree with me, but most importantly we need to keep SYNERGY in our comments so we can VENTRAIP into a better future otherwise we would all be CRAZY DOMAINS and the NETFLEET would just DROP the market into auDApilot .
 

Scott7

Top Contributor
scott7: as a VICTORIAN i am BITTER about your comment, this FOSTERS problems and my friend HARVEY NORMAN would agree with me, but most importantly we need to keep SYNERGY in our comments so we can VENTRAIP into a better future otherwise we would all be CRAZY DOMAINS and the NETFLEET would just DROP the market into auDApilot .
Old golden tonsils himself would be proud of that effort.
 

Data Glasses

Top Contributor
scott7: as a VICTORIAN i am BITTER about your comment, this FOSTERS problems and my friend HARVEY NORMAN would agree with me, but most importantly we need to keep SYNERGY in our comments so we can VENTRAIP into a better future otherwise we would all be CRAZY DOMAINS and the NETFLEET would just DROP the market into auDApilot .
I was expecting travel companies and mobile networks
 

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