The pleasure of not doing business

[Ivan Seeking]

I recently received a call from an old customer who seriously damaged my business. They are big and I made a lot of money doing work for them, but they are so demanding with constantly changing schedules, no end of travel, super-duper pressure situations, beyond belief deadline demands, not to mention political problem that cause no end of grief, and most importantly, they require attention to the point that I could hardly keep any other customers. Then they strung me along for months, in fact nearly a year, when the well ran dry.

Some companies are like this. I was very suprised to learn that many suppliers refrain from doing business with a few of the most notable companies in Oregon. One would think that landing customer X means you've hit the big money. But customer X knows that everyone wants their business so they drive the competition to a level that's hardly worth the effort; if that. I've even seen large companies drive long time partners - for nearly 100 years in one case - out of business, all for a quick buck.

So, anyway, its fun writing a quote when you really don't want the business. What you do is make the quote so high that you can't lose. For example, in this case, some days I'd be making almost $200 per hour. I hope they call back! And you know, they might.

 

[Danger]

Ahhh... the perks of being your own boss. It almost makes the rest of the crap worthwhile. (Not quite, in my case.)

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

A friend of mine ran into some serious difficulties when he tried to work as a freelance graphic designer. Almost all of his bigger accounts screwed him or tried to. One of his customers was a realestate agent who just completely stiffed him on some signs he had made for him. My friend went out and found all of this guys signs that he could and confiscated them for using his design work without paying for it. I really hope that hit his pocket book at least a little bit.

 

[ElectroPhysics]

You have to be realistic specially when doing some sort of business. A proverb says something as "A bird in hand is better than two in the bushes". Just follow it not to get yourself in tensions & worries. Make a strategy. It can be made only if you have some kind of back, e.g. money or work knowledge or personel contacts...If your are not mentally well then partnership in business is better instead of doing it alone.

 

[turbo]

Ahhh... the perks of being your own boss. It almost makes the rest of the crap worthwhile. (Not quite, in my case.)

You have to have a special type of discipline to be your own boss. Years ago I was free-lancing, writing custom application software for accounting, inventory control, fleet logistics, etc, for local businesses. Usually, my wife would have to tell me several times that supper was ready, and after eating, I would return to the keyboard "just to finish up this little bit of code", until she would holler at me that it was midnight and I should come to bed. I was one of the worst bosses I've ever worked for.

 

[brewnog]

A friend of mine ran into some serious difficulties when he tried to work as a freelance graphic designer. Almost all of his bigger accounts screwed him or tried to. One of his customers was a realestate agent who just completely stiffed him on some signs he had made for him. My friend went out and found all of this guys signs that he could and confiscated them for using his design work without paying for it. I really hope that hit his pocket book at least a little bit.

Me and my dad did exactly the same when a client refused to pay for some menus we'd printed them. We walked into the restaurant and took the menus back, some of them out of the hands of customers. That showed them.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You have to have a special type of discipline to be your own boss. Years ago I was free-lancing, writing custom application software for accounting, inventory control, fleet logistics, etc, for local businesses. Usually, my wife would have to tell me several times that supper was ready, and after eating, I would return to the keyboard "just to finish up this little bit of code", until she would holler at me that it was midnight and I should come to bed. I was one of the worst bosses I've ever worked for.

Yep, for most of the last seven years I've worked 80-100 hours a week or more. I do get to take extended breaks from time to time, but hopefully not too extended...... Its always scary to not be busy. But what happens is that the line between work and home disappears. This is why I had to set up an office outside of the house. Otherwise the business is always right in my face and I never stop thinking about it. In fact, even while in the office, PF has been great for this. It gives me a chance to take mental breaks and think about something else for awhile.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

They called.

 

[Danger]

Congrats, I think...