There is no best answer in my opinion. In 1988 & 89 I worked for myself as many of you do.
Back in those days the number one application was sbt running under sco xenix or lantastic or stand alone and I specialized in sbt and custom reports, modifications to the screens and stuff like that and provided a decent living for myself because I was willing to support the systems nationwide. And then one day I ran into a client in San Antonio and he wanted fixed price work, so I bid 2,500 or 5,000 (not sure anymore) and got the job and the client from hell because he was always demanding one more thing because I should have known what he wanted and each trip was a round trip of about 150 miles and after awhile I reached the point where you are at now when I considered the work that I was doing was no longer part of what I originally bid and I told him so and said no more. He threatened to sue and I told him, go for it. Never heard from him again. It could be because he knew I didn't have anything worth suing over, but I think it was because he knew he had been using me and that was when I got out of working for myself and went to work for the headhunters (maxim, edp, tsg, etc). During the period of 90 to 96 or so, a lot of the contracts I did were accounting and/or sbt based. Then in 2007 when I hadn't had any work for a very long while and hadn't looked at sbt since the mid 90's I stumbled on a sbt gig in San Marcos and jumped all over it as the guy wanted to integrate his custom software with sbt and I said no problem because I had a lot of years experience with it. While I was mapping out the fields and conversing with his 20 year old college student, I mentioned that I would have to research it because some things were handled differently in the 07 version and he pulled the plug and refused to pay me the remaining 500 or so because it was obvious that I didn't understand sbt and that I had lied to him. I asked him, are you basing this on a 20 year old college student that has never even been out in the real world or are you going to listen to me when I advise you that things change from the mid 90s to the 07 era. It could have been a good gig, but either this guy didn't want to pay me, or he's just a fool and I'm not sure which, but I can guarantee you that if he was to call me today, he would have to pay me up front and on a retainer basis from here on out where the retainer would be x number of dollars and I would invoice against that until it was used up and then he would need to renew the retainer and repeat the process. I guess in summary the reason I don't go back into business for myself is these two experiences and lack of operating capital. Hope this helps Mike as there is no right answer in my opinion and only you can make the determination as to which path to choose because you will have to live with the outcome. Virgil Bierschwale http://www.VetsFIndingVets.org http://www.KeepAmericaAtWork.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of MB Software Solutions,LLC Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 2:23 AM To: ProFox Email List Subject: [NF] How would you handle this customer (not wanting to pay yoursupport offer but less)? I offer to support my app he's had since 2005 (and not paid anything yet received upgrades for free in past 3 years). There was no extended support contract. I had an initial contract to provide software and did so. I'm now trying to get clients to sign on for annual support so my work is compensated (rather than just for the good of the software and cause anymore). I offer to client for $2000. He says no way more than $1500. I had thought $3000 was fair and felt I was giving him a great deal at $2000. His investment in it is about $15k-20k? since 2005. Last payment made on contract back in 2007. Well, as the story goes, he now tries to get my app to work on his Windows 7 box and can't get it running. I'm pretty confident I could get it running for him, but don't really want to do the "ala carte" support fee so as to open doors to other clients who want the ala carte option as well. Now he emails me with the following: "We are having a challenging year as everyone seems to be having. Looking to help you out, but I also need help. Need to know if you can get the program to work on latest window version? What can you offer? Let me know what your thought are." His remarks of the past were that he'd gladly test my software for me and provide feedback and insight "in order to help make it more marketable for MBSS." I basically told him that I had another individual that was going to be my tester and although I gladly welcomed his testing and feedback so that the app was better for him and other customers in the long run, he'd have to pay for support. (No more "why pay for the cow when you can get the milk for free" going on here.) The software really hasn't done anything and nor do I expect it to without me putting a much more significant time (& more -- like advertising/marketing/sales) investment in it. I've put significant $$$ into it already and am not willing to work on it for free any more. Time to better manage my time, or at least enjoy life a bit more. My initial thought is to simply say: "Sure, I can get it working on the latest Windows version. Just renew at the $2000/annually and you'll get 24 hours of support for the year, and whatever hours aren't spent in support, I'll gladly credit towards any future development work you'd like done." Girlfriend advises me to just let him hear static for a few days. I'm usually on top of this stuff and don't keep people waiting. What do you think? What would you do? TIA! -- Mike Babcock, MCP MB Software Solutions, LLC President, Chief Software Architect http://mbsoftwaresolutions.com http://fabmate.com http://twitter.com/mbabcock16 [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/e00961422b554030b5d97ad345af7...@stanpc ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
