On 23 Jul 98, Jack Killpatrick wrote:
> Now, something to consider with this idea that you have is "do I want to
> maintain all these little sites?" With all those little sites will come
> people with little money and lots to learn. You will have a larger client
> base, and thus more people to keep happy. Personally, I prefer a
> relatively small client base, which translates into less people calling me
> on the phone and asking me questions.
This is a valid consideration indeed. I'm in the fortunate position of not
especially needing small jobs -- 95% of my income comes from large,
longish-term contracts with the federal government -- so I don't court
work from small businesses with limited budgets and even less knowledge.
(For that matter, I've even turned down a couple of such jobs lately.)
Because I just don't need or want the aggravation.
I think you can reach a point of diminishing returns quickly enough: unless
you can clearly establish that for their fee the client gets a one-off, no-
future-support site, any modest profits you may earn will soon be eaten
up by subsequent handholding, complaint resolution and so on.
Of the various contracts I've had the past three years, only one has
turned out badly, a simple 20-page site I undertook for a local business
organization. I agreed to work for considerably less than I normally would,
and (fatally) didn't bother with a written contract. To make a long story
short, it was a nightmare... the clueless client's expectations kept
changing and escalating, the timeframe grew ever longer, and eventually
we were almost at the point of lawsuits -- I was totally fed up, had long
since lost more money than I'd earned, and just wanted out of the whole
mess. All for a meager $1,000.
There may indeed be money to be made servicing a *large* base of first-
time, low-budget clients, but I for one wouldn't want the work. I just
have too short a fuse, or perhaps it's more that I "don't suffer fools
gladly", which these people certainly were. A cautionary tale, for me
anyway.
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Brent Eades, Almonte, Ontario
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Town of Almonte site: http://www.almonte.com/
Business site: http://www.federalweb.com
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