Ya know how using "invisible text" is bad black hat? Am now wondering, if the SEs would get angry with just tiny hidden text on the bottom of a page that reads, "Created by __________ in _______ (the year) and something about a copyright that will be deleted once the site is paid for?! Seems to me that would bring good proof to a court, when you've got yourself some real winners for customers.

And, speaking of court, I have no idea how it works for the rest of the world, but would think this would be rather an obvious concept for countries -- "small claims court." In the US, if you have a dispute for $5000 and less, you have to pay less then $100 to file the papers to go to court, but don't require a lawyer. (Loser usually pays the other person's court fees, but not necessarily lawyers' fees.) Now, some of the stories sound like they would win, so the horror stories would be somewhat less horrific. (Might be me, but just going to court, even if I'm the claimant, makes me nervous -- so rather horrific in itself!) Small claims courts are a perfect way for you to be heard, and, at the very least, the perfect way for CFH (Clients from Hell) to waste their money on their lawyers, since there generally is no particular advantage to having a lawyer there. I've only gone twice, and won both times (although the later was a waste of time, since it was still up to me to get the money from the CFH.) Of course, in my country, there are also statues of limitations for how long you can take to collect your money, so this might be too late, even if your countries' have such law, but good to be armed to reduce the number of CFH. Just bringing this up, in case you have never checked into your country's laws for "minor" offenses like these.

Now, my story (which isn't one of a web designer, etc., but still fits under the topic, somewhat) and includes a court scene.

My secretarial services business, included a wide variety of services, such as resume writing and cover letter writing. Where I live, the average cost for just the resume is between $75 for boiler plate resumes upgraded to $250 for truly professional, well established resume writers. Considering the time and effort to create such a resume, these are fair prices, BUT also out of the league for skilled laborers and office workers, as well as students, fresh out of college, and I live in a blue-collar neighborhood. I decided to eat a little of the time involved as a service to my area of the city, and only charged $50-$55. Got a lady asking for the second hardest kind of resume to do (CVs are the hardest) -- a stay-at-home Mom reentering the work force after 20 years. Doubly difficult, because the only position she had before Mom was computer-entry back when computers took up entire rooms and entering data included those punch cards, and her family never had a home computer., so she had no usable computer skills fitting in with that time period. But, like most Moms, she had spent some time doing volunteer work of one kind or enough, so I used the proper kind of formatting to show off her skills, instead of doing the chronological variety for resumes.

Now, I used to be able to whip up a great resume in about an hour, and then proof it the following day with fresh eyes, taking merely 2 hours for one. (My pay was $30 per hour, which also covered overhead, marketing, and the like, but this was also 10 years ago.) Hers was tough though, so took twice as long. Now part of my service was to let the customer take their time, look the resume over, even take it home with them, if they'd feel more comfortable, then bring it back, (assumed the next day) with corrections, suggestions, or questions, if needed, before printing out a revised one for them to scrutinize, before printing out 10 copies for them.

I usually told folks, up front, that money was due before hand, but I'd keep working with them on their resume until it became exactly what they wanted, but, naturally, she came in the middle of a busy day, when I spent most of it with one customer after another every hour, not getting much time to actually DO some work, until after dinner, and, with the inevidible late customers, I just didn't have time, or forgot, to tell her that part, when she left with the intermediate resume to adjust, so I billed her after the 4th day. No response. No response for the next 4 months for follow-up calls (didn't nag, just occasional calls to her answering machine) and statements, including interest rates of 1% tacked on, per month.

It cost $30 for court filing for a bill under $60, but she annoyed me for obvious reasons, and well, I worked hard on that thing. (Got a letter from one of those televised court shows asking if I'd like to appear on that, but calculated the costs -- travel and reputation wise -- and declined.) Got a note from the local court asking if we would mind mediation instead. No problem, so met her a month later at the court house. Mediator saw us one at a time, me first, since it was my complaint. Naturally, I won, which was announced to both of us in the same small room. As she handed me the $60, she said, "You promised to keep working with me until it was to my specifications."

Unfortunately, I was just so dumbfounded, I merely stared at her in shock, mouth opened. Wasn't until she left that the obvious words formed in my head, "...well, yeah, but not for FREE!" Yeesh! Imagine this lady at her doctor's office or a car repair place -- "Just give me a few months to really check out what you've done, before I pay you!" Doh!

One thing I had going for my business, might benefit the web designing business. There is an association for secretarial services and for resume writers that included message boards and libraries of legal forms and articles about how to do it. The message board actually had a section for CFH, for two purposes -- help others learn from our mistakes AND to share legal documents for clients to sign to make sure the unforseen would be covered. Thank God for the legal paper section. If I didn't use that service, I would have lost thousands when I simply was unable to eat those problems!

Get enough people sharing their misery, and you're in the beginning of a good networking group that can help you from making the same mistakes they've already learned about, the hard way! (Hint hint)

Just a passing thought. Why dont we all hide comments reffering to us in the code? That way we can use that as a seperate way to prove that whats ours is ours... if its hidden well enough it wont be removed by those would be pirates (especially if it can be hidden in a stack of java script )

Ryan_steyn wrote:

Just a passing thought. Why dont we all hide comments reffering to us in the code? That way we can use that as a seperate way to prove that whats ours is ours... if its hidden well enough it wont be removed by those would be pirates (especially if it can be hidden in a stack of java script )

Better idea!

MrStitch wrote:

2) Quoting people is difficult. As long as you know that your skills are superior than most out there, and offer them at a competitive rate, then you got nothing to lose by telling them "That's my going rate". You've got skill, and you deserve to get paid for it. If they're not willing to pay, then let them walk.... you've got a business to run. Trust me on this.... keep your quotes short and sweet, yet positive. The worse thing you can do sometimes is 'Over Sell' your product/skills. When that happens, you start to bring yourself down to their level, letting them treat you like you're just some average Joe, and what you do can be bought for $2.99 at Wal-Mart.

That is such an important point you've made, because if you sell yourself short, you are not only doing yourself an injustice, but you are contributing to the culture of idiots that want everything for free.  If you are good at what you do, you don't have to justify your prices.

MrStitch wrote:

3) Your boss will always suck, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Precisely!  This is one of the reasons I went into business for myself because otherwise you have to get the stupid client comments second hand from a stupid boss...and sometimes if you're unlucky your boss will be even more stupid than your clients, for example:
Ex boss:  If I use Microsoft Outlook and Client Acme uses Outlook Express, will they still get my emails?
Me: Yes
Ex boss:  Are you sure?



Lastly I want to add another pearl of wisdom to your points...
4. If a potential client says he wants you to give him a good price because he can get you a lot more work, chances are he will take the work at the discounted price and you will never see that afore mentioned "a lot more work".  Rather tell him that he will be charged normal rates but get a finders fee for any more work he will provide.  Trust me!