freelanceswitch.com— "Brilliant post. So true..." "Deliciously true and categorised very well."All those different types of clients you meet as a freelancer... categorized up into 12 client types...
Apr 13, 2007View in Crawl 4
I'd also like to add Client Breed #14The one looking for a friend or someone to talk to.How to spot them: Has a long list of mundane busy work. Spends the vast majority of their time talking. Since you don't want to be rude, you end up spending more time socializing and listening to them than actually workingPros: You get paid to socializeCons: You feel bad because you have spent who knows how much time on the project and have not really accomplished much, yet somehow they are ecstatic about your work.How to work with one: Be a good listener. Try to have a conversation with them.
I need to print this out and put it on my wall. The hands on client is the absolute worst. I've worked with clients who have the technical know how, know EXACTLY what they want and are so specific with details they could literally do it themselves. If they know so freaking much why would they hire someone else to take care of it? They'll yap your ear off for an hour about some small detail regarding the project but then they say "Oh, but put your own spin on it". The worst.
I freelanced for... ahhhhhhh CHARLIE!!!!! ( PTSD it isn't just for War Veterans ) ... and I encountered all of them except for the Design-By-Committee client. Wow I don't miss freelancing. It seemed so romantic and novel at first, but that faded as soon as I hit a Low-Tech Client that thought he was Hands-On and kept on trying to convince me to add a 1.1mb jpg as a background to his website (this was even more absurd back in the 90s when no one had cable). We went back and forth on that for 3 days solid! He had a buddy that worked as a SDSL provisioner and had convinced him that since he was in B2B all of his clients would have blazing fast SDSL or T1s, so this was a totally logical thing to do. I think his buddy was just trying to saturate the net with crap to make people on dial up think about upgrading sooner. I have an amusing story about what I did to a #4 Paranoid Client, but the statute of limitations isn't up yet.
The cartoons are ok, but the profiles are dead on. My favorites are the uninterested clients. They do develop into cash cows over time. Sure they require management but that's ok, I'm good at that.
How about, a client who just won a lottery ?they say that people who win lottery, spend like crazy !santa, give me a client who just won a lottery , give me a client who just won a lottery, give me a.... !!
oatmealApr 13, 2007
This is awesome, the "Decision-By- Committee Client" reminds me of this:How to ruin a Web Design - The Design Curve<a class="user" href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-ruin-a-web-design-the-design-curve">http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-ruin-a-web-design-the-design-curve</a>
psykivApr 14, 2007
I'd also like to add Client Breed #14The one looking for a friend or someone to talk to.How to spot them: Has a long list of mundane busy work. Spends the vast majority of their time talking. Since you don't want to be rude, you end up spending more time socializing and listening to them than actually workingPros: You get paid to socializeCons: You feel bad because you have spent who knows how much time on the project and have not really accomplished much, yet somehow they are ecstatic about your work.How to work with one: Be a good listener. Try to have a conversation with them.
Closed AccountApr 14, 2007
I think "no" was where it was supposed to end.
robotplagueApr 14, 2007
I need to print this out and put it on my wall. The hands on client is the absolute worst. I've worked with clients who have the technical know how, know EXACTLY what they want and are so specific with details they could literally do it themselves. If they know so freaking much why would they hire someone else to take care of it? They'll yap your ear off for an hour about some small detail regarding the project but then they say "Oh, but put your own spin on it". The worst.
Closed AccountApr 14, 2007
therefore superiorand what about the I like it but change the entire look client
detritusApr 14, 2007
I freelanced for... ahhhhhhh CHARLIE!!!!! ( PTSD it isn't just for War Veterans ) ... and I encountered all of them except for the Design-By-Committee client. Wow I don't miss freelancing. It seemed so romantic and novel at first, but that faded as soon as I hit a Low-Tech Client that thought he was Hands-On and kept on trying to convince me to add a 1.1mb jpg as a background to his website (this was even more absurd back in the 90s when no one had cable). We went back and forth on that for 3 days solid! He had a buddy that worked as a SDSL provisioner and had convinced him that since he was in B2B all of his clients would have blazing fast SDSL or T1s, so this was a totally logical thing to do. I think his buddy was just trying to saturate the net with crap to make people on dial up think about upgrading sooner. I have an amusing story about what I did to a #4 Paranoid Client, but the statute of limitations isn't up yet.
kd1sApr 14, 2007
The cartoons are ok, but the profiles are dead on. My favorites are the uninterested clients. They do develop into cash cows over time. Sure they require management but that's ok, I'm good at that.
jasgApr 14, 2007
How about, a client who just won a lottery ?they say that people who win lottery, spend like crazy !santa, give me a client who just won a lottery , give me a client who just won a lottery, give me a.... !!
soapycubApr 14, 2007
Last client I had was a blend of low tech and always urgent -- can't begin to tell you how painful those 3 weeks were. *shudder*
azr3nApr 26, 2007
<a class="user" href="http://www.duggmirror.com">http://www.duggmirror.com</a>