Rant! Creative Freedom

[Stacey K]

My anxiety is high right now over a small job. I have a customer who makes cornhole boards. I've cut dozens of stencils for her. She sends me a pic or a drawing and I tell her depending on the quantity if you give me
"creative freedom" there's little to no set-up charge - usually I spend 5-7 minutes. NEVER a problem!!! It's some quick cash for me with very little time and virtually no material costs. And I get to do them at my leisure. Lots of designs, never had a complaint! I love this customer!!! Creative freedom and quick money!!!

Her niece calls me and needs a stencil ASAP. Now normally, I would say no because this type of thing never ends well, but her Aunt gives me a lot of business so I made an exception. I said send me a pic and I'll charge a minimum set-up fee as long as I have creative freedom...I'll get it super close but it might not be exact. OK GREAT she says! The set-up was EXACT. 17 text messages, 2 phone calls and now she argues on the phone with me because I said if she wants proofs with 17 different fonts and size changes she's getting charged my hourly rate! I don't work for free! Well, she knows SO much better than I do because she's an "interior designer". Well honey, if you have a sign in a living room with "location coordinates" that are 1.5" high in bold font, EVERYONE IN THE LIVING ROOM WILL BE ABLE TO READ IT. And honestly - NOBODY WILL READ THESE COORDINATE BECAUSE NOBODY CARES WHAT YOUR HOUSE COORDINATES ARE. And now I've wasted another 10 minutes typing about this! LOL Back to work.

 

[Gino]

Yep, they're the worse kinds...... nieces, something-in-law, friends kid and so on. Vent, get it outta your system and don't call the aunt. No one likes a tattletale. Do what she wants and then never do another thing for her. Learn the lesson that you said upfront..... you normally say no and set the guidelines. You broke your own rules/policy, so don't upset the niece. Not her fault she's a nincompoop.

 

[Jburns]

as an interior designer, she needs to provide the font name. thats what a professional would do.

she can shop for font names herself

 

[rjssigns]

Client had seen my previous work. Was told to do what I thought would look good. 20 revisions later... Nature of the beast with some of my projects so I plan for it.

 

[Stacey K]

She just came in to pick it up. She said it was WAY too big. LMAO. She did give me a few dollar tip for being a PITA so looking at it from "the glass is half full" - another happy ending LOL

 

[binki]

We had an almost identical thing happen but we didn't even quote it. The number of items and the quantities were a red flag to us and I said I wasn't interested. She tried to argue with me but I just told her to go to someplace like cafe press. The referrer asked me why I didn't take it and I told him it seemed like a way to lose a lot of money. Case closed. He is still with us.

 

[Jburns]

She just came in to pick it up. She said it was WAY too big. LMAO. She did give me a few dollar tip for being a PITA so looking at it from "the glass is half full" - another happy ending LOL

crazy - a designer that didnt specify size either.