[TriLUG] Off topic: Side work

Fri Oct 24 13:21:09 EDT 2008

Yeah, working with small businesses can be a real PITA. I once landed a side job building a website for a real estate company. Things progressed from aggravating to bizarre in a matter of weeks. Eventually the situation got so out of hand that I just tossed the invoice in the trash & deleted the project files. It wasn't even worth the hassle of trying to bill them for time spent. I've since added Real Estate to the growing list of industries I won't willingly contract for. 

--- On Fri, 10/24/08, William Sutton <william at trilug.org> wrote:
From: William Sutton <william at trilug.org>
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Off topic: Side work
To: "Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion" <trilug at trilug.org>
Date: Friday, October 24, 2008, 9:21 PM

I've been bit by another variant as a programmer:  the potential client 
who asks for an estimate for how long it will take to change his (crappy) 
code to do -whatever-.  Last time I ran into that, I spent several hours 
doing an estimate and was told, "Hmm, ok, we'll get back to you."
 They 
got back to me all right--with another request for an estimate for a 
different feature (first one still unimplemented).  Same story.  The third 
time they called, having put many hours of free analysis in with no ROI, I 
told them to find someone else.  For all I know, they still haven't 
changed the code (6-7 years later).

I'm also still waiting on a fellow TriLUG member to get back to me about 
some work I did for him, so... :-}

William Sutton

On Fri, 24 Oct 2008, Greg Brown wrote:

> It's a shame too, because most of these really small companies really
need
> the help.  They've got real problems, a lot of which need to be sorted
out.
> But most of the same companies don't have the money to cover their
wants and
> needs (or mistakes).
>
> Case in point: campground on the coast.  I installed a "guest
Wi-Fi" system
> for then and it works well enough given the raw materials I've had to
work
> with (slow and unreliable ISPs, blah blah).  Anyway they hired a new guy
who
> kept saying "gee, at this camp in Arizona where I stayed last time we
raised
> the antenna five feet and it fixed everything."
>
> "Ok, I see where you're going with this and, no.  Don't touch
it.  The
> problem isn't the antenna, we have problems with the IPSs and
throughput
> caps, blah blah blah."
>
> And this morning I get a call that says "Gee, um, can you overnight
fedex us
> down a tower with guy wires?  We raised the antenna last week and it blew
> over in a storm last night,"
>
> Me: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!  (like I have one "in stock"..
I have a
> "day job" that takes most of my time, you konw)  (silencing and
collecting
> myself).  "Sorry, no."
>
> Anyway, if I added up all the money I spent supporting that place I'd
be in
> the negative I'm sure.  But they are good people and really need help
so I
> bill them what they can pay.
>
> But they're on the own for mucking with my antenna, which I told them
not to
> do.  Sometimes you have to tell the customer "no".  It's
hard to do
> sometimes, especially when you know they need to help and they've
developed
> into friends over the years but it's got to be done on occasion.
>
> Greg
>
> On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 12:24 PM, Tim Jowers <timjowers at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
>> My experience too.  El cheapo's out there.  One business book says
you
>> should fire 20% of your customers. I believe it is more like 80% when
doing
>> computer stuff for small companies and individuals.  The model which
does
>> work is to hire a hisgh school geeks and charge $10/hr. Since the
geeks are
>> 90% clueless, they'll take hours!
>>
>> Now, what you can do is try to upsell them. Maybe you could get in the
>> "backup" business or "hosting" business. You could
make back your money
>> over
>> a year.
>>
>> The hugest ever insult is when a customer asks you to do something
like
>> that
>> or even to fix their computer after software from AOL or somewhere
screws
>> it
>> up and then turns around and pays $1000 for a computer from DELL when
you
>> are selling the same specs for $500. That's when I decided
"side work" is
>> not worth the hassle. People think because they talk to you on in
person
>> they can scam you but somehow will blow money with a faceless company!
>>
>> Tim
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 11:12 AM, Christopher Blackmon
>> <ckblackm at yahoo.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Pfft... I'm voting for Paris Hilton!
>>>
>>> http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/06ae3d8563
>>>
>>> Christopher
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----
>>> From: Aaron Joyner <aaron at joyner.ws>
>>> To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion
<trilug at trilug.org>
>>> Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 10:18:21 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Off topic: Side work
>>>
>>> I really wasn't intending that to be a political reference. 
Our media
>>> is way out of control when any "Joe" +
<profession> reference has
>>> become a political reference.  Please feel free to s/Joe/Suzy/g to
>>> correct my political insensitivities, on all fronts.  :)
>>>
>>> Aaron S. Joyner
>>>
>>> PS - Munger '08!  (even if he won't win, if you agree with
him, make a
>>> statement, do your part for democracy)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> TriLUG mailing list        :
>> http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
>>> TriLUG FAQ  :
http://www.trilug.org/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions
>>>
>> --
>> TriLUG mailing list        :
http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
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>>
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>
>
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