mikeofaustin
Bronze Member
Own your own business? What are some of 'your' stories
Since I've started up my own LLC, I've gotten quite accustomed to dealing with customers more than ever. The first rule is, "Customers are like birds. They'll sit on your branch, and then fly away without the slightest notion of what spooked 'em off". (this is the most upsetting, but that's beside the point).
But aside from having an 800 number that used to belong to Leham Bros, and getting calls all the time requesting tax forms, its' quite humorous sometimes. I got question the other day from someone that wanted to know if I can make him a device, that he paid for the schematics for, to make water into vehicle fuel. He was obviously taken for a ride, but gee-wiz, this is silly.
..and there's always the horrible client that you end up changing your terms and conditions because of what they're currently doing to you... Like my current client that I've been working with for the last few months that should have taken only 2 weeks. They stop, go, stop, go... and changing all the specs on the fly. What turned out to be 1 board, turned out to be 5. I broke down and told the guy "Look, every time I see a light at the end of the tunnel with you guys, it's really just stars from being hit with new changes". (He was nice enough to let me requote, despite me not having some of these specific terms at the time).
AND, then there's the guys from overseas. They'll want you to build them this and that, and they send this to you from a GMAIL account. So, you tell them up front, that because of their lack of 'business front' that you'll need payment up front, or at least a credit application filled out. Then you hear not another word from them.
But, I guess what's good about the whole endeavor so far, is that once you get a good client on board, they'll know your work, and they trust you to deliver... so they keep coming back.
Since I've started up my own LLC, I've gotten quite accustomed to dealing with customers more than ever. The first rule is, "Customers are like birds. They'll sit on your branch, and then fly away without the slightest notion of what spooked 'em off". (this is the most upsetting, but that's beside the point).
But aside from having an 800 number that used to belong to Leham Bros, and getting calls all the time requesting tax forms, its' quite humorous sometimes. I got question the other day from someone that wanted to know if I can make him a device, that he paid for the schematics for, to make water into vehicle fuel. He was obviously taken for a ride, but gee-wiz, this is silly.
..and there's always the horrible client that you end up changing your terms and conditions because of what they're currently doing to you... Like my current client that I've been working with for the last few months that should have taken only 2 weeks. They stop, go, stop, go... and changing all the specs on the fly. What turned out to be 1 board, turned out to be 5. I broke down and told the guy "Look, every time I see a light at the end of the tunnel with you guys, it's really just stars from being hit with new changes". (He was nice enough to let me requote, despite me not having some of these specific terms at the time).
AND, then there's the guys from overseas. They'll want you to build them this and that, and they send this to you from a GMAIL account. So, you tell them up front, that because of their lack of 'business front' that you'll need payment up front, or at least a credit application filled out. Then you hear not another word from them.
But, I guess what's good about the whole endeavor so far, is that once you get a good client on board, they'll know your work, and they trust you to deliver... so they keep coming back.