CLIENTS THAT SUCK

Just a while ago, I am quite a good member on the leakforuns. This one guy had to pay me $5 for some GIF I did. It was a very small work and dnall payment. I did the work, PMed him with a watermark. 3 months passed he hasn't replied yet. Sucker is cheap AF cant donate $5

>>299369
Always get paid up front.

I had this british guy a few months back who used a fake name. He hired me to make a better version of the site that the previous designer couldn't do.

It was a fixed rate for a website. He kept asking for more and more details that weren't discussed originally. Everything from animated slides to blatant data entry. When I asked for money he said 'I paid you for the website. The website isn't done yet". After awhile he would become irate telling me I was terrible at everything.

He still owed me like $1500 by the way.

So I kept pressuring him to pay me. He would get angry and said he paid me already so I called my bank and they said his payment was rejected because he didn't spell my name right. Weeks ago. And they had been notified.

The guy would demand I have a skype with him at the drop of the had despite the fact that I had other clients and he didn't actually schedule ahead of time. He would call me, purposely, by the wrong name to make me feel inferior.

Ended up only getting 5 grand out of the guy for a website worth like 30k.

>>299399
>5 grand out of the guy for a website worth like 30k.
How many pages? How big is that website to ask for 30k?

>>299399
no website is worth $30,000 what in the actual fuck were you making? and why didn't you tell him that he spelt your name wrong?

>>299405
>no website is worth $30,000
child detected

>>299403


It was a very large site. Lots of content each with it's own media and tagging system. On top of that there were a lot of educational animations that I had to build from scratch (not like a visual composer plugin). They also worked for big name clients. Like the biggest.

>>299405
What? That's garbage. The most professional companies spend at leas that or more. Some companies have an entire department for their website which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.

>>299436
yuge

>>299438
lol


It was kind of limitless but after 30ish page I let them take it over and pay a kid to do it. Initially I was supposed to make a template. Think like a site that sells music. A portion for an album cover (that you first have to crop or literally search the internet for because they didn't give me all the images), a part for their official logo, title, sub title, copy that fit JUST right but was still uniform across all pages, social media stuff, quotes, an animated counter with 8-12 different statistics and icons that had to be made custom for each. There's more to it than this but that was one portion for a section of pages.

>>299363
Had a client's company file for bankruptcy and didn't pay my final invoice (nearly £7k)

Also had to chase a client once for 3 months to pay £250.

File: 14807940973160.png (299KB, 500x432px) Image search: [Google]

299KB, 500x432px

well know rich guy in our town "forgot" to pay my work for 3 month when making parties and BBQ worth more than my work. then someone incidently broke the legs of his wife and he came back next day with money. the world is really strange place.

>>299473
>then someone incidently broke the legs of his wife and he came back next day with money.
You are a man of our time.

>>299473
Is she hot though?

>>299473
Rich people like you to be desperate for their money.

>>299399
>falling for the I pay you when its done meme

>>299523
I got the money in the end, it was just a hassle.

>>299589

If you're open to advise, i'd say that structuring interviews/revisions into the payment plans would be a sound idea. Say, for 1500 he gets the website and 3 revisions, if he keeps asking for more revisions/skype calls, just keep upping the price.

It's what we do in our studio, interviews are also work hours and should be billed. (luckily we're in a position to turn down jews that don't want to accept these terms, you might not.)

>>299463
and that wasnt a red flag for you?

>>299605
I'm in desperate need for some advice. Here's the quick story:
>So I studied graphic design and photography.
>Finished the program, got immediately hired at a photography studio.
>I get like, 3 clients a year for graphic design work, but need to pump up my portfolio, if I want to branch out to another job.

Now my question is, can I take on a bunch of personal projects and add them into my portfolio? As long as I'm designing them for a purpose, which I can back up during an interview?

>>299649
Of course you can, a portfolio is not only for things you have done in the pass for other business. But also to show what you are capable of doing, try making stuff that is relevant to the client that you are trying to work for.

>>299649
>So I studied graphic design and photography.
>can I take on a bunch of personal projects and add them into my portfolio?

Did you really study graphic design?

>>299658
Youd be surprised, Im almost done with my Graphic Design major and ive only had ONE professor talk to the class about pricing our work, and he was my ILLUSTRATION professor. none of my GD profs ever talked about it

Red flags:
Repeatedly calling you by the wrong name. Why a red flag? Your name is generally right in front of them. Managers learn that doing this reduces an employees self esteem/worth and you're more likely to do more for less money.

Low budget with vague description. They'll often reveal the complications after you've signed the deal so make sure the contract is specific.

Undesirability to pay up front or a deposit. They probably don't have the money. They probably won't have the money.

Asking for a budget breakdown or large amounts of details of your process. You're basically doing free consulting and they'll take that information and hire cheaper people to do each part, if not themselves.

Bringing up free website builders. Clients try using the "I can get a free website, why should I pay you more?" To get you to lower the price. They don't want to pay you what it's worth. They don't want you to know they are otherwise incapable of creating a good end product themselves.

Won't give you a budget up front but instead use your hourly until... "what, why is it taking so long??? 40 hours??? It's just a simple _____". If it's so simple they would've done it or had an intern so it.

Basically shitty clients will try to manipulate you into thinking your time isn't worth money. Don't let them.

>>299665
>https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSkoolRocks/playlists

>>299649

You can and you should. I always tell my students that their portfolio should not only reflect what they do, but what they want to do.

>>299697
This advice is kind of revolutionary for me in terms of portofolio building (am still a student). Thanks!

>>299701

What is it that you want to do, at any rate? Any creatives you admire and follow? I'm curious anon.

>>299703
Storyboard. I made a few projects, and found it to be quite fun, so I am thinking of building a portofolio of that. Though, I am also capable of concept art and am not so bad at graphical design.

John Harris, John Barkey, a bunch of pin-up artists, and many classical artists. Little to do with storyboarding, I'm afraid.

I am just afraid of the industry. It really seems like it's impossible to get out there.

>>299705

There's about 3 ways of "getting out there" and only one of them is dependable, and that's the cliché "work your ass off".

I.E, go on behance, promote your stuff, make yourself visible. Accrue followers, let yourself be seen. Also it might be a good idea to directly e-mail blogs/websites that promote up and coming designers, they might take an interest on your work.

A very considerable amount of costumers reach me/my studio through our instagram/behance profiles, because they want what you've done for others, it's a very viable way of finding job opportunities.

>>299708
The "make yourself visible" is the hardest part. But, as you said: gotta work your ass off.

Thanks. I'll look more into Behance.

>>299665
really late reply but this is because all professors outside of traditional arts majors expect you get a job or a career, not work freelance.

>>299818
At any rate, freelancing right after you finish your major is risky and difficult. Finding a temporal job would probably be the wisest idea.

>>299818
Which is too damn bad because you make a lot more doing freelance than at a corporate job.

I never understood why college teach you how to serve the man instead of teaching you how to own your own business in your field.... oh wait.

>>299363
get contracts or half payments

>>299670
>Basically shitty clients will try to manipulate you into thinking your time isn't worth money. Don't let them.

This. You go to a doctor because you've sliced open your hand chopping some onions. They stich it up and send you home. You could have probably done it yourself. But your not paying for the procedure, your paying them because they are professional, are reliable and have experience.

You have invested time, effort and probably not a small amount of money into developing your design skills. Clients aren't just paying for your use illustrator, anyone can learn to use a computer program, They're paying for your design skills and judgement. A job may be a couple of days work, but it is supported by the years of experience and development you have.

D'ont undersell yourself.

Mike Monteiro's "Fuck You Pay Me" should be required viewing for anyone working freelance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3RJhoqgK8

If a potential client doesn't want to sign a contract/pay a percentage upfront be prepared to get fucked in the ass and don't bitch about it later you clueless faggot.

>>299363
Got approached by the owner of Picarto.tv to do a painting of their mascot. He never paid the invoice and kept blaming it on the person in charge of finances.

>>299869
>At any rate, freelancing right after you finish your major is risky and difficult. Finding a temporal job would probably be the wisest idea.
Truth.

Freelancing means you have to know how to conduct business: pricing, negotiating, marketing, budgeting.

Most design courses don't include any business classes so you walk out into the world ready to be ass-raped.

Wanna save yourself a fuckton of headaches? First question you should ask any potential client after they give you an overview of what they want is this:
What's your budget for the project?

>>299363
Not so much sucked, he was just plain weird and promised big things but basically ended up paying me only $100 and then fucked off. I got asked to make a string of fake UFO landings in After Effects that he then would try to pass off as real on his own website. He'd download the footage off of a Russian Youtube variant and had me create some funny looking blurry shaped things that fly by. He promised me the minute he got famous he would take me to Hollywood where he would become the next Steven Spielberg and pay me handsomely for my work.

Turns out he was just some bloke going through a really shitty divorce with court cases and he was on the wrong end of the money train.

Definitely the weirdest job I ever took on.

>>300030

This really sounds like Scher in Helvetica. You speak the truth anon.

>>299405
How's college going?