Clients

How do you potty train a client?

Do they want you to be a true consultant and tell them what to do and they will actually value your input and do it?

Or do they think that they are so damn smart that they can tell you how to do your job?

It is important to try and figure out what the client wants.

They will fire you if you are trying to be a consultant but they want a gopher.

They will fire you if they want a consultant and you are being a gopher.

Eventually both you and they figure out which one they want.

Hell, I will do the most idiotic thing in the world if you want to pay me for it, but only after I have tried to be the consultant with you multiple times and you have shown that you only want a gopher or yes man. Well I can be that too.

Nevermind I have a masters degree in business, have my own business, been in the web business over 10 years, created more web sites than I can remember, have/had my own web business, managed tens of thousands of dollars of clients money to promote their web sites and saw what worked and what didn't. Nevermind all that, you oh client are so wise that you surfed around, or read some article from some reporter who didn't know a damn thing... you oh client I will do what you want since you are so damn smart and opinionated.(and I believe in not casting my pearls before swine, and you have proved yourself to be swine and I would rather take your money than try and do what is best for you, since you have proven time and again that my expertise is not worthy compared to your subjective list of sites you like and crazy ideas you have about things that work)

If a client TRUELY will listen and give heed to an experts view.. even if they don't agree or implement their ideas ALL OF THE TIME, but at least give it some credence, then the expert will continue to tell them what is best for them, even when it is not what they want to hear. In the end the one who listens to the expert will probably do better than the guy who thinks he knows everything about something he knows little about.

But have it your way, if you discount someone's advice enough, sooner or later they get tired of trying to help you do things better and just give up and say, "yes I can do that for you." and hang up the phone do what you want and invoice you for it, telling their buddies in the business what an idiot you are and never giving anyone your web site as a reference since everyone but you knows that you wear no clothes.

I go both ways, both ways I make money and one of the ways you end up making more money.