What should I do about my client's unrealistic expectations?

Re:What should I do about my client's unrealistic expectations? by tptacek on Thursday June 06, 2013 @01:34AM (#5830641)

Sites like Elance are a race to the bottom. Real clients don't haggle over the cost of HTML design; they're not spending "their" money, and the only two metrics they have are (a) not spending so much money that they look like idiots and (b) a successful outcome for the project. Those clients can find (a) on Elance, but not (b), not reliably, and a failed project that costs $1 is much more harmful to a real client than a successful project that cost 2x what it could have.

So my point is: your Elance reputation doesn't matter at all, because you can't sustainably freelance on Elance, and nobody you want to work for gives a shit about your Elance reputation.

If you want the money, deliver what the client asked for; otherwise, write this one off as an inexpensive education.

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Re:What should I do about my client's unrealistic expectations? by larrys on Thursday June 06, 2013 @03:59PM (#5834815)

"and the only two metrics they have are (a) not spending so much money that they look like idiots and (b) a successful outcome for the project."

Absolutely. Having founded (and sold) a printing and graphics company pre-internet the saying back then was "price, quality, speed" pick any two. (Which is used in many businesses obviously).

The only customers worth having really were covered by "a" and "b". You made money on them as you slowly were able to inch up the pricing after initially getting a foot in the door.

The only exception I can think of is when we did government work where the only thing that mattered was price with one exception: If you delivered for the bidding agent they were more likely to call you for projects that they had on short notice where the price wasn't as relevant [1] which is because of "b". Which more or less continues to prove the point you made.

Add: [1] They could pick who the bidders were so they could steer work to a favored bidder if they wanted to.

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Re:What should I do about my client's unrealistic expectations? by tommaxwell on Thursday June 06, 2013 @04:49AM (#5831259)

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll give it my best shot and never use Elance again.

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