I’ve got a small series of unfortunate events to convey to you all, especially those that work as consultants.
So, I quit my job as director of engineering of a semi-large operation in OK around May and decided to start my own company that focuses on facility and process design/engineering. At first, I got several jobs that panned out quite well—the folks I did business with were trustworthy and always paid in full, even if they disagreed with my pricing.
Over time though, I started sending preliminary plans and contracts to people without appropriately vetting them or making them sign NDAs. What ended up happening was I caught myself in a situation where I provided countless hours of free work and the client felt they could fill in the gaps so they just ghost me.
All in all, I’ve probably lost out on 80+ hours of billable work—all because I took verbal agreements at face value. This equates to a big bundle of cash, which would have been invaluable to my small operation.
If I had to make a suggestion for anyone doing this type of work:
First thing you do is provide you hourly rates for work.
Create a scope of work and estimate the cost to the client based on 1.
GET A RETAINER. Make sure you cover at least 50% of your projected cost with a retainer, this ensures that your client doesn’t ghost you.
Make sure an NDA is signed as well as a payment contract.
Don’t do too much free work—of course you want to show off the quality of work before you ask someone to pay you $$$, but give too much away and they don’t need you anymore.
That’s about it.
Oh, and I’ve got free slots available if anyone is interested…
Yeah, this is an important lesson. I get EVERYTHING i do vetted by my lawyers. Cost a lot in fees over my time operating, but I’ve avoided any major failures to collect as a result.
Yep I don’t know a single person with lots of skills that does consulting that hasn’t been ripped off at some point or another in this industry by working for free or something like that
Sometimes requiring half up front discourages the Chad’s and their dad’s. The ones that are uncomfortable with it will tell you the type of client you are working with. When I’m unsure of how I feel about someone, when they get that it’ll usually tell me who I’m working with
it’s always a pressure having your here and the information you share!