As entrepreneurs, too often we take on jobs that turn into nightmares. As we develop over time, we start to realize that not all clients are cut from the same cloth. We turn a blind eye to unprofessional comments, unpaid extra requests, and general shenanigans that the average 9-5er will never have to deal with.
A friend hooked me up with a sweet deal at the time. A major corporate level firm needed a magazine created for them. My friend had been working with them for a few months and we agreed to the following terms:
* I would retain editorial control
* I would create a 30 page magazine for them and let them use my logo
* I would print 100 copies once approved
Easy right? Not so fast. My first mistake was to not draft a contract. Amateur mistake but I had no idea that the chain of events would occur. If I had a contract, I would have had my deliverables and SCOPE OF RESPONSIBILITY clearly outlined so that my roles would be clear.
I put in a LOT of hours driving to their corporate office. Interviewing 20+ employees. Transcribing their interviews into readable content. Finally I submitted a draft to the designers. Keep in mind 3 months had gone by.
The holidays roll past and I got a single message from the designers saying, "We sent our draft to the CEO for approval. That's what we are waiting on."
Ok, cool. Around the same time, my friend is no longer with the company. The entire marketing staff has either been fired or quit because the company's management has been HIGHLY unprofessional and borderline verbally abusive.
A month rolls past with zero communications. Then I get an email out of the blue from a recently promoted newer hire that has been placed in charge of the project. He has ZERO experience with magazine work. None.
Right out the gate, he is demanding to know why the project is so late, and is asking for a partial refund. I get on the phone with him immediately because he has no idea what's going on.
Keep in mind we are total strangers. His first words to me over the phone were, "I saw your draft. That work wasn't even up to the level someone would read on the shitter."
Great first impression. Super professional. 😮
It would get worse.
I found out that he had the designers make a draft that inserted HIM as one of the interviewees. He kissed an impressive amount of ass and presented himself as some kind of business genius. He added several pages (keep in mind this bumps up my printing costs and was NOT approved by me.)
Immediately, he sent a three page document "that he got from some vendor" that listed out suggested changes. It was in multiple fonts and was extremely sarcastic: "Cmon, who is using gradients? Its not 1994!!" This document would add an easy 55 hours of work to myself and the designers.
At this point, I realized that these modifications were illegal. He might have approval authority but he did NOT have the ability to override my editorial control, add content that I did not approve of, nor INSERT HIS INTERVIEW in my issue. He also did not have the right to get suggestions from "some vendor" that adds to my work hours unpaid.
I wrote him a very direct email and called him so that we could agree on this project. I offered to walk away and refund him the cost of printing. That way he could make it however he wanted. He agreed.
The next day he wrote me a summary email and cc'd the CEO. In it he listed several bullet points outlining what I agreed to. Release of editorial control, payment of printing cost, and his assumption of control of this project with no further deliverables from me.
Then I saw it.
The final bullet was the last straw.
"Rob agrees to pay company a partial refund."
Umm, no I didn't. You just lied about a conversation topic that we never had.
This clown had inserted that at the very bottom hoping to get me to agree to pay printing AND a partial refund in writing.
At that point, I responded and cc'd the CEO outlining the four breaches of the proposal agreed to by the original deal with my friend and I. I consulted a lawyer who advised me to bail on this deal ASAP.
I wrote a check for a few thousand to cover printing cost and walked away from this nightmare. Did it sting a little? Yes. But in the long run, I was able to focus on clients that were amazing. The ones that were grateful and didn't try and pull shady shit like this.
The guy I had the issues with ended up writing to my friend begging for help because he was way over his head. Apparently he pissed off the designers, myself, another vendor and now management wanted his head on a stick because he isn't nearly as smart as he thought he was.
My friend happily wrote out a detailed response that was appropriate to this guy's level of ego.
Lesson learned: Fire your worst clients. They aren't worth the headache.
