Have you ever had that gut feeling when interviewing a potential client that something is ‘off’? But you went ahead and worked with them anyways?

Have you ever had that gut feeling when interviewing a potential client that something is ‘off’? But because you had no ‘evidence’ of what it was, you went ahead and agreed to work with them. Just in case you are the one person out there who hasn’t, let me set the scene.

Client Jones contacted me for a resume. I politely exchanged chitchat on his goals, intention for the project and content that would be pertinent. We agreed on a price and Client Jones decided to hire me. I emailed him the homework assignment to gather the information needed.

Fast forward one month. Being the good business person that I am -
I followed up. Client Jones replies that life has gotten in the way of his completing his homework, but he is still working on it and will get it back to me shortly. At this point I HAD THAT FEELING IN MY GUT THAT THIS ISN’T GOING TO WORK OUT, but I told myself that I can’t just dismiss Client Jones –that wouldn’t be good business. So I hoped for the best and kept him on as a client.

Now, a significant amount of time has passed and I am preparing to leave on vacation. Client Jones calls again, just three days before I am out the door. You guessed it -he needs his project finished quickly -in three days. I politely explained I was leaving on vacation and that I didn’t have time to take on his project before I would leave. I politely explained again, and again, but before I hung up the phone I had agreed to rush his project through to accommodate him.

Of course, at the same time I was wondering what part of “no” the client did not understand, where I was going to get the extra time to complete this project, and I felt very unhappy with myself for giving in.

Are you still with me? Those of you who have encountered Client Jones are nodding and I can almost see the steam escaping from your head. Those of you that haven’t, hang on, there is a point to this story.

I am now committed to work overtime to get this project done. But I can tell I am resisting the task. However, I put my heart and energy into making this document not only good, but great and even get it done within the tight time constraints.

As I email this project to Client Jones, I feel really good having accomplished superwoman feats and I feel as though I could jump tall buildings with a single bound if asked to.

And then I get the call from Client Jones. My heart sinks just by the tone of his voice. He relays that he is disappointed with the outcome and that major revisions would be necessary. Ouch! That stung. Without getting defensive I asked, “Can you give me an example of what you mean by that statement?”

Client Jones cannot exactly point out any particular verbiage or example that is less than perfect. He says it just doesn’t feel right to him. So again, trying to keep in mind that losing my temper would not help the situation I inquired, “Could you give me some specifics so that I might better understand what you think would be a clearer statement?” (Caution: do not take your temperature at this point in time – the mercury could burst.)

Before noon on Friday I receive an email with what was supposed to be the help I needed to get the client’s perspective of how he wanted his resume to showcase him. I pulled up the document with anticipation, hoping for the clue to get inside his head. The document I pulled up was his old resume, the old wording, the old format, and very few changes, ones I could not even begin to grasp as making a difference in the overall resume. My heart sank again. (At this time I was considering putting my heart on a yo-yo string so that I could pull it back up as quickly as it sank because this was happening way too often with this client.)

With critical time passing I did the next best thing and left my office to get my hair and nails done – what any woman would do before leaving on vacation. Right? I have often wondered how men manage that last day in the office.

Time check

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