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Ever just have those customers


KrAzY

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ya want to throat punch because they don't know what looks nice? 

I think I just found one. Never mind I have been doing Graphic Art now for around 25 years. They just want to throw clipart together and design it themselves. When you make it look better, they try and tell you it's not as nice.. 

Ok.. Rant over for now. 
I would love to show you what I made for the customer, but I don't want the design getting around the internet and for them to decide I'm bad mouthing them. This could be a $7k job and I don't want to lose it just yet! 
 

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13 minutes ago, KrAzY said:

ya want to throat punch because they don't know what looks nice? 

I think I just found one. Never mind I have been doing Graphic Art now for around 25 years. They just want to throw clipart together and design it themselves. When you make it look better, they try and tell you it's not as nice.. 

Ok.. Rant over for now. 
I would love to show you what I made for the customer, but I don't want the design getting around the internet and for them to decide I'm bad mouthing them. This could be a $7k job and I don't want to lose it just yet! 
 

All joking aside, I have never thought about throat punching a person that pays my salary. 

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27 minutes ago, KrAzY said:

ya want to throat punch because they don't know what looks nice? 

I think I just found one. Never mind I have been doing Graphic Art now for around 25 years. They just want to throw clipart together and design it themselves. When you make it look better, they try and tell you it's not as nice.. 

Ok.. Rant over for now. 
I would love to show you what I made for the customer, but I don't want the design getting around the internet and for them to decide I'm bad mouthing them. This could be a $7k job and I don't want to lose it just yet! 
 

It can be a real problem, when people don't even know basics about composition, colour and visual comprehension/legibility. OR they didn't express properly their needs.  Underneath all this, is being cheap to pay or not pay.

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15 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

All joking aside, I have never thought about throat punching a person that pays my salary. 

Oh the time will come.. salary or not... when they are acting better then you and they do not do the job you do.. it becomes a struggle. 
Their main reason now for not liking the design is because of the graininess of the wood I ran the samples on and not the design... Uggggghhhhh 
It's a simple fix, but don't make a mountain out of a mole hill. 
They literally had a met down over the woods grain! 

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13 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

It can be a real problem, when people don't even know basics about composition, colour and visual comprehension/legibility. OR they didn't express properly their needs.  Underneath all this, is being cheap to pay or not pay.

I aways tell customers.. you pay for what you get.. you want something less expensive then you get something a 5 year old came up with.. you pay for quality not quantity! 

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No, because I'm not a creative type.   Are these people clear about what they want, and it's just something you'd consider not well done or a bad design?  Or are they the type that no matter what you do, it's not quite right, but they can't clearly explain what they want.  I think with the first type, I'd try to make suggestions for a better product, but would ultimately shrug and give them what they want.  But the second type would really frustrate me - they don't know what they want but there are lots of things they don't want.

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21 minutes ago, Kirby said:

No, because I'm not a creative type.   Are these people clear about what they want, and it's just something you'd consider not well done or a bad design?  Or are they the type that no matter what you do, it's not quite right, but they can't clearly explain what they want.  I think with the first type, I'd try to make suggestions for a better product, but would ultimately shrug and give them what they want.  But the second type would really frustrate me - they don't know what they want but there are lots of things they don't want.

I’m going with the type that is the president of the association and does not know what they want, but will be told they are dumb by the others when they present it to the rest of the board for approval 

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1 hour ago, KrAzY said:

They just want to throw clipart together and design it themselves. When you make it look better, they try and tell you it's not as nice.. 

You working with @jsharr on something Cafe related??? Like a - finally - great @Kzoo avatar???

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4 hours ago, KrAzY said:

Factory work is fun.. I miss the stupid shenanigans

There were a few pranks that people that were funny 

One guy who used Vice grips on everything. Red Locktight on the adjuster.

 

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3 hours ago, BR46 said:

There were a few pranks that people that were funny 

One guy who used Vice grips on everything. Red Locktight on the adjuster.

 

My factory work was easier. I a member of the rescue rope crew. We watched the welders while they were confined spaces.. 

my favorite memory is when the people were in a confined space and we were watching as they were setting cheaters to blow the buildup off the boilers. 
 

I talked one of the workers to drop a blasting cap into my coworkers lunchbox during the next scheduled blast.. 

 

after the blast.. it was our scheduled  lunch time. 

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53 minutes ago, KrAzY said:

My factory work was easier. I a member of the rescue rope crew. We watched the welders while they were confined spaces.. 

my favorite memory is when the people were in a confined space and we were watching as they were setting cheaters to blow the buildup off the boilers. 
 

I talked one of the workers to drop a blasting cap into my coworkers lunchbox during the next scheduled blast.. 

 

after the blast.. it was our scheduled  lunch time. 

We had a guy that would put nuts and bolts out in the snow and when he would see someone elbow deep in grease working on a machine with butt crack showing he would go get the bolt out of the snow bank drop a ice cold bolt down the butt crack. 

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21 hours ago, KrAzY said:

Nah... that would never happen.. it's just too unrealistic to create something that stupid! 

All right!  Now that we have eliminated those two folks, I feel better about offering the normal advice/options that my wife and most of my friends who run their own businesses would offer:

1) "Fire" the client.  You don't need the headache. Move on.

2) Make it worth your while by charging 2x, 5x, or 10x the normal rate. If they bite and still want what you are selling, you just "paid" yourself a premium for their annoying behavior. If they don't bite, then you are still better off. These folks seem like at least the minimal 2x rate.

or

3) Suck it up, complete what they bought, and move on ASAP!  Run!!!!

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But here’s the thing with art/design - no matter what credentials you have, no matter how artistically inclined or creative you might be, and no matter how versed you might be in ‘what the consensus likes’, you never can tell what an individual may like best.  It’s the ‘beauty in the eye of the beholder ‘  thing.  

So, you have to cater to their tastes, whether it works or not, or convince them to trust your ability to influence their clientele.  At the end of the day, collect your pay and move on. 

And there’s a reason we call all this stuff ‘work’.

 

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8 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

All right!  Now that we have eliminated those two folks, I feel better about offering the normal advice/options that my wife and most of my friends who run their own businesses would offer:

1) "Fire" the client.  You don't need the headache. Move on.

2) Make it worth your while by charging 2x, 5x, or 10x the normal rate. If they bite and still want what you are selling, you just "paid" yourself a premium for their annoying behavior. If they don't bite, then you are still better off. These folks seem like at least the minimal 2x rate.

or

3) Suck it up, complete what they bought, and move on ASAP!  Run!!!!

I'm already over charging. I also added in my $20 an hour art fee

6 hours ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

Good point.

This may be the type of client you want your competitors to have.

A lot of clients are someone I would like someone else to have, but then I would not be able to make money.. It's a grit your teeth and deal with it situation. 

6 hours ago, Zealot said:

But here’s the thing with art/design - no matter what credentials you have, no matter how artistically inclined or creative you might be, and no matter how versed you might be in ‘what the consensus likes’, you never can tell what an individual may like best.  It’s the ‘beauty in the eye of the beholder ‘  thing.  

So, you have to cater to their tastes, whether it works or not, or convince them to trust your ability to influence their clientele.  At the end of the day, collect your pay and move on. 

And there’s a reason we call all this stuff ‘work’.

 

The person came back and said they love the design after a few of my changes, but now it's a "I do not like the grain of the wood, and do all woods have grain like this one"
I bit the bullet and went to my local lumber yard I do all my business with and took pictures of all the materials I have to work with within their price range. 
YES all woods have grains, some are more pronounced than other. I'm awaiting on their answer to which one they will like the most. 
Sadly.. once wood is stained, the grains before more noticeable. 

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14 hours ago, KrAzY said:

 

The person came back and said they love the design after a few of my changes, but now it's a "I do not like the grain of the wood, and do all woods have grain like this one"
I bit the bullet and went to my local lumber yard I do all my business with and took pictures of all the materials I have to work with within their price range. 
YES all woods have grains, some are more pronounced than other. I'm awaiting on their answer to which one they will like the most. 
Sadly.. once wood is stained, the grains before more noticeable. 

Understood.  And honestly, I understand their issue.  Yes, all wood has grain and yes, it’s usually pronounced when stained.  But there are fine grains and course grains. Straight, spiral, irregular, diagonal, interlocking (a pain to work with) and wavy grains...  They each have their own aesthetic. 

Good luck!  👍🏻 

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5 hours ago, Zealot said:

Understood.  And honestly, I understand their issue.  Yes, all wood has grain and yes, it’s usually pronounced when stained.  But there are fine grains and course grains. Straight, spiral, irregular, diagonal, interlocking (a pain to work with) and wavy grains...  They each have their own aesthetic. 

Good luck!  👍🏻 

Welp.. just heard back from the guy.. they are opting to go the cheap route and get something basic for their conference. 
meh.. just means less work for me, and more time to cuddle the puppies. 
What’s funny is my dad is more posses about it then my wife and I are. He got us the opportunity to show this guy what we do, and he went with something that is generic and not what he really wants just so he can save a few bucks.. 

I’ll  be sending my dad a custome plaque we would have made to show it off in his car at the conference 😂

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24 minutes ago, KrAzY said:

Welp.. just heard back from the guy.. they are opting to go the cheap route and get something basic for their conference. 
meh.. just means less work for me, and more time to cuddle the puppies. 
What’s funny is my dad is more posses about it then my wife and I are. He got us the opportunity to show this guy what we do, and he went with something that is generic and not what he really wants just so he can save a few bucks.. 

I’ll  be sending my dad a custome plaque we would have made to show it off in his car at the conference 😂

Sorry it fell through.  Wish I could tell you the number of times I’ve been involved with designing and pricing systems for clients who end up not going with it because of money. 

But that’s part of the game. Just seems like a waste of expended energy...

Press on, brother!

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2 hours ago, Zealot said:

Sorry it fell through.  Wish I could tell you the number of times I’ve been involved with designing and pricing systems for clients who end up not going with it because of money. 

But that’s part of the game. Just seems like a waste of expended energy...

Press on, brother!

Don't be sorry about it, I'm not sad. On the other hand I got the full disclosure of what's all going on.. They went with the poured plaster 3D type thing for these awards.. My dad just sat there tongue in cheek because he knows all about these types of awards. 
They are extremely brittle and crumble in you touch them too much. They are like a clay but are not fired. Just poured into a mold and let to dry before being removed.. 
I said it once and will always say it.. you get what you pay for. I don't ever regret walking away or being turned down for something. I know it typically leads a person running back to me and then they are also hit with a rush charge :)
This was the plaque I was offering, minus the acrylic stand.

 IMG_2494.thumb.JPG.4fb8eddff65d16914c0b03be68686407.JPG

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27 minutes ago, KrAzY said:

Don't be sorry about it, I'm not sad. On the other hand I got the full disclosure of what's all going on.. They went with the poured plaster 3D type thing for these awards.. My dad just sat there tongue in cheek because he knows all about these types of awards. 
They are extremely brittle and crumble in you touch them too much. They are like a clay but are not fired. Just poured into a mold and let to dry before being removed.. 
I said it once and will always say it.. you get what you pay for. I don't ever regret walking away or being turned down for something. I know it typically leads a person running back to me and then they are also hit with a rush charge :)
This was the plaque I was offering, minus the acrylic stand.

 IMG_2494.thumb.JPG.4fb8eddff65d16914c0b03be68686407.JPG

That’s a good looking plaque! And I personally really like the grain.  😊 

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10 minutes ago, Zealot said:

That’s a good looking plaque! And I personally really like the grain.  😊 

Thanks. I Think it turned out awesome for the artwork I was given. 
But what can ya do.. I am just plugging away at other projects and getting them posted for sale. 

I need to start working on my short videos of things running and posting them on social media to get our business out there more. 
Maybe I will start doing that tonight. 

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