I've been doing freelance work evening after my day job, for about ten years now. And I never cease to amaze myself. Call me a slow learner, but for some reason, in my freelance work, I constantly seem to get in trouble cutting the customer a break. Now, this always, without fail, works to the customer's advantage and to my detriment.That's the way it would appear, anyway. Nearly every project I've ever worked on, I end up being a pushover, and end up not getting paid for a good hunk of what I have done. If it were just me, it would not be so bad. But it is my wife and kids that are the real losers. They miss out on the time I did not spend with them while working on the project, plus they miss out on the income. But something about me just keeps falling into the same trap over and over. I've analyzed this time and again, and I think it comes down to the same things for me as for lots of other programmers I've talked to who constantly end up in the same boat. We take great pride in our work, and in seeing the finished product in use. There is nothing like the feeling of seeing your handy work in action, making others happy. So, what I have for years brushed off as being a "nice guy" actually turns out to be "arrogant pride" causing the problem. I can turn off the arrogant pride faster than being a nice guy. Face it, when you don't get paid, you become disgruntled, you resent the owner and before long, everyone has a sour taste. It's much less of a problem to deal with "hey, the money ran out - let's stop here until there is more!". So my point is, from here forward, it's no more arrogant pride - which means no more freebies.
yea - right!
There are no comments for this entry.
[Add Comment]