Comments on: The Festive Season and Client Demands

By: Aaron Riddle

Aaron Riddle — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:38:34 +0000

Very nice article…a nice reminder of how important it is to separate work from life.

By: miles

miles — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:57:18 +0000

Hey thanks everyone, for all the good suggestions. I like to see that there are others also working on creating boundaries for persistent clients. Here’s wishing you all a safe (and client interruption free!) festive season!

By: MikesBarto2002

MikesBarto2002 — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:54:57 +0000

It is always amazing to me how I will get at least one or two Bah Humbugs who will call me on Christmas Eve asking for immediate updates to their site. I use my cell phone for personal and business use, so I have to screen my calls.

One thing I would suggest is the mass email to all of your clients stating exactly when you will not be available, as well as giving them an option to get things done before the holidays begin.

“I will be out of town from DATE to DATE, and will not be available to my computer. If you know you are going to need updates during this time, make sure to get me those updates before DATE and I will have them up for you before the holidays.

Wham bam, thank you ma’am. This way, if they throw it back in your face, you can just reforward the email to them to prove you’re not crazy!

By: TrainPro

TrainPro — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:03:14 +0000

It really is up to the consultant to set expectations with the client… when you’re an internet entrepreneur, you’re also the web designer, programmer, marketing executive, and sales person.

I used to complain that there were only so many hours in a day. I now say that there are only 8 hours in a work day. I refuse to steal time away from my wife and daughter. I have a successful business – but, more importantly, I have a happy family.

By: Gezprila

Gezprila — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:38:43 +0000

I set the phone on silent when I’m off work, and check the phone now and then. I have some customers who pay for every minute work, also on phone. Then it’s ok to answer or call back. But for the customers who don’t pay for help, I call them back in the morning, and everybody thinks this is ok.

This make me hard to get, because I don’t want to answer unknown numbers, but I got some spare time!

By: tuna

tuna — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 05:26:14 +0000

Mind you I have found over the few years I have been doing this gig, that the start of new projects does tend to slow down at this point of the year. So it all works out good, as the work level slows for a few weeks, hen come Jan 1, its back with vengeance.

I also have a habit of putting the mobile phone on silent and leaving it on silent long after its required to be socially in that mode. This means if client do ring they get the message service. Mind you I have not had any in a long time.

The one time I have had a client ring me after hours was when their service provider was hacked (in a major way). Not much we could do, but they panicked, understandable.

@madpilot I like the Skype idea.. thats even cooler. But I would forget to enable Skype..:)

By: pureCaffeine

pureCaffeine — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 05:13:34 +0000

Don’t use the same mobile number for personal and business! It doesn’t mean you have to have two phones – although that would be better than nothing, but you can on some phones have multiple incoming numbers/lines .. do it.

By: madpilot

madpilot — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 05:05:00 +0000

Skype can make a fantastic second phone line – it’s cheaper than a real phone, and when you shutdown your computer at the end of the day – it doesn’t ring at all! Setup voice mail and you are sweet.