September 2024: A client of mine, a two-person real estate agent with whom I have worked for 12 years: I need to redo my website, but I want to work with a XYZ as back office provider. Can you do this?
Me: Yep, I have done that before.
December 2024: After my client reviewed other providers, we eventually agreed on terms
February 2025: On my 3rd draft: “I love it JL!! It’s great!! This is it! I love it!”
May: After uploading the final version of her new website: “Hello, yes, that sounds perfect. Thank you very much! Let’s go”
June: She paid in full for the job. 15 minutes (!) before going live: she calls me, almost yelling, “Stop, I want to think it over.” What I didn’t know then was that she hired a new guy as an assistant.
August: Replying to my email on what was going on: “Indeed, Jean Luc, I feel that aesthetically you didn’t capture what I wanted for the website. I need the appearance of the new website, to truly reflect who I am.”
September: She sends me a PDF to start working with. My reply was: I can’t work with a PDF, ask your designer to send me the HTML so that the final result completely reflects you (as she specifically asked). We agreed on new financial terms.
December: Having not received any answer to my emails for ages, I eventually got this: “The project of using XYZ as back office was a disaster from every angle you look at it. I won’t use it. I’ve already notified them of my departure.”
My reply was that my work didn’t depend on the back office she chose, as I could hook up to her current database.
Her reply was “Let’s pause for now.”