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Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

Hasty Treat - Freelance Tips - Toxic Clients

Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

Wes Bos

Technology, News, Tech News

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 2021

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about toxic clients — how to identify them, and what to do about them. Linode - Sponsor Whether you’re working on a personal project or managing enterprise infrastructure, you deserve simple, affordable, and accessible cloud computing solutions that allow you to take your project to the next level. Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and easier. Get started on Linode today with a $100 in free credit for listeners of Syntax. You can find all the details at linode.com/syntax. Linode has 11 global data centers and provides 24/7/365 human support with no tiers or hand-offs regardless of your plan size. In addition to shared and dedicated compute instances, you can use your $100 in credit on S3-compatible object storage, Managed Kubernetes, and more. Visit linode.com/syntax and click on the “Create Free Account” button to get started. Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your code, track errors and monitor performance with Sentry. Sentry’s Application Monitoring platform helps developers see performance issues, fix errors faster, and optimize their code health. Cut your time on error resolution from hours to minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners new to Sentry can get two months for free by visiting Sentry.io and using the coupon code TASTYTREAT during sign up. Show Notes 05:33 - Warning Signs of a potential toxic client Doesn’t have project well thought out. Scope creep - Adds on new features while not considering the amount of work required to make them happen. Can be mad when you run out of time or budget. Ill Communicator Contacts you at odd times. Thinks that you should answer every email in an hour. Contacts you in inappropriate ways, via text message, social media. OR doesn’t respond to emails in a timely manner giving you blockers. Jerk The rude client Thinks they can be rude because they are giving you money Hundreds of emails Tries to be flashy upfront (dinners, etc.) Scatterbrain or way too big. Facebook for nurses 18:06 - What to do about toxic clients Communicate your needs clearly. Set expectations. “I work best when…” “I answer emails once every two days” Set clear deadlines for deliverables, feedback and revisions (one revision backed in, more at x hourly rate, etc.). Just be VERY clear. If something doesn’t work for them, they will hopefully tell you. Get things in writing. Put things clearly in a working agreement for your client to approve. That way you have something to show in case things go south and you can say, “You agreed to the following things”. Fire them You can fire clients. Honestly, some of them just aren’t worth the time and effort. It’s usually the cheapest clients who demand the most from you. Don’t let them take more of your time and energy than they are paying for. Firing clients is very simple. Hi so and so, I don’t feel like we’re a good match for this project, so I’ll be canceling our work agreement. Good luck on your project. Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

Transcript

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0:00.0

Monday Monday Monday open wide dev fans get ready to stuff your face with javascript CSS node module barbecue tips get work flows break dancing soft skills web development the hastiest the

0:13.5

Carrazius the tastiest web development treats coming in hot. Here is West

0:19.2

Barakuda boss and Scott L. Toro. Look go to Lenski

0:25.2

Welcome to syntax and this Monday tasty treat. We're gonna be talking about bad clients toxic clients clients that will

0:34.1

Make you very upset at life and we'll be talking about not only how to identify them

0:38.9

But what to do about them? There's a lot of different options that we have in front of here

0:43.3

Even including even just straight up letting them go. My name is Scott Tolinsky. I'm a developer from Denver, Colorado

0:49.4

And with me as always is West boss

0:52.6

Me everybody

0:55.6

You are toxic. How does that Britney song go?

1:00.6

Yeah, there's a little

1:10.4

Yeah, love me some Britney. Yeah, I love toxic dude toxic is great. It's one of those. Yeah, love Britney

1:16.0

But also love toxic. Yeah, that's it. You're a worm song. That's one of those ones that just gets in your head

1:21.0

Yeah, that was that was a very specific arrow of like just yeah toxic all the time

1:26.0

So all right

1:27.0

Well, let's talk about toxic clients here and before we get into that let's talk about two of our non-toxic very excellent sponsors

1:34.8

Linode and century West. Do you want to talk about Linode? I do

1:39.4

Linode is cloud computing solution for hosting your project whether you're working on a small personal project or doing enterprise

1:46.9

Infrastructure you deserve simple affordable accessible cloud computing take your project to the next level

1:53.1

They've got all kinds of stuff linux virtual machines. You can develop deploy scale your modern applications easier

2:00.2

Linode's got a pretty sweet deal for you a hundred bucks in free credit

2:04.5

So you want to try it out? You could run your personal project on that thing for a while

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