I recently had a great conversation with a friend of mine, who is also a small business owner that does contract work in a service field.
We were discussing the highs and lows of owning a service-oriented business. The highs meant that we were each able to remain at home and work from home while our children are young; establishing a niche in the market; being in control of not only our companies but of also what we put out in the community through our jobs each day; and waking up to do something that we love each and every morning.
The lows were mainly the normal lows of owning a company and having young children: not enough time to do everything we needed to do, being pulled in many directions and worrying about having enough money to maintain the company in the long run.
Yet one low stuck in my mind long after the conversation ended, and that was having a rocky relationship with a client.
I have to say that I have been so lucky in the dealings I have had with people over the past year, since my doors opened. I have met some wonderful people and worked with some very interesting companies, helping to push their businesses forward. I have felt appreciation from most of my clients, and I have really poured myself into what I have done for them. I truly hope that each and every company I have ever helped succeeds, and for the most part I keep in touch with all of my former clients.
Yet one particular client crept to mind as we spoke, and as we talked about the clients with whom we’ve not felt totally connected to I realized that in both scenarios, hers and mine, a misunderstanding had stood in the way of the job. And this misunderstanding, I realized today as I went for my morning run, could have been avoided had more questions been asked up front.
I always have my clients sign a contract, as does she. For my business, I am sometimes not only developing a web site but am also writing a press release, creating some articles for the web and designing a flyer. Therefore, it’s imperative that I put everything that we discuss in writing, not only so that I can invoice correctly but so that I know the terms with which I have to do the job, and so that I can refer to this as I complete the work.
Yet one job did not go quite as expected. I didn’t realize that the person for whom I was creating the site was not computer literate, and the client didn’t understand that I could effectively design the site but that I am not a programmer and could not create a website that needed to do all that she wanted it to do. Unfortunately, because of her lack of computer skills she was unable to convey exactly what she needed in the beginning, and was unable to do so until the entire site had been designed and she was walking through it to test it out.
In the end, everything worked out. She was able to convey what she needed when she saw the design that had been constructed and I was able to hire a programmer with more advanced programming skills who could add on the things that she needed.
Yet when I ran this morning I realized that if I had just asked more pertinent questions during the initial meeting, I would have known that she had limited computer skills and that she may need something more advanced that would require that she do less upkeep.
Part of being a business owner is learning. We learn each day when we take on new clients or finish up jobs. We learn better ways to organize, better marketing techniques and we learn what questions to ask and how better to help our clients.
And if we aren’t learning, then we are doing something wrong.