One lesson I keep learning is get out as soon as you can if you’re in a sub-optimal situation.

So I’m out a large chunk of change, spent endless (un-billed) hours going back and forth with my client and I have very little to show for and I have a client who’s disappointed with my work. Boo.

Well I learned quite a few lessons in consulting in all of this and being a subcontractor.

Get out early

If a project isn’t going the way you think it should, or you foresee something not being a good relationship. Get out early. Get out before you start.

For me I felt like I was leaving a client hanging - even though I felt like I was getting a raw deal, even though I knew their expectations weren’t being met. I figured we both put effort into this and I might as well see it through.

I persisted with this, even after there were situations where it no longer made sense to continue. I persisted. I stuck to it, even during a conversion of our part of our house into a rental and managing a daunting move across country and negotiations for full time employment at Yahoo! I decided to put my nose to the grind and stick through it.

While life changes alone weren’t a reason to abandon a project, it was clear from other goings on that I should have not persisted. The client could have subcontracted quite easily to a number of other firms, and we could have just cut our losses. In the end we both had losses and nobody wins.

Meanwhile I got out or rejected a lot of projects simply because I saw similar patterns emerging, or that it wasn’t going to be a good communicative fit. I am glad to not have that extra baggage on my shoulder.

Don’t sell yourself short

I had a negotiated rate with this client that was less than what I normally charge. I never raised my rates even when many of my clients were paying a significant amount more.

I had… for whatever reason had worse relationships with people who paid a lower hourly rate. I know their is a psychology of value that people perceive with higher rates. You’ll treat a $20 pair of jeans like crap, and complain about them wearing out, but a $80 pair of jeans that you wear on special occasions you’ll treat like gold.

After raising my rates, I realize now that I do better work when I’m compensated for it. I feel better about the work I do. The clients don’t waste my time (paid or otherwise). The communication is also dead-clear. Nobody risks miscommunication when the stakes are high.

It’s hard to do because you want to be able to help people and be accessible, but in the long run this works for the best. The clients I do have now really appreciate me, and really respect my expertise.

Work on interesting projects or short projects or both

I decided a lot of development is tedious. Build this module, make this crud, create this form, etc. Some development is fun and interesting and engaging.

Engaging work is hard to come by, generally people who approach me about large projects have some grandiose vision which I don’t necessarily share, or think will pan out.

It’s a bad idea to get involved with those projects, because money alone can’t motivate you.

If the project spans more than a few months and its not engaging… it will be a drag. You might out of guilt pass up better opportunities and be stuck in a bad situation. Let someone who is motivated by a project work on it, and go move on to better things.

Estimate well and get it down in writing

I can trace the beginnings of failure with this project from before I started it. I was asked to give an estimate on the project and I ball-parked it. The estimate wasn’t supposed to be committal, but it ended up being construed as such.

Estimates define expectations and even if they are ballpark figures they aren’t always flexible.

Large projects are hard to estimate. It helps to have a detailed specification, sketches, etc, but really the onus is on you to make sure you can create a detailed estimate. There’s two schools of thought on estimates. One is that they can never be accurate. The other is that they can be done and take a lot of work more than the actual development in some cases.

I believed in the former, but everyone wants the latter. Strive for the latter and pad numbers if you have to. If you over-estimate you get free money. If you under-estimate… someone ends up paying more than they expected or working more than they expected.

A detailed outline of every step and every check off point should be made. This is where large projects get broken down. You may want to just agree to work on one module at a time, rather than the whole thing.

If you’re not willing to do the estimate, or if it’s not coming out right, you can ask your client to come up with the check points and you can use that as a starting point. Either way, the school of “estimates don’t work” isn’t going to cut it.

Follow the money

I was being subcontracted. For how much, I did not know. But I had this feeling that it wasn’t for enough money. I used to resent working for companies, or being subcontracted, because I felt they were making a mint off me. But I now no if the margins are too tight, you run into a lot of other problems. Large margins can afford yo to go over an estimate. They can also allow you to increase your rate over time.

It also removes guilt. There is a lot of guilt that is to be had for charging clients for work. I myself wouldn’t pay a developer to develop my own hair-brained idea, unless I had some source of funding. Make sure you know that one exists, and then you won’t feel bad charging a decent price.

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch

I ended up bringing in a contractor to help me finish up the site. I thought it would work, but my margins were nil. I ended up not getting paid my last invoice, and I had to pay my contractor out of pocket. It wasn’t really pocket change either. I was so sure that we were going to see the project through and that my client who had a reputation of paying me on time fell through. It will take me months to recover from it.

Closure

I paid up my contractor, and had to write this all off to a life-lesson. Even before this ended I learned to take smaller or at least more interesting projects. I learned to not compromise as much on my rates. I also keep better tabs on the money. I want to help people develop web sites, not deal with headaches, long nights, chasing down clients for money.