It’s time to get out of the exhausting cycle that makes you regret owning your own business more and more each day.
If you’re a service provider or a salesperson, I bet this story seems all too familiar.
You cold-call or DM leads, hop on a discovery call to try to convince them you’re the one who can help. When you ask what their budget for the project is, it’s way below what you normally charge.
You tell them usually that would cost $XYZ, but today, you’re going to help them out because you know what it’s like to work on a budget.
They seem grateful, but then ask you to throw in a few more things they need as part of their project.
You agree, because you need to pay your bills this month, and you send a proposal.
But when they pay the invoice and send you an email with some of the descriptions, images, reports, and research you need, you notice some of the items you need to perform your service are missing. That’s okay, you think. You can improvise. No big deal.
As you find substitutes for the words, images, video, or whatever else they were supposed to send you and try to imagine what will fit their needs best, the hours rack up.
And when you finally send the project to them, they say it’s wrong and accuse you of trying to do things half-way.
You remind them they didn’t send you all the information you needed, and agree to make the changes they want, but your hourly rate plummets further.
You decide you don’t want to work with them again after the project, and the cycle continues.
Or, if you sell a product, you go through the same things, but notice that they haven’t paid their invoice yet, and when you call to check on them, they demand a refund—or at least a partial refund.
They accuse you of lying about the product, even though you can tell they didn’t follow your instructions.