It's been an emotionally tough week, with lots of ups and downs.
1. Computer went funny and started using up more bandwidth than I'm used to. Some of the projects I've worked on in the past have involved videos and high resolution pictures, so I have a pretty good idea of my consumption rates. Turned out I had a lot of automatic software updates (thumbs down to Microsoft).
2. Was invited to bid on a web site project. Gave potential client a very reasonable price but was undercut by someone who asked for less than 50% of my bid price and potential client went with that bid. It shook my confidence a bit because I wondered if I've turned into an over-priced prima donna. After chatting with Pam, I realised that my pricing structure is actually middle of the road for the client base I'm trying to attract. I'm not sure how the service provider my client went with can afford to build a web site and online store for the price he asked for, but I wish everyone best luck.
3. Several old clients got back in touch and two offered immediate assignments on the same day as event 2. Kinda wiped my tears very quickly and reminded me that things happen for a reason.
4. Emailed publisher to take back a manuscriptthey accepted. That was hard, because publisher made an email offer but then the whole process got stuck in bureacracy ( I think) and they stopped communicating. Starting from scratch to shop a manuscript makes me nervous but we can't wait forever when publisher doesn't communicate.
5. Baby's coming to visit this coming weekend. I'm soo looking forward to seeing her!
6. Learnt to use blogger's new interface. It looks nice, but change means spending more time on a task I didn't initially budget for.
7. Spring Day celebration is on Sunday and I spent some this week clearing out my romance novel bookshelves, deciding on what books to sell and pricing them. Will finish the bulk of the work tomorrow.
5 comments:
Yup. I know the feeling. I had a week of ups and down as well. Getting used to Blogger's new interface, but I find change stressful, so don't really enjoy the way blogger facebook twitter keep on updating/changing their systems.
Judy, South Africa
Sounds like there were some tough decisions, but on the screen it seems you are dealing with it gracefully.
The week had its highs and lows for me too, but hey sistahs roll with the punches and rise gracefully to meet another day. I think you did what you had to do and it was the loss of that publisher and the client who took the lowest quote. As my 12-year-old has been reminding me lately: "You pay for quality, Mommy!" If they want mediocre, or if that's what they can afford, God bless 'em. Enjoy the weekend and good luck with sales on Sunday.
Re point two, Donna has taught me something about this: If your price is too low, your services are not seen as valuable.
Maybe you'll lose out on the odd client who won't want to pay you decently for what you do, but it leaves space for other clients who will :-)
Now I just need to start listening to what I just wrote there!
@judy- I hope your journey with blogger is smoothing out. Mine is still rocky:-)
@Tiah- yup. I'm glad the decisions were made though. Afterwards, you can sorta breathe because you know you've done what you have to do and now you can rest a bit and let events unfold.
@Pam Your son is right. And i'm learning to let it go. If client feels I overcharge, then we're not a match because I checked industry rates (thank you for sending me the freelancer's association recommended rates) and it reinforces my belief that my rates are within industry standards.
@Tamara - Knowing it is one thing. Practicing it is harder, especially when people talk about recession and business scaling down. But in the end, it will pay off, I believe. Unless I die of a heart attack from the nerves I get after sending my quotes.
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