I’ll email you privately. I think you’ll remember him. 😉

Hmm, I don’t recall that particular pretend client, but that could be my boomer brain talking. 😉 Also, glad to hear your dad is stabilizing.

I had one client early in my career who, try as I might, I couldn’t shake. He was in a particular part of health care that’s not my thing (philosophically or business-wise). He wanted me to ghostwrite for him and I kept trying to convince him he would be better off with a writer who understood the legal ins-and-outs of his specialty.

He assured me he wanted me to write about the benefits of good health and nothing product-specific. So, I did that for a bit and pushed back every time he wanted me to stretch that to his products. Fortunately, for me, he took a break and when he came back I told him my schedule wouldn’t allow for additional projects.

I would not have such a problem saying no – now. 😉

LOL Good analogy.

Yep. Sometimes problems aren’t as obvious as a red flag–it’s more of a flag with a Rorschach inkblot on it!

Jake, proof right there that rapport is nice, but a shared vision is much, much better! I’d have done the same for the same reasons.

I actually have, now that I think of it. I’d had a phone conversation with a client that went south quickly. He talked for 56 minutes (I’d recorded it), and at no time could he tell me in any way what he did for a living. Instead, he sent over an article a client had written that he said summed it all up.

It didn’t. Not even close. Moreover, the client said he didn’t want to promote his business as he had plenty already. Huh? Just a website revision. So I did what I could with the 56 minutes and one vague article.

Of course, he said it wasn’t right. I didn’t quite understand (no shit). But he was very decent about it (a really nice man), so we decided on half the fee. I don’t think he ever got what he wanted. In fact, I believe Cathy Miller and I had both had some form of contact with him, and she saw what I saw — a hot mess with no direction. The man is successful, though I’m not sure how people know to hire him.

Long story short, nothing I wrote was quite right for him, and his feedback was unhelpful. (As in your final bullet, vague, with a dash of touchy-feely for good measure.) As it turned out, he was able to use about 50% of what I provided him, and I was OK with lowering my price because 1) I didn’t feel like I’d hit the target and 2) he wasn’t a jerk about it. We parted amicably, and we’re still in contact–but I wouldn’t do work for him again. The lesson for me was not to be fooled by rapport; you still need to be able to accomplish the task at hand.

Glad to hear your dad stabilized!