Yeah, those are frustrating.

Restless — good word for it. And you’ve described the feeling exactly. Resentment means you no longer fit each other.

I had a client like that. In fact, it’s a client who boomerangs back every year or so. I like them quite a bit, but the projects became a tad scattered. Point person gave me Topic A. I’d write Topic A. They loved it. But Decision Maker didn’t.

That meant another phone call, this time with the Decision Maker. It meant I now had to write yet another article.

Four projects went exactly like that. Each time, I asked them if it might be smart to put the Decision Maker on the initial phone call so I could get a sense of what exactly he/she wanted. The last time it happened, I did more than suggest — I said it needed to happen to save us all some time and effort.

Now, if they ever do show up again, I’ll be charging double if the Decision Maker isn’t included on that initial call. And I’ll point out why.