I’m attempting to re-work my business, because I have felt the desire of staying “with it” dwindle … especially after the colossal epic fail of a massive project. What things do you hate about web design? Here are a few of mine:
Meetings. I loathe in person meetings, and avoid them like the plague.
Non paying customers.
Non paying customers who try to blame you for certain things like their site not working like they think it should just to get out of paying
Stressful projects coupled with a stressful client that has high demands
Looking forward to hearing yours. I would also like to hear some of your thoughts on the meeting item. I know that meetings can be beneficial on a number of levels, but they also seem like a time suck.
I have identified one of the things I can’t stand about being in business for myself is going to meetings. Are you the same way? If so, how do you avoid them in such a way that it does not turn off your prospects / clients?
With all due respect, I think you have the wrong attitude. I dislike face-to-face meetings as much as you do. Where possible, I would rather have a phone call or a teleconference session than have to travel to a meeting. But that’s not the point.
The point is that if your client wants a meeting, then you should accept the fact, and go to the meeting. If you put all your effort into avoiding doing what the client wants, you’ll end up without any clients.
In fact, this has got nothing to do with meetings. It’s all about one of the most fundamental rules of business: giving the customer want they want.
I love face to face meetings! Apart from getting me out of the home office I just like meeting people and going to new places, sometimes you learn a lot as well. At my last client meeting (actually a CMS training day) they provided a full buffet for us which was really nice (and tasty!).
Non paying customers? That affects all businesses so not related to web dev companies. You just have to deal with it like everyone else.
I see demanding projects as a challenge, not just from a technical point of view, but also working with my skills to find the best solution I can for the client. There will always be demanding customers, that’s the nature of some people, understanding how people work and behave is part and parcel of any business activity.
My pet hate? Working with so called “web designers” who simply have no clue about UX, accessibility etc. Mostly they are just “graphics” people who can do pretty visuals and don’t understand the web…