HOMEPODCAST
SUBMIT STORY

I was getting started working with a well-known, respected business in marketing & sales projects. The business sells very expensive items.

I was learning as much about the business as possible. The Sales Manager must have been getting paid at least six figures, but he seemed a bit off to me.

In the short time I was there, the Manager sulked and spoke sarcastically to a number of staff members. He rarely left his office.

A customer arrived and wanted to speak to a salesperson about specific questions he had, but no one was available to help the customer besides the Sales Manager.

Me: There is a customer waiting to speak to a salesperson, but no one is available.

Sales Manager: Well, what questions does he have?

Me: Various questions. He said it’s important that he gets the right answers from someone experienced with the products.

Sales Manager: I can’t help him. I don’t know enough about those products to answer his questions. I haven’t answered customer questions about these products in years, and I hardly leave my office. You will have to find another Salesperson. Can you write down his questions in the meantime?

I was shocked that the Sales Manager openly admitted to being incompetent.

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Client: I need you to work on the updates to our various websites for our businesses. We’re very busy, but just let us know what you did or if you need anything.

Me: Um ok, I’ll get started by analyzing the websites.

Client: Great, just make them look better and let us know if you have any questions.

I didn't really like the rushed and dismissive approach of this client, but I proceeded to plan some updates. I discuss my recommendations for site copy and imagery updates with the clients after my research & analysis.

Client: Why would you want to update some of the banner imagery on the wedding product website to stock images of people at their weddings? That doesn’t make any sense, and it doesn’t relate to the products.

Me: It could inspire people, help people get in the mood to want to shop for their special day.

Client: You can just use pictures of me and my husband on our wedding day.

Note, the clients didn’t have the products in any of those photos, either.

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I found an interesting opportunity on a job board posted by the owner of a website development company. He was seeking a talented freelancer to create a brand style guide for a client.

Client: The style guide is for a small University.

Me: That’s a big deal. Do you have the logos ready and other information I would need to create the style guide?

Client:  I’ll need you to communicate with the freelance designer about the status of the logos. There are four logo drafts in progress. Look up the University online to learn more about them and their goals. You can also research some Style Guides that other Universities have created to get a feel for what they did.

Me: Hmm… Well, I think I would need more information from the people who you have worked with at the University to understand what they are seeking. This could also take a lot of research and planning. How much is in your budget for this Style Guide project?

Client: $500

There was little to no other information that the Client could provide me regarding this project. I passed - and I'm willing to bet the university failed. 

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I was hired for a Marketing role with a small start-up agency. In the interviews, the owners of this new agency mentioned they were still “figuring things out.” They seemed experienced, so I trusted them.

Clients: We can only pay you $15 per hour.

Me: Ok, since I am doing most of the work from home and I can still work as a freelancer in my spare time, this might work.

Over the course of a week, the clients proceed to dump the work they promised to 4 of their clients on to me. This includes research, strategic planning, calendars, Creative Briefs, and creative assets. I work hard to get it all done.

One of the owners discusses in a meeting how he plans to remove himself from most of the day to day tasks to focus more on Business Development (gaining more clients) as time goes on. I am starting to see a lot of Red Flags - the most notable being that it looked like I was the whole of their business. 

The last straw was when they made another request. 

Clients: We are going to need you to drive across town to meet with us once or twice a week.

Me: The amount it would cost for me in terms of gas and mileage for me to drive across town to discuss these projects with you isn’t worth it for me. I don’t think this is the job I am seeking at this time.

Clients: Well, we need you to be collaborative with us. We'll work with you. Are you planning on working completely remotely then?

Me: ...I'm planning on not working for you at all. 

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I was hired to work on a project for a large transportation company as a freelancer. The point of contact, the Director of Marketing, needed help with the social media presence of the company.

There was little to no strategy in place, which seemed odd to me, considering the company had worked with this Director of Marketing for a couple of years. The social media presence was very lacking.

I proceeded to build a plan, design the creative assets, and I created a monthly editorial calendar. I created a successful online presence for the company on various social media platforms over the course of several months.

Client (Director of Marketing): I am so proud of how well we are doing on this project! Thank you for all of your hard work. The owner of the business is very pleased.

While working with this Director, I also learned that she had outsourced the SEO portion of her job to an SEO freelancer.

This is about the time that I realize that the Director of Marketing had basically outsourced most of her job, by paying freelancers low hourly rates. I am glad “we” have been so successful on this project as she builds her career on our work.

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The client, who works in finance, wanted me to market his vacation home on Facebook. From my experience, I knew this wasn’t the only thing he needed to market his home. I proceeded to talk with him about the value of a quality website, updated photos and more.

He barely listened to me.

Client: Yeah, I don't have time for that. I just need to make some money quick by marketing this vacation home on Facebook. Also, I need you to help me market this diner I just bought. 

Me: Okay...

Client: Oh, by the way, my credit card is maxed out, since I am paying for the food for the restaurant out of pocket. I need to make more money off of my vacation rental and this diner. But don’t worry, I’ll still pay you.

Me: Ok. Well, this is a little concerning. By the way, the website for your restaurant needs a lot of work.

Client: I just had that created! I guess that’s what I get for being so cheap.

Eject! Eject!

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I am an experienced social media marketer, and I created a social media campaign for a financial client who needed help with communicating complex ideas in simple ways. I worked hard to make the posts as friendly, approachable, and easy to understand as possible. I wrote out my strategy and explained to them in detail my process.

My work had received compliments from the team, and I saw positive results online. They then told me that I had a new “contact” with the team. I noticed that she had never worked in social media marketing and was very new to the company. 

The new hire proceeded to re-write my posts that were scheduled for upcoming weeks and she criticized nearly every aspect of the posts in lengthy e-mails, from the imagery to the content. I even tried to explain to her why her edits didn't make much sense.

By that point, she was creating the posts (imagery and content), which weren’t in line with the overall strategy I had created, and she was complaining to me about it.

I quit and the clients' social media presence plummeted. 

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I was working on a project for a client who told me he wanted to market his services on Instagram and with Google ads.

Me: I'm open to it, but in my experience, you need to do more than just post on Instagram and Google ads. You need to update the website, work on your SEO, up your online presence and more. 

Client: I just need these two things. 

For the next few weeks, the client made me present plans in painstaking detail. He knew very little about digital marketing and wanted me to explain every little decision. through many weeks of planning in painstaking detail (since the client knows very little about digital marketing).

I was a bit curious to see if Instagram and Google Ads would be all that he needed but also assumed it wouldn't be, and that he'd see that eventually. 

During this time, the client left on two vacations while paying me a very low hourly rate. He was very busy with his work and hardly had time to respond to my e-mails. 

A month later, the Instagram marketing campaign wasn’t making much of an impact (as I had suspected). The very low budget for the paid online ads wasn’t making a difference, either. 

Me: This is all in line with what I said before. I think to see results, you need to raise the budget for Google ads, update your business listings and work on the SEO of your website. We should probably be trying other social media platforms as well. 

At this point, he became upset and started arguing with me.

At this point, I realized I had spent weeks trying to educate and plan with the client, and it would be more months of hand-holding which I just didn’t have the energy for anymore.

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I've been editing small videos for personal use for me and my friends for a while. I've decided to start freelancing while still keeping a side job to make ends meet (for now). When I announced this to my parents, they said: 

Mom and Dad: Oh thank god, you're keeping your job. You'll have a real source of income and you won't become a shut-in.

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My client purchased a domain and asked that I set up emails for her and her staff. 

Client: You created the wrong email addresses.

Me: Oh? I am looking at the email you sent. I created the emails with the exact handles you requested.

Client: I need the emails to be [client]@[ShortenedDomain.com], not [client]@[ReallyLongDomainNameThatSheOwns.com]

Me: I'm sorry, but that's not the domain that you purchased.

Client: This has nothing to do with my domain. My domain is correct. The emails are wrong. 

Me: You cannot make any email address you want. It doesn't work like that. You need to own the domain you are using for the email addresses. 

Client: (now enraged) WHY WOULD YOU EVEN AGREE TO CREATE EMAILS WITH SUCH A LONG DOMAIN? This is unacceptable... 

Me: ...

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