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I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

idiallo.com

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Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#421

Post by pimmen »

wallace_f wrote: post #278
aequitas wrote: post #231

A valuable lesson I learned at a young age from one of my first 'customers' when doing computer repair jobs for friends and neighbours was is that you don't get paid for what you can or do but for the value you add or time (money) you save someone. Most of the time the problems I had to solve where easy ones. Install printer, update software, remove toolbars, email settings, etc. All 5 minute work jobs, seldom totall…

That's lucky. When I sas 19, around the height of IE and 'every Windows box with malware,' I tried to start a similar business. Probably my most wealthy client, with an oversized SUV in the driveway, had a home computer rendered unusable by malware--something I had fixed before. But she ended up asking me to leave. She decided she wanted "real professionals" working on her computer. She told me I didn't know what I w…

This attitude to googling is poisonous. I once helped an elderly relative in my teens with his router and I got the same treatment after I googled the answer. Later we watched a court drama the entire family, with the same relative present, and there was a scene where the lawyers crack the books and review the legal paper work. Being the obnoxious teen I was I couldn't help myself from blurting out "Wow, what terrible lawyers, look at them doing research for their cases before they solve the problems. Wow, I figured they could recite every law and ruling ever by heart since they supposedly know what they're doing, now I question why the defendant doesn't just represent himself, I mean everyone can read a book, right? This movie is so unrealistic!"

I got scolded by my parents but at the end of the day: worth it.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#422

Post by tomduncalf »

sharkweek wrote: post #54
duxup wrote: post #18

I know someone working as a contractor for a big company. 1 year contract. 6 months have gone by and they've done ... nothing. Their boss keeps saying "Don't worry we'll get to you, we're just swamped right now, you're good." They're already talking about extending the contract.

Big companies (rather, people at big companies) WANT to spend money on this kind of stuff for all sorts of reasons. -A team might have use-it-or-lose-it budget, so they have to spend it on something, and a contractor might be the lucky recipient! -Tax purposes! -Spending a lot on a contractor gives them someone to "fire" when they need to explain why something wasn't getting done or something went poorly! The list go…

I was tempted to ask if you have any tips for finding such jobs ;) but actually the times when I’ve been most unfulfilled in my career have been when I’ve been bored at work. I’d much rather be working like crazy (within certain parameters), keeps things interesting!

That said I do know people who’ve been paid to turn up at an office and just work on their side projects. Could probably handle that!

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#423

Post by lazyasciiart »

kortilla wrote: post #371
lazyasciiart wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how people choose which health insurance policy is offered by their employer, or which private company won the contract to deliver their electricity.

Move to a location with multiple electricity providers. They exist all over. If you don’t like your employer healthcare, quit and find another or buy it on your own. There is choice there and you just don’t like it.

I think you’ve confused a discussion about how individuals make choices about their purchases for a complaint about the results of my personal choices?

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#424

Post by mprev »

sosodev wrote: post #372
mprev wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh, but who wants to do nothing all day? You get one life; why waste your days?

Are your days any less "wasted" laboring away?

Yep. I’ve got something to show for the time that has passed other than just a pay cheque.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#425

Post by mcv »

The moment you do the work on-site with the client, with their resources, their equipment, on their laptop that you first need to configure and install, with their environment and everything, dealing with their bureaucracy, work time goes way up.

Had you done this from home on your own machine after they quickly mailed you the necessary resources, you'd have been done within those 20 hours, but frankly, large corporations don't really care. $18,000 is still pocket money for them, and they apparently prefer if you do everything their way instead of your own.

You didn't just deliver a static html page, you delivered a static html page as part of their process.

Let them pay. You earned it. They wasted your time, you didn't waste theirs. It's not the most fulfilling way of working, but it pays the bills.

I do almost entirely projects for large clients like that, and it's not unusual that just getting started takes a week. I used to get frustrated about that, but it's their choice, and now I just go along with it.

It does underscore how unbelievably inefficient large companies really are.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#426

Post by mcv »

evrydayhustling wrote: post #355
chaiii wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if it's sustainable though. If you keep raising the prices and people buy what you're selling, and then eventually realize the quality isn't up to par of what they're paying for.

No matter what you think you are selling, you are always selling the buyer's experience. And for some work, framed the right way, high prices improve the experience.

It absolutely does. Some expensive things aren't all that high quality. It's just expensive for the sake of being expensive.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#427

Post by daemin »

ceejayoz wrote: post #356
chaiii wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if it's sustainable though. If you keep raising the prices and people buy what you're selling, and then eventually realize the quality isn't up to par of what they're paying for.

> then eventually realize the quality isn't up to par of what they're paying for Will they? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/04/2... > Nordstrom is selling “mud-stained” jeans to the tune of $425. They’re called the “Barracuda Straight Leg Jeans” and come with some sort of fake mud substance caked all over them. (It’s not clear what that substance is.) The knees, pockets and crotch of the jeans…

Wasn't this the whole designer ripped jeans of the 90s?

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#429

Post by jamesb93 »

notahacker wrote: post #150
mbreedlove wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they can capture $1mm revenue from the website, then the $21k they paid for it is a great investment.

Yeah, wouldn't surprise me if at the other side, some exec who budgeted $50k @ $1200/day for a new lead generating page is amazed it only took $21k and the contractor who did it was apparently diligent about coordinating with the design people himself and not wasting nearly as much management time as the agency that did the last one...

Aren't these just terrible business-people then? If I'm in charge of something I should know the field/cost. Most people have that expectation in their job and if everyone chalked up overpaying to rounding errors a lot of money would be wasted.
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