I think we’ve all been there, that time or place when we have to face the realization that the client we have is a client that is just not right for us. I think that for many small business owners there are two different thought processes: we either hope that we NEVER have to experience it or we just run our businesses waiting for the day THIS client shows up. When it finally happened for me I wasn’t really that surprised.
I recently took on a client that I knew in my gut was going to be hard to work with. From our first consultation it felt like work. I should have trusted myself more to step away from the situation but instead, AND THIS IS THE IMPORTANT LESSON: I allowed my insecurity and need to make my client happy take over. I made myself sick, like physically ill while dealing with her and this carried over into other areas of my life as well where I lost focus because of her.
After almost 2 months and countless hours, we have resolved the issues and parted ways. I learned that
1)I am not everyone’s photographer even if they come by way of referral.
2)I need to trust myself. My spouse and non photographer friends are great but if they don’t understand the industry they won’t understand what you do.
What happened between me and my client was a cultural issue, and not that I need to be more sensitive but I learned that I have to ask more direct questions. I grew up a Hispanic Catholic and while I understand a few things about other cultures I now know what to ask and HOW to ask it.
People I have shared this story with have said that I should not take it so personally, and to that I say this is my business, MY BUSINESS. It is what sustains My family. I don’t do this as a hobby, I don’t have a biweekly paycheck to fall back on. This is it. Failure is not an option. It’s all personal.
