Category — Uncategorized

You know what happens.  A client comes to you and says, “it’s an easy project,” or “my project is ready to go” – I just need design or layout or final touches.

You quote a price.  You agree on the details and you start work.  Then, suddenly, the little, easy project starts growing.  It sends out shoots, leaves, branches, and pretty soon your simple project has turned into an invasive weed that strangles every native plant in sight.

You’re stuck in scope creep.

How to stop it

Your contracts should say what is and is not included in your work.  Spell out the number of design mock-ups, revisions, or tweaks that are included.

If they expand the project, or want revisions beyond the original agreement, politely tell them that more work will require an additional fee.

Be clear about your fees

Tell them your fee structure.  Spell out how you bill, and when payments are due.  Make it clear what the client’s deadlines are, as well as  your own.

Tweaks vs. Revisions vs. Rewrites

A tweak is a small thing, such as changing the word green to the word blue throughout the document.

A revision is changing the header size, number of columns or making alterations on several pages of the document.

Think of a tweak as changing your shoes.  A revision is putting on new shoes, different socks, and a fresh shirt.  A rewrite is a whole new outfit.

Tell the client, in advance, in  your contract, which is which and how you charge for each.

Extra work for an extra fee

My favorite advice stopping scope creep comes from Men with Pens: Sure, since we’ve already used up the revisions we agreed to in the original scope of the project, I’ll send a Paypal request for $___, which will cover those tweaks.  I’ll have the revision to you by next Tuesday.

You’ve killed the weeds.  Now the client has to decide if those last changes are really worth extra cash.  If they are, you earn a few extra dollars, and you won’t feel taken advantage of.  If they’re not, the client can decide it’s not worth it.

Everybody’s happy.  Nobody feels used.

Image thanks to: taberandrew

Your brain is bubbling with ideas, you’ve got a design project, two phone calls to return, and a big proposal to write. What do you do first? How do you keep focused keep yourself from wandering off to something new, bright, and shiny….ooohhh blog posts… Twitter….

Eat the frog first

I cheerfully stole this from Bolaji. He doesn’t mean an actual frog. He means if there’s a big, ugly thing you have to do (like your taxes, for instance), do that first. Get it out of the way. You’ll feel better and can go on to something more fun.

Turn off your email

My second favorite new trick. If I need to write or think, the new mail sound is a big distraction. I turn it off for an hour or two, first thing in the morning. It’s when I think best anyway.

Got five minutes?

If you can do something quickly, do it and get it out of the way. Got 3 quick emails to write? Write them, send them, and cross them off your list.

Announce a deadline

Make it public. Your friends, blog readers, and forum members will nag you.  Remember, what you do is ship.

Get a buddy

Another way to be accountable. Get someone whose “job” it is to nag you. Then, you return the favor for them.

What tricks do you use to get more done?  How do you stay focused?  Share your ideas in the comments.

Image compliments of: NoShoes

I’m not the prime minister (or even the president), but I thought it might be helpful to set aside a post now and then for questions.

If you have one about headlines, email marketing, your website design, niche marketing, or another marketing challenge you’re having, ask away.

The floor is yours.

Photo thanks to:ghindo

Three weeks ago, Seth Godin released a new ebook called “What Matters Now.” The book had short essays by big names such as Tom Peters, Jackie Huba, and Seth himself (70 in all).

Inspired by this, the members of triiibes decided to get together and create our own version.

They took months. We took weeks (because we’re crazy like that).

It’s called What You Can Do Now…Here’s How: A Manual for Action in 2010.

Sure, Tom Bentley, Joel Canfield, and Bolaji Oyejide, aren’t household names. They should be. They’re brilliant, funny, and they’ll get your blood racing and your brain ready to go to make a difference in 2010.

P.S. We were also inspired by Seth’s new book (Linchpin) and his launch event, to get together and start our own conference. A team of planners (spanning 10 time zones) put in a lot of hard work to make it a reality.

The conference starts tomorrow, followed by a Triiibes dinner (hosted by Seth – he says the food is weird – should I be worried when a vegetarian says the food is weird?), the Linchpin event, and more conference fun. Then, there’s the foodie tour!

I’ll tell you all about it on Monday!

UPDATE: New and improved version now shipping! Download the new version.

I just found out (thanks Sean) that there was a formatting error in my Email Made Easy e-book. Some of the subtitles weren’t displaying correctly (cause I made them white instead of blue!).

It’s fixed now. Here’s a link to the corrected version.

Tomorrow’s post will be about admitting mistakes and fixing them!