A Bad Idea

I want to tell you a story about a web designer I worked with a while back … not my current one.

Loved her work.

And as part of our contract, I was required to pay her in full upon launch of the site. Fine, but there were three pages that still needed to be completed after the launch … pages that were part of the original job. We agreed in a very specific email exchange what was left to do to complete the project.

Never happened. Once she got the payment, she was done. Finito. On to something else.

And here recently, someone I really like and a guy who’s tops in his field has been doing some promotional work for me. It’s good work and he’s given me a pretty nice discount. We were on the last phase of the project and I’d owe him quite a bit of money once he finished, the discount notwithstanding.

I had a brainstorm! Why not pay him in advance … in 2016 … for the rest of the work? That way I could take it as an expense against this year’s taxes.

Shortly thereafter, when I wanted clarity on something that would take a bit of his time, what I got was, “Well, I’ve already spent so much time on this thing!”

Uh oh. I think it’s happening again.

I should have learned my lesson the first time.

What lesson?

If you ever find yourself considering the idea of paying in advance, make sure you know who you’re dealing with and get a clear agreement.

And, here’s the main point. If you’re on the other side of the equation and somebody has paid you in advance, there should be absolutely no difference in how you deliver the work. Same quality of work. Delivered on time. Period. And if you can’t make that happen, don’t take the money!

It’s a matter of integrity. And nothing matters more to your success in business … and in life … than being in integrity … being your word.

Best Wishes,
Denise

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