Once agreed to a low rate. No retainer, hourly.
Most tasks: done in 10 minutes. A bigger one: 30. Made pennies.
Enthusiasm: negative. But a deal is a deal, I promised.
Until something clicked: price determines attitude. In both directions.
So I built a process.
My system for low-rate clients:
- Task arrives → log 30 min for “understanding requirements”
- Start the timer. Look into the issue. Slowly.
- Make coffee.
- Solve the problem.
- Test. Comment in the ticket. Check again. Send.
- Stop the timer.
Work became noticeably more interesting.
Same quality. Same result. More hours. Everyone’s happy.
New clients like this — retainer only. Or not at all.