Why do people expect to get paid $50/hr for their time but never seem willing to pay me $50/hr for mine?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Because people are selfish. ME ME ME.

Please elaborate.

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1989 300E 144K

Just saying. You make $150k year and want to start a restaurant but you can't pay me $50/hr (discounted from $85) to build your spreadsheets?

Yes sure you can do it yourself so why don't you?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Because they don't understand the value of hiring good professionals.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

There are people who are masochists in life.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Agreed.

At the same time, there are many people who hang up a shingle and pretend to be competent.

Buyer beware. When I worked as a translator, and people balked at the page rate, I explained that inexperienced people make mistakes or don't know things.

I gave him a free test:
I told him to get the translation for "forest fire" in French from each person he interviewed.

When he came back with all the same responses (wrong) I showed him why it was wrong: The translation they ALL gave was the slang word for the searing pain men feel when they have an STD.

I showed him the reference for that in a slang dictionary and asked if he really wanted all his foreign clients buying high-dollar mapping software to see this mistake, or not.

He still kept trying to drive down the proice, I told him to go away.

He is bankrupt now, and I don't care.

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

That is why I check around first to find out if you are really what you say you are. Obviously Dr Jones isn't going to say "Well, you could call this list of patients although most are dead. Mr Smith might work but he is crippled now.". You find unpaid opinions of people in that field not the references he provides. Also, to start with, I will give you a meaningless run so if you screw it up, oh well. SLOWLY, I will graduate you to more important tasks.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Its cliche, its stupid, but you have to spend money to make money.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

http://clientsfromhell.net/

you're not the only one

dont worry, after they hire the $25/hr guy to do it for them they will pay you $85/hr to fix it later

when I was contracting I would handle it two ways, flat rate them or figure out what the rate they wanted to pay and set hours of effort accordingly.

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1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale
2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold
2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably)
1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast)
1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style)
2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)

Ah, but Sir. At that time, you are FUBAR and you need my help. I'm not sure $85 will cut it then since I have you behind the 8 ball and you want me to unravel the other guy's mess. I think $85 plus a $15 penalty fee might be ok.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

PITA fee 15-30%, depending on history and expectations.

Unfortunately, a co-worker once let a spreadsheet go out to the customer with the line item and it was for the full 30%.

Co-worker is no longer with the company.

Customer paid it though. On the quick, it was called Parts In Transit Actual (Cost, but it wouldn't fit on the line in the "system") Fee..... Whew!

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85' 300D No inspection, No registration fees, Cheap insurance
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious %$&^."

I was thinking the same. Some of my clients try to get cheaper prices out of me when I give a quote. I tell them they can either get it done cheap, or get it done right, then leave. Most of the time, they call back the next day.

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1989 300E 144K

Do you charge more for undoing what the last idiot did? I usually warn them that this is the price for doing the job and higher rates apply for fixing somebody's mess.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

A funny story from years ago.
I did a lot of SQL Server DBA work, usually the very special heavy lifting stuff the local PC guys couldn't handle.

Got a call about a company their Line of Business app was down.
First I knew from chatter, the owner was slooooow pay, many times waiting for the collection agency before he'd cough up the dough.

But I went in quoted 150/hour, 8 hour minimum 16 hour max problem solved or no pay, and 8 hour check on ARRIVAL.

Didn't hear back, ok. 4 days later I get a call from their regular PC support consultant, they brought in another guy (I knew him) for about half what I quoted. He not only didn't solve it, made it worse, potentially lost all their data.

So I call the owner, he was frantic. I told him 350, with 8 hour gaurantee pay up front, no maximum hours, final payment within 7 days.
I told I knew he was slow pay, and don't normally take slow pay customers, I also told him I was booked up NOW, so I was going to have to rearrange several appointments.

He ranted and raved and said OK.

I walked in, was handed a certified check for the 8 hours gaurantted.

Well 8 hours later I had things stabilized, the data was recovered (almost all), they were able to begin using the app and continue on. I put in another 12 or so hours cleaning up the mess and setting things up so it shouldn't happen again.

When I gave him the final documentation on what I did, he asked how many hours walked out and came back 5 minutes later with the check. I hadn't even invoiced him yet.

We enjoyed a good relationship from then on, at my regular rates, including a fair amount of general computer and application support.
He paid very promptly from that point on, including the other techs he had in from time to time.
He also referred a bit of business my way, I actually gave him discounts sometimes as a thankyou.

He learned sometimes cheap is cheap.

He did tell me he figures he lost 5 to 10k per hour the plant was down because the app wasn't running, it managed all the scheduling of production through the plant.

We still go out to dinner from time to time, he's semo retired now.

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KLK, MCSE

1990 500SL

I was always taught to respect my elders.
I don't have to respect too many people anymore.