Re: Should I still charge a kill fee in this instance?

I'll offer some alternative perspectives. None of this is intended as scolding, or any suggestion that you're doing the wrong thing. You're doing the best possible thing by asking.

I just don't know that I'm the one to give you an answer that you....or anyone else here....might have any use for. :-)

Having a client big enough to create their own weather systems, their own centers of gravity, means they got to write their own rules. I had one like this, who did indeed make a huge difference to me.

First, a general principle that applies no matter what size the client:

If you haven't told 'em up front that you'll charge them if they hold you up, and they haven't agreed to it in advance, in writing, you're stuck.

Put it this way. If a client tried to throw up a new rule that you hadn't agreed to in advance, you'd be on this forum SCREAMING....and you'd be right.

Not that you can't mention it, but frankly, I wouldn't. In similar situations, I didn't. If they really are big, and you really do hope to work for them for a long time, take the money, and get used to be being pushed around. It stinks, but this is why they call it work.

Look, I know that we're all about the "treat me like I'm a professional" thing here....but seriously, one of the things that professionals do is suck it up in front of the client, then come here to rant. We start businesses because we want to be our own bosses, which hides a couple of hard truths:

--We are not our own bosses. Every monkey with a checkbook is our boss.

--We don't like taking orders, which makes us absolutely useless for "real" jobs. When you get a client capable of paying you as if you had a real job, act like you have one. They call it WORK, because it ain't easy.


Now, here's the other side of this. Sometimes they kept me waiting for forever. They canceled on short notice, WANTED me on short notice, had me work with contacts in the organization who hated me...well, that's strong language. They held out on me, obstructed me, and didn't respect me.

So what did I do? I did my job. I smiled like a monkey. I gave them more than what they paid for.

What did I get for my trouble? They came to support me in every aspect of my work. They gave me more and more creative freedom. They paid.

They became dear friends - not just the big client, but also people like the "gatekeeper" who banged on the table and said they'd make sure the client never approved the first deal. I can't begin to express how bad it was, and how good it got.

Seriously, we got a LOT of advice to steer clear of this deal, and some of those people respected us a lot less because of how well it worked out for us.

Here became the "hardest" part of the job: the client had hotels, restaurants, boats. Sometimes they wanted us to go out with them when we really wanted to take a nap. Or, to be less flippant, when it meant we'd have to stay up all night to finish another client's work.

I'm going on at way too much length, but my experience is that there can be plenty of upside to playing along. Taking money for work you enjoy, and enjoying the people you work for - anybody here have a problem with rearranging your schedule for that?

If it works out, you'll find them apologizing for things like standing you up. If it doesn't, well, you'll fire them and that will be that. But my own first step would be to let this one go, and never mention it.

It worked for me. Made all the difference in the rest of my career. Your mileage will vary.