The Plumber’s Guide to Finding & Keeping Clients

I will admit something embarrassing here: I would not have gone to the trouble of interviewing seven plumbers. And my mistake (and be honest, yours too) makes it hard for Michael to thrive and for the others to fail. After all, once you get a client, if you do the job somehow it won't hurt you much if you do it less then perfect. They might even recommend you: it's not like they know somebody else, and you _did_ do the job, after all.

This btw is one application of the Internet I expected for more then a decade and never materialized. A wiki-consumerist, with reviews in any domain. Unfortunately, I do not think it is easy.

I love #1:

"Some people are going to come to you with tough jobs. How you respond to their inquiries says a lot about you and your work. Are you going to be like Michael, who relished the challenge and motivated his crew to step up to it?"

We are fortunate to be in an industry still in its infancy. Many of our contemporaries don't know how to do things, so they mistakenly believe "they can't be done".

When I hear, "that can't be done," that's when the juices start flowing.

(Be careful, there's a flip side. Don't turn your nose up at work that "anybody can do".)

There is of course though a fine line between going the extra distance for a client and being taken advantage of/ underpaid.

I think this really boils down to being an expert in your chosen field. As a consultant, the people are paying you to be the expert and take care of all aspects of the project.