[webproducers] We're so cool you should work for free! (WILL SOMEBODY SHOOT ME NOW!)

--- Lydia Sugarman <thegoodegg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> You get what you pay for and what you deserve.  They'll come to you
> to fix the disaster the false alchmists promised and then,  you can
> really charge through the roof.  Those aren't the clients I want. 
> Life is too short and the bullshit factor is too high.

I recently had a very depressing experience which I would like to
share. I don't know if sharing it will change anything, but perhaps
there is a lesson to be learned. So here goes my tale of woe:

For a few years I've been going after this one client which is a large
well respected cultural institution* (you could say that they own a
chain of museums - and perhaps some of the best ones in the world).
Over the course of a few years I was invited to answer an RFP here or
there - but each time we lost out. Of course in each case there were
about ten or more firms on the list - so I could see that the odds
might be against one if you only answered about 5 RFPs.

So recently we were asked to submit our qualifications for an inhouse
trade show of multimedia developers. Of course we leap at the chance!
There was a 50% chance that one would be invited (about 120 were asked
and 60 accepted). Of course the show was out of town - but this is
marketing - so we had no problem wit the idea of spending money to
travel to demo our company.

When we got there it was depressing. It was a room packed with about 60
small firms like ourselves - and in the end we may have met less than
10 people who may have been able to use our services. Even more
depressing was that folks sneaked in to give us resumes, thus taking
away from the chance we might get to do sales or get on another RFP
list. Being a small firm we didn't have much of a marketing budget, so
it was a bit of a downer seeing some very slick presentations. But we
figured it would be worth the investment because even if there was a
10% chance we might get a $25k job it would be worth it.

So at this internal trade fair my COO goes to see the contract manager
speak, and he tells the audience that "since we are well known we
expect that you will do $200 worth of work while billing for $100".
Well at least the guy was honest, I would rather hear that before the
project starts and know what I'm getting into. And to be fair this is
often the case with name clients - but often not stated up front.

As luck might have it we got a small nibble for a tiny job. One guy
wanted an "engine to do a game" and he seemed to be very clear, which
can be a rare thing. I followed up and about a week later he tells me
"I was just speaking to the head of contracting, and he tells me that
some of the developers have offered to work pro bono - are you a part
of this?" So not only didn't they want to pay a fraction of the cost,
they wanted the work for free.

This was a few months ago. Today I got an e-mail which informed me that
this institution was going to list the projects they wanted done on a
pro bono basis - so companies would have to write proposals to do work
for free! Not only that but the projects would be listed on a Federal
Small Business Opportunity website. What's sad is that the entire point
of the Small Business Administration is to give little guys a chance,
not to take advantage of these small companies. 

But there is a lesson! I think that I learned that I don't want to do
work with this organization - and that I won't waste the time writing
up proposals. I'm getting into a "Fountainhead Mindset" that the best
work can be done for the most obscure clients rather than the well
known ones (i.e. it's better to design a very cool gas station rather
than an ugly skyscraper which is designed by committee). I've always
felt that Ayn Rand was a bit simplistic - and that would shouldn't blow
up buldings just because you design got changed - but maybe she was on
to something. 

I'm also looking at the work of Charles and Ray Eames - and I'm also
seeing that if you really love a subject matter, you should create your
own project rather than looking for help from high places.

But I'm still a bit grumpy these days...

Michael 

* If you know who I'm talking about please don't mention them. Their
name doesn't matter because I could have suffered the same fate at the
hands of any other similar organization.

=====
M I C H A E L   J A M E S   P I N T O
------------------------------------------------------------
Where I Work: http://www.vm.com  
Support My Book Habit: http://www.fanboy.com
More About Me: http://www.michaelpinto.com  
My Favorite Music: http://www.thefall.org
Japanese Animation: http://www.anime.com

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