Here’s what I find happens.
When buying or selling things.
Clients that pay too low fees are generally a pain in the arse to work with.
And the project is destined from day one to produce a half-arsed sub-optimal solution that’s good for nobody.
Money & Trust.
Now, I don’t mean that people that pay too low fees are a pain in the arse all the time.
In fact, people that pay too low fees probably don’t like being a pain in the arse any of the time, actually.
But they’ll very likely be a pain in the arse on projects where they are paying too low fees.
Here’s why.
- When you pay the right amount of money for something or someone. You expect it or them to be fucking good. You ‘expect’ this in order to justify the decision you made about paying the right amount of money for something or someone. Because you trust your own judgement – and so you have to trust them. So you butt-out and leave them to get on with it. So that if your judgement was in deed good, you end up getting the best possible solution for the right fee. And with little or no effort or time from you.
- When you pay very low fee or fuck all for something or someone. You expect the results to be imperfect. Because they have shown you that they are the kind of people that are prepared to accept someone like you not paying the right amount of money for someone like them. So you are constantly questioning your own judgement – because you are questioning theirs. From day one. And as a consequence, you don’t trust them. So you constantly butt-in and undermine and interrupt them. So you end up with a shitty, sub-optimal solution that you could have done just as badly yourself. Plus you’d have a bit less money because you didn’t.
Here’s how to mend this.
- If you want something doing well, choose someone really good at doing it, and pay them the right amount of money.
- If you are really good at doing something, charge people the right amount of money for doing it, and no less. Then be really good.
That’s it.
