This is what I have to tell myself if I don’t want to go insane!
Ever since starting my VA business I have heard so many say that you just don’t want to go outside of your boundaries. It’s kind of like “give a inch, and they’ll take a mile”.
Boundaries are there for a reason. I’ve worked hard to find my boundaries and I’ve tried to make them as reasonable as possible.
- Stick to my office hours
- Insist on retainer payments in advance of the start date
- Keep the work within the constraints of the original contract
- Don’t accept client calls or rush work outside of the normal scope of the contract
- And there are others of course…
Well, holding to my boundaries is something I will be sure to stick to from here on out.
I accepted work with a new client on a retainer basis and I afforded the client the opportunity to submit payment by the end of the first week of the month that we started our partnership. We were starting out quickly so as to get the marketing campaign underway before the holidays.
Here we are now at the end of that month and still no payment. I fulfilled half of the retainer and held off on the remaining hours until the payment was made. I now have to end our partnership and try to recoup the payment for the services I’ve already rendered.
And, to top it all off, I had to make a phone call to the client (in Africa), and phone calls are the responbility of the client. Well, I now have a $102 phone call for 15 mintues of conversation that I will also have to try and recoup from my client.
Live and Learn, Live and Learn - this is my sanity mantra! I will say it every day so I won’t be condemned to repeat the past!