Client Wants to Hire Someone Else

[matthews-whitney]

I was working with a client for 5 hours. We had issues with the file they were giving me, and they did not want to send better quality images. They wanted me to image trace it and make it look exactly like the image with all the details exactly like it is. I was unable to. The result looked bad. I also did a redraw of it using the pen tool. They did not want that. They decided to look for someone else.

What do I do now?

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

re: "I was working with a client for 5 hours. We had issues with the file they were giving me, and they did not want to send better quality images. They wanted me to image trace it and make it look exactly like the image with all the details exactly like it is. I was unable to. The result looked bad. I also did a redraw of it using the pen tool. They did not want that. They decided to look for someone else. What do I do now?"

What should you do now?

You should embrace this experience. Embrace what you learned.

There are projects that you are right for, and projects that you are not right for. This client asked you to do some things that are not in your wheelhouse, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Moving forward, you should decide if you want to learn those skils (such as converting a relatively low-resolution raster image to a high-quality vector image using hand-done tracing and illustration techniques) or focus on the skills you already DO have and refer clients to OTHER people if they need those skills.

I work on a lot of large projects that require many different skills to complete. I focus on only a few areas of the project - areas that I have advanced skills in. Other people work on other parts of the project.

The client you were working for sounds like they acted in a sensible, professional way.

If this happens on your next project, you could tell the client:

"Francine: I understand exactly what you want to accomplish. I recommend that you hire a graphic artist who is experienced in doing this sort of work, probably somebody with extensive Adobe Illustrator experience. This is not something that I would be able to for you."

[matthews-whitney]

Thank you for your feedback. Also, do I end the contract or do I wait for them to end it? I have seen different answers online.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Also, do I end the contract or do I wait for them to end it? I have seen different answers online."

We used to be worried about about the impact of zero-feedback contracts. But successive revisions of JSS calculation algorithms have rendered this a moot point.

Go ahead and end the contract yourself.

If this client never leaves you any feedback at all, that won't hurt you at all.

For this particular project, it may be better if the client never actually leaves feedback. That can only happen if YOU end the contract yourself, instead of waiting for the client to end it.

Send a short note to the client:
"Thank you for letting me work on this project. I wish you well as you move forward."

Then close it.