Client in Seattle said "we'll talk budget later" and I ignored it

Met with a woman last week. She wanted a full website rebrand. I asked about budget twice. She smiled and said "don't worry, we'll figure that out later." My friend who does web dev told me that phrase is a death sentence. She spent 3 months building a site for a guy who said the same thing. Never got paid a dime. I walked away from the Seattle lady yesterday. Felt bad at first. But $4,500 of my time is not a gamble. Has anyone else had this exact line and regretted taking the job?

3 comments

3 Comments

angelamurphy4h ago

is it just me or does this whole "we'll talk later" thing feel like it's bleeding into regular life too? lol like my neighbor kept saying "we'll figure out the fence situation when the weather gets better" and now it's been 6 months and he's pretending he never said anything. people use that line to avoid uncomfortable stuff and it never ends well. good on you for walking away, honestly its better to lose a potential client than to waste weeks of your life on someone who won't commit.

drews558h ago

Same thing happened to me two years ago with a guy in Portland. He said "we'll figure out numbers when we see what you come up with" and I ended up working four weeks for free before he ghosted me. Now if they won't talk money on the first call, I tell them I'm booked solid and move on.

pat_harris4h ago

I started asking for half upfront after a similar situation with a web designer in Austin. He kept saying "we'll sort out payment after the first draft" and three revisions later he asked for another free round. Now I tell people straight up that I need a deposit before I touch anything. It screens out the time wasters really fast.