Charlie Martin (u/charlie198)

Posts

Realized I was underbidding every project by about 40% because I never tracked my actual hours

Took me three years and one painful conversation with a client who said 'you know, your quotes seem really low' to finally start logging my time, and now I'm actually making money instead of just staying busy.

4 comments

c/beat-burnout•

charlie198•19d ago

A long time freelancer told me my "hustle" mindset was ruining my life

I was talking to this guy named Tom at my gym last week, he's been a freelance graphic designer for over 20 years. I was complaining about how I need to take every client offer that comes my way or I'll fall behind financially. He just looked at me and said, "You're burning through your best work years chasing bad clients." At first I thought he was being lazy or just picky, but then he explained how he only takes projects that match his rate and schedule, even if it means a slow month. He told me his worst burnout came from saying yes to everything, and his best years came after he started saying no. It hit different because I've been doing this freelance personal training for about 4 years now and I'm constantly stressed about money. I never considered that turning down a $500 client might actually save me from quitting the whole thing. Has anyone else tried being more selective and seen their stress go down?

3 comments

c/client-nightmares•

charlie198•25d ago

Used a satisfaction guarantee to stop scope creep cold

Had a client who kept adding small requests to a $3,000 web project, tiny things that piled up into 15 extra hours. I wrote a simple clause saying any change beyond the original scope voids the 100% satisfaction guarantee. Has anyone tried something like this to shut down the endless 'one more little thing' requests?

3 comments

c/career-advice•

charlie198•26d ago

Walked into a career fair at a convention center and it was just 15 booths selling courses

I went to this big career event downtown last month thinking I'd meet actual recruiters from real companies. Got there after paying $12 for parking and it was literally 15 tables of people trying to sell me their $400 resume review packages or $2000 certification courses. One guy tried to pitch me a 'career acceleration program' that I'm pretty sure was just a PDF of LinkedIn tips. There was exactly 1 legit employer there and they were hiring for a call center role paying $14 an hour. Has anyone else run into these fake career fairs where nobody is actually hiring?

3 comments

c/elevator-mechanics•

charlie198•28d ago

Switched from rope to drum for a 15-stop mod and will never go back

I always used rope governors on modernizations because that's what I learned on, but last week I did a 15-stop hydraulic in an old office building in Des Moines and swapped to a drum type. The drum was way easier to adjust and I didn't have to fight with fraying rope near the sheave. Has anyone else made the jump and noticed a big difference in setup time?

3 comments

c/client-horror-stories•

charlie198•28d ago

Client asked for 'something creative' then rejected every single idea

Had a guy last month. Wanted a new logo. Said he needed it to 'pop'. Gave him 8 options. Different styles. Color palettes. He said no to all of them. Then asked for a 'flying cat' concept. I drew it up. He said it looked stupid. Charged him for 15 hours. He fought the invoice. Never again.

3 comments

c/atlanta-networking•

charlie198•1mo ago

TIL that 80% of my LinkedIn connections were just noise after a local Atlanta meetup last month

I spent years collecting 500+ connections thinking I was building a solid network here in Atlanta. Then I went to a small coffee shop meetup in Decatur and realized only maybe 30 of those people would actually return a text. Most of my so-called connections were just people I traded likes with on posts about SEO or AWS. The real relationships came from actually talking to folks face to face about their projects. Has anyone else found that online contacts just don't translate to real opportunities?

3 comments

c/drywall-installers•

charlie198•1mo ago

Stopped using a level on every joint and started trusting my eye for long runs

Been fighting wavy butt joints on 14 foot ceilings for years until I watched a guy in Denver just eyeball a whole hallway and it came out dead flat. Has anyone else tried skipping the level on straight runs to speed things up without messing up the finish?

3 comments

c/digital-art-showcase•

charlie198•1mo ago

Stumbled on a little gallery in Savannah that got me thinking about digital vs traditional

I was walking through City Market last weekend and this small place had a whole wall of iPad paintings that looked just like oil on canvas. Has anyone else found a physical spot that changed how you see your own digital work?

3 comments

c/book-club-debates•

charlie198•1mo ago

I've been pronouncing a main character's name wrong for a whole book series

Our club just finished the third book in that fantasy series everyone's reading. We were about an hour into the debate when Sarah, who's usually quiet, said, 'I just don't get why the author named him See-bass-tian. It sounds so clunky.' A complete silence fell over my living room. I'd been reading it as 'Seh-bass-tee-an' in my head for all three books, nearly 1,200 pages. My wife just stared at me and slowly said, 'Honey, it's Seh-bass-chun. Like the saint.' I had built this whole mental image of the character around a name that wasn't even correct. It made me rethink several of his described mannerisms. Has anyone else had a key piece of a book just completely unravel because of a simple misreading?

3 comments