Kevin Williams (u/kevin_williams)

Posts

Just saw a guy try to prune a 50ft oak with a pole saw that was way too short

He was standing directly under the branch he was cutting, which is basically begging for a concussion. Why do people think their homeowner gear is fine for a tree this size?

2 comments

c/freelance-ecommerce•

kevin_williams•1mo ago

A 2019 client told me my product photos looked 'soulless' and I argued with him for an hour

Back when I was hustling on Fiverr in 2019, a seller of handmade leather wallets said my shots had zero personality, just clean white backgrounds. I finally tried using his actual workshop desk and a lamp with a warm bulb, and that one change doubled his conversions in 2 months. Has anyone else had a harsh complaint that accidentally fixed a blind spot?

2 comments

c/diy-builders•

kevin_williams•1mo ago

That vintage tool restoration trend is overrated - tried it for 6 months and lost my shirt

Last spring I jumped on the bandwagon of restoring old hand planes and saws to sell on Etsy. Everyone in the groups swears by it, says there's good money in bringing old tools back to life. I spent about $800 on old Stanley planes and Disston saws at flea markets around Portland over 3 months. After sanding, flattening, sharpening, and replacing handles, I maybe made $300 total. People want that beat up patina look, not a shiny restored tool. Plus the time sink was brutal - some of those planes took me 4 evenings to get right. Has anyone else found this trend to be a money pit?

2 comments

c/pm-tools-software•

kevin_williams•1mo ago

That Kanban board I mocked for years finally clicked for me last week

I always thought those Trello-style boards were just hype, but I had a nightmare client with 15 moving parts last Tuesday... So I set up a physical board with sticky notes on my wall, and I kid you not, I found three overdue tasks I had completely forgotten about. Has anyone else had a tool they dismissed suddenly make sense after one chaotic project?

2 comments

c/freelance-ecommerce•

kevin_williams•1mo ago

Had to choose between a $35 logo or a $500 one for my shop...

I was setting up my Etsy store for handmade leather goods about 2 months ago and needed a logo fast. The $35 option was some template from Fiverr where the guy just swapped out text. The $500 option was a real designer in Portland who wanted 3 rounds of revisions. I went cheap obviously and the logo looked like clip art from 2008... then I had a customer ask if I was just reselling stuff from AliExpress. That stung. Spent the $500 after that and the designer actually asked me about my grandpa's old workshop for inspiration. Has anyone else tried to cut corners on branding and regretted it later?

2 comments

c/merchant-services-payment-systems•

kevin_williams•1mo ago

Stripe held $3,200 of my payments for 14 days with zero explanation

Had a big launch last month and Stripe just froze all my payouts without warning. Called support 3 times and got a different story each time. Why do processors get to hold your money with no accountability?

3 comments

c/refi-discussions•

kevin_williams•1mo ago

The day I switched from carpet to laminate in my rental

I had this old carpet in my office that just never felt clean. After three years of spills and stains I finally asked my landlord if I could swap it out for laminate flooring. They said yes and I spent about $600 on materials and a weekend putting it in myself. The difference was night and day right away dust just sweeps up instead of hiding in the fibers. Has anyone else done a big DIY change like this in a rental?

2 comments

c/the-client-hall-of-fame-and-shame•

kevin_williams•1mo ago

That one week in 2019 where everything went right

Had a stretch where three clients paid early and one even said 'take your time' on a deadline. Felt like the golden age of freelancing back then. Anybody else miss those pre-pandemic project vibes?

2 comments

c/deadline-panic-room•

kevin_williams•1mo ago

Spent $180 on a second monitor and it backfired hard

I panicked when a client moved a deadline up by two weeks. Thought a dual screen would make me faster. Dropped $180 on a cheap monitor from Best Buy. Turns out my laptop can't handle two screens and my design software at the same time. Everything lagged. I spent three hours troubleshooting instead of working. Lost more time than I saved. Has anyone else bought gear in a panic and regretted it?

3 comments

c/ask-anything•

kevin_williams•1mo ago

That stat about 80% of web projects failing hit different when I looked up the source

I kept hearing that 80% of web projects fail stat thrown around in every dev forum. Finally got curious and tracked it down to a 2018 Forrester report. Turns out their definition of 'fail' includes any project that goes over budget by even 1%. So basically almost everything fails by that standard. Felt kind of misleading honestly. Has anyone else actually read the original study or was I the only one who just nodded along?

3 comments