Wake up once at 4:27 am with a crying baby and no coffee beans in the cupboard?
Shame on you.
Wake up twice with no coffee beans?
Shame on me.
Last week I swore an oath to my wife that this house would never go uncaffeinated again. And so I demanded pounds upon pounds of fresh bags from not one, but TWO roasteries.
Almost immediately, the first roastery shot me a missive:
Due to recently implemented tariffs on packages arriving from Canada, all shipments to the U.S. may experience delays
Well…that’s fine. The second roastery sits an hour south of us, so surely its shipment will arrive sooner.
Surely.
But the delivery date came and went with no update from Roastery B.
A day late.
Two days.
Three days.
At this point, I was rummaging through the cabinets looking for leftover Taiwanese oolong tea…even glancing at the caffeinated gum I’d researched for a client project.
Must resist.
Four days…
And finally…with comical timing, TWO update messages from UPS:
BOTH orders were arriving today…on the same truck.
😐
Let me tell you something…
Even though I objectively prefer my local roastery’s beans, THEY were the ones who left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.
That’s because the Canadian roastery understands the art and science of managing expectations, while the local roastery does NOT.
Canadian roastery:
-
Set expectations for a delay
-
Subverted expectations by arriving on time
-
Result? BETTER experience than if they had shipped normally.
Meanwhile, the local roastery:
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No communication about the delayed UPS handoff
-
I only found out about the delay because of UPS…NOT a good look
-
Result? WORSE experience.
I’m sure you’ve had a similar experience before.
For example, have you ever been to a restaurant…had bad service…but the manager bent over backwards to make things right?
You probably like that restaurant more than others where you’ve only had GOOD experiences.
Yet it’s baffling to me why so many freelancers overlook this simple principle when handling their clients.
They flit between one-off jobs, pitching bad clients…not realizing…
Even a 5-star roast can taste burnt when you’re left in the dark.
When you set clear expectations from the very start—and then beat those expectations—you boost the odds of getting awesome testimonials and repeat work.
Of course, managing clients is just one piece of the freelance puzzle.
If you want to master all 5…stop wasting money on proposals…and avoid nightmare clients altogether…then check out Upwork Domination.
It’s my complete blueprint for “gaming” Upwork not once, but twice—and it works regardless of your industry.
Delivered instantly, too—no tariffs!
nickbandy.com/upwork-domination
If you’ve ever been ghosted by a client—or worse, been the ghost—this is for you.
Both pleasantly surprised and immeasurably disappointed,
Nick
Blessed is he who prepareth the morning brew, for his hands shall not grow weary, neither shall his eyelids falter.
