"She complained about my fee – constantly"<p>This is generally a sign that the person you're working with is paying directly from their own pocket, or the business is so small it feels like the equivalent of paying out of their own pocket, even if it's not technically.<p>I've had <i>some</i> mid sized clients that were still concerned about fee size - and they were family-owned/run. I'm not suggesting people <i>shouldn't</i> be concerned about a fee at all - they want to know they're getting more value than they're shelling out. It's a valid concern, but should be just one of many factors, and judging by hourly rate alone is a poor measuring stick (but one which few people can get past).<p>#1 I had someone call me up frantic because their site was broken. I didn't have the time to fix it right then, but <i>emailed back instructions</i> on how to fix it. I said "give this to your web team" (they <i>had</i> at least 2 JS developers on staff who had <i>created</i> the bug in the first place), but 7 hours later I got an even more frantic call to 'just fix it'.<p>I fixed it, sent an invoice for $200, and got back to my work in 15 minutes. I got a check in the mail the next week. They didn't particularly care what the price was. If I'd sent an invoice for $2k, possibly, but I probably could have said $500 and it still would have been paid. It wasn't that person's money - it was just a problem that needed to be solved, and there was money in the budget to do it.<p>#2 - had a prospective client complain about their current dev/tech guy, who kept fighting/arguing that some of the requested features couldn't be done, because they're not possible or they'd be too slow. I did a demo in an hour outlining exactly how to do it, what tech to use, how to set it up, and what the code would look like. And still got pushback on my fee, because hourly I'm about 6x what they're paying the other guy, but they only feel comfortable paying 2-3x the current rate. And I'm trying to get across to them that while I have an hourly (and daily, and weekly) rate, the bigger measure is - how fast is stuff getting done. I've been tempted to offer a project quote, but I've watched the project from afar for several months and it's felt like too many pivots to be stable enough to provide a flat rate quote.<p>#1 didn't complain at all - provided value, they saved face with their client, and I made $200 in 15 minutes.<p>#2 spending effectively their own money (or borrowed money) and are cautious about every penny. Again, not that they shouldn't be, but it's much harder dealing with this sort of client.