In this episode of That Entrepreneur Life, Clint McPherson and Andrew Lees talk about expectation management as an entrepreneur. You need to adjust your expectations as an entrepreneur and adjust the expectations of your clients. The clients need to know exactly what to expect from you. Is it a product, a service, how often will you be delivering to the client? Communication is vital from the beginning – be clear and concise. At the start, you need more clients; however, you don’t want it to bite you in the butt down the road. Clint always goes above and beyond with his clients. He says sometimes doing this can backfire. For instance, Clint helped create a website with his client. Then, he noticed a problem with something and fixed it. Later, the client expected Clint to continue to fix his site free of charge.

When you are in a service-based business, it is essential to have an agreement set up. The more the client can communicate with you, the more successful the project will be. Andrew charges fifty percent upfront and then fifty percent when the project is complete. During one project, the client was waiting for Andrew to post a video. The client never sent the video to Andrew; it took almost seven months for Andrew to get the rest of his payment. Now, Andrew makes sure to ask for his payment after a certain period of time. He didn’t set clear expectations, so the clients took advantage of it. Make sure to have a nonverbal agreement for your projects. Revisit and make changes to the contract whenever necessary. 

As an entrepreneur, we are always trying to add additional value to our client’s projects. However, when a client starts expecting other items or services for free, you will be creating the wrong pattern. Clint says to watch out for red flags when communicating with clients. When starting with your business, you will take on some clients that may not be ideal - you need to get started somewhere. Eventually, you will begin to identify red flags and not take specific projects. Some projects will be effortless, whereas other projects will be like pulling teeth. You want the ideal customer – it should feel effortless! How do you find more of these clients? Andrew has turned down customers because he was not comfortable with the expectations of the customer. Stay tuned as Clint and Andrew discuss setting expectations for a product-based business.



Connect with That Entrepreneur Life on...



Website: https://thatentrepreneurlife.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thatentrepreneurlife/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatentrepreneurlifeusa/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatEntreprene1

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFKPkF39Z6r2l9AT4k-tDtg

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/that-entrepreneur-life/support