The "working with small local clients at all is the mistake" part is already well-covered, so I'll add a secondary rule: Don't custom-build complicated website

The "working with small local clients at all is the mistake" part is already well-covered, so I'll add a secondary rule: Don't custom-build complicated websites for small local clients. Just don't. Most of them won't be able to maintain it over time - 90% of the time, even if they think they need and can afford your bespoke solution, what they _actually_ need is a simple hosted wix or squarespace instance or equivalent -- it may not look exactly like they imagine, but they'll be able to modify it and improve it and actually keep using it. Your bespoke solution is going to fall apart the first time they tweak something and hit a trivial syntax error they're not equipped to repair. Scale the complexity of the solution to the capabilities of the client who's paying for it.