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Good one. I think you could probably pull it off. I've seen it done before. With that said, some clients, psychologically, will need to talk out their problems

Good one. I think you could probably pull it off. I've seen it done before. With that said, some clients, psychologically, will need to talk out their problems out loud. They may even tell you that. It's how they need to operate. They may just be too much for you and that shouldn't prevent you from doing well at your business with other clients. This would tend to be especially true if you can make it clear that you are running a business (sole proprietor) and text-only is your business policy. You could probably even address any issues in a reasonably cool way without talking about your personal health conditions which is kind of a no-no for anybody involved where typical business boundaries are concerned. So a big part of this might be developing the vocabulary to talk about it at a level that meets the needs of prospective clients and also says, "We can talk about it ALL you want but my boundaries are right here, and I'm also ready to help you out with stuff I'm good at." Eventually you may also find some related vocabulary for navigating phone calls in a way that makes it clear you are not there to give a half-assed solution over the phone, so you'll need some time. For example, "let me take a look, I will get that on the schedule," "This is new to me, so I'll have to think about that, let me see how the schedule looks," etc. It may help to think of you as the business, and write about the "you" problems from a third-person perspective. What will you have the business owner do about the issue, if they're your video game character? This can help you focus more on strengths and less about what you can't do for people. It does sound like you have plenty of talent for what the typical small-biz web development client would need. Getting into a couple of other specifics--if you can, it's a good idea to establish a plan for frequency of communication during a project, and communicate that you have such a plan, up front. "I'll expect to reach out with updates at the next milestone, which is X on date Y. If you have any questions between now and then, my contact information is below." This will also help your clients to be more comfortable not using the phone, since they know their info-needs will be taken care of in any case. You are basically soothing them, so to speak. It's also a really good idea to practice and develop professional use of your favored media as a way to avoid inadvertently raising the stakes via text communication. This could include using a professional email signature which invites people to reach out (any of these text-based methods). Also, writing emails that do not seem personal in nature and clarifying things to avoid misunderstandings. Good luck, like I said I've seen it done and if you can develop your practice over time you might even find you get in good with one or two clients, they really love your work, they also like text, and you're set. I think it would be reasonable to look forward to outcomes like that for sure.

uhxvt 5y ago
That's some good suggestions, thanks! Being up front with it without giving a reason has not gone good for me so far, but maybe I just need to fabricate a reason that is relatable and somewhat true. Maybe it would be ok for people when I tell them: text-only because I don't want to sink time in long meetings. Maybe its worth a shot. Letting the client know I will reach out frequently and they can as well would also give them ease of mind and trust. That's good and I guess establishing and deepening trust is the main issue why a lot of people rely on calls/video. In my experience text is often more efficient but not preferred, but that might be because of my own problems.
- themodelplumber 5y ago
  You're welcome--and, yeah if they are making requests to dig into the issue or asking for your reasons I guess that's different. I have a friend who says that generally people who ask about the reason behind a blanket policy or platform are not a good match for the small business in question. This implies that time spent explaining reasons for policy is wasted time, if you look at the first five or so years of your work as building a foundation for your future by selecting clients who are a good match. I thought that was an interesting point. Trust is a huge one for sure--some people are less trusting, but a lot of those people have had terrible past experiences in business. So it's much less about you and your services, and more about them. And that's not your problem to solve for them. These are very difficult clients to serve in general, and the more you give them what they say they want, the more they feel justified in treating others as if they are untrustworthy. (It's going to be tricky to integrate these ideas from a position of needing to have more clients, rather than needing to let some go for example, but maybe it helps you select better clients faster, so your asking the question here was a good idea.)

uhxvt 5y ago

That's some good suggestions, thanks! Being up front with it without giving a reason has not gone good for me so far, but maybe I just need to fabricate a reason that is relatable and somewhat true. Maybe it would be ok for people when I tell them: text-only because I don't want to sink time in long meetings. Maybe its worth a shot. Letting the client know I will reach out frequently and they can as well would also give them ease of mind and trust. That's good and I guess establishing and deepening trust is the main issue why a lot of people rely on calls/video. In my experience text is often more efficient but not preferred, but that might be because of my own problems.

themodelplumber 5y ago
You're welcome--and, yeah if they are making requests to dig into the issue or asking for your reasons I guess that's different. I have a friend who says that generally people who ask about the reason behind a blanket policy or platform are not a good match for the small business in question. This implies that time spent explaining reasons for policy is wasted time, if you look at the first five or so years of your work as building a foundation for your future by selecting clients who are a good match. I thought that was an interesting point. Trust is a huge one for sure--some people are less trusting, but a lot of those people have had terrible past experiences in business. So it's much less about you and your services, and more about them. And that's not your problem to solve for them. These are very difficult clients to serve in general, and the more you give them what they say they want, the more they feel justified in treating others as if they are untrustworthy. (It's going to be tricky to integrate these ideas from a position of needing to have more clients, rather than needing to let some go for example, but maybe it helps you select better clients faster, so your asking the question here was a good idea.)