If they were really a good client, I'd say something like it's not my area of expertise, but I'll give it a look for five minutes. Often things like this turn o

If they were really a good client, I'd say something like it's not my area of expertise, but I'll give it a look for five minutes. Often things like this turn out to be next to nothing or a simple misunderstanding on their part. If it turns out to be a bigger deal than that, I'd either recommend some searches they can try, someone else who might be more experienced, or offer to continue working at it at my normal rate with no promise of success. They then get to own the decision. I don't really identify with the final part of your original post though. I code a lot, but I also use things like Zapier (and heck, Excel) and find them to be interesting domains of their own, even though it's not what I'd want to do full time. If you're a consultant, sometimes a bit of variety and an opportunity to see a customer problem from a different angle is to be savored.