So I lost a client and I feel...okay with that!
Why is that?
Well, lemme back up first and give you some background. I have been working with this client off-and-on for the past few years. I originally booked a job with them through one of the pay-to-play sites, did the job, got paid, and we went our separate ways.
Flash to a couple years later, he hits me up out of the blue asking if I could voice a project. We agreed on price and all that and I cranked out the VO on this new project.
Over the next year, he came to me with some more stuff to voice and things were seemingly copacetic.
Where things started to end was the latest project he wanted me to do. Basically, he wanted me to record voice for multiple spots but only pay for essentially 2. Now, I don't want to make this person to sound like a bad guy. FAR from it. He just thought the scope of work was equal to 2 commercials and not the multiple commercials on paper. We disagreed on that and/or there might have been some communications 'blips' in the past and therefore, I was no longer going to be voicing his spots. Still not sure why he completely moved on from me for all of his stuff and not just THIS project. Especially after I already gave him a discount on this!
But anyway...
This leads to me to the feeling I'm at now with it all. Initially, yeah, it was disappointing to lose a client. Who wants to end any relationship that's not only pleasant but financially beneficial, right?
But ultimately, I'm okay with it. I'm actually kind of happy about it. Why?
Because it reaffirmed my value as a professional. I know what my services and time are worth and I'm not gong to budge on that. Yeah, as mentioned, I gave him a discount, and why wouldn't I for someone who's a returning client? But I'm not willing to give away the whole cow. I will gladly give you a few free bottles of milk but I can't sacrifice my bottom line on what I'm willing to do.
The time I put into my craft, whether with coaches, webinar, practice scripts, whatever is for a reason:
Because. This. Is. My. Job!
This is what I do for a living and, dammit, I'm good at it. There's a reason I've voiced national commercial campaigns, worked with big celebrities, have multiple agents, it's because (puts on humility blanket!) I'm good at this and I know my worth.
Maybe in another post I'll go over a typical recording session but for now all you need to know for this scenario is that a 30 second script isn't going to take 30 seconds to record. Between multiple takes, editing, level adjustment/cleaning audio it could take 15-20 minutes for that one spot.
So, again, not happy that I've lost a formerly satisfied client but I gotta stand firm in what my product is because not only will that product be de-valued if I don't, it makes any work I've done for OTHER clients seemingly devalued as well.
To his credit, he at least talked to me over the phone about it and didn't ghost me.
UPDATE: The client and I are back to working together. HIZZAH!