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Every now and again I find that I have to let some of my clients go ... that's the polite way of saying that I give them the boot. I don't want them back, I don't want their business anymore and I am happy to see them disappear down the road.

Why do I let them go? Usually because they are absolute dicks ... they are slow to pay their accounts, they want to argue about how much I charge, they waste my time because they don't want to listen, they quibble about everything and when they make a mistake they then blame me.

I don't need that grief and I don't like to lose money for all that time that they are wasting. If they can't appreciate what my team and I do for them then they can go and find out the hard way what life is like when you have to deal with second-rate service providers.

And they do find out. A couple of weeks ago a mobile IT guy here in town called in to the office and he mentioned that he had been talking to a client that we had shared ... until I had let that client go. My ex-client had told the IT guy that he really regretted me showing him the door because he hadn't been able to find anyone who could do the work that my team could do for him.

I like hearing things like that but the fact that my team is wonderful is not the point of this story. What happened to my ex-client is a lesson for a lot of people in this industry ... people who don't appreciate good graphic designers, photographers, coders and writers.

If you're new to this industry and you've started on a shoe-string budget then we content providers understand that you're looking for the best bang for your buck ... we understand because we are all looking for the best deal we can get ... but you don't be a dick about it.

Don't try and beat us down when we have already given you our best price. If you want quality content, whether it be images, stories, code or design, then you have got to be prepared to pay for it. Just because you don't think you can afford it ... or you think you can get it cheaper somewhere else ... doesn't mean that you have to act like some smart arse cool industry dude.

The fact is that all you are showing us, when you do try and beat us down, is that you're the type of person that none of us want to deal with. Most of us won't mind a little haggling but our bottom line is our bottom line and if it's not what you want to pay then go find someone else who will work for less.

But, don't forget the golden rule of business. You get what you pay for. If you have million dollars tastes and expectations, then you're going to be sadly disappointed if all you want to spend is ten bucks.

The same thing goes with paying your bills. Don't start a service provider on a project if you can't afford to pay the account up front.

Of course, if it's a big job then most of us won't expect a lump-sum payment at the start but we will expect regular progress payments so make sure that you have the money to cover them before you start us on the job.

The last thing we want to do is reach a progress payment point and find that you haven't made enough since we started the job to pay the next payment when it falls due. Not only does that put us under pressure because we rely on you to pay your bills so we can put food on the table but it also shows us that you're unreliable.

And our impressions of you only get worse when you can't make a payment and you start stalling by questioning what we have already done. Of course you may have genuine issues about what we have done for you but the time to raise those issues is not at the point when a payment is due and you don't have the cash reserves to make that payment.

The bottom line for all of this was right up there in the title of today's column ... don't be a dick. You don't want to find yourself in the position my ex-client finds himself in because it's hard to make money online if you don't have the skills that your service providers have.

Look after us, keep us happy and show that you appreciate us and we will look after you. Be a dick, treat us like garbage and we will walk away and leave you to drown in your own stupidity because you need us more than we need you.