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Wow, it's only 9.30am here and the most important job for today has just been completed.

Yes, the world is now a safer place because Steve just fixed the office Espresso machine. Of course it took him two attempts to get it right and a lot longer than it should have but what man ever reads the instructions before doing something?

Oh well, I forgive him. A day without coffee on tap would have been terrible.

I know, suggesting that men don't read instructions is terribly sexist and, to provide a little balance here I should say that a lot of female clients that I have worked with over the years are terrible at giving instructions.

Recently I got badly burned by one little old lady who had built a special-interest website on a free host that had begun to give her problems. She described it as a "small site" with "a few pages" and smiled sweetly as she let me pat her old dog.

All she wanted me to do was move her site to a better host. After taking a quick look at it I believed her ... at first glance it looked like a simple job.

Sadly, I should have really listened to something she said about the free host. She complained that she couldn't add any more pages and that should have rung some alarm bells ... but it didn't.

I gave her a quote ... a very reduced quote because of her age and the fact that she was on retirement benefits ... and she accepted. It was only a few days later when one of my staff started digging into her site that I discovered the truth about "a few pages".

There were over a thousand pages hidden behind one of the links that I had skipped over and the reason she couldn't add more was because she had exceeded the storage space that her free host allowed. I also found that we couldn't just grab the site and move it across because the free host didn't give anyone access to the database.

I know that I could have backed out but in a town this size, and with the influence this dear little old lady has, my business name would have been tarnished. So I sucked it up and got the job done after swearing that I would never write another quote before I had gone through every aspect of the job and had a clear understanding of what was required.

And right there, regardless of whether you are a content producer or a webmaster, is a lesson for you. If you're a webmaster and you hire someone to do some work for you then make sure that you give them clear and concise instructions.

Don't expect them to read your mind or make decisions for you. Make sure that your instructions cover every aspect of the work that you want that content provider, graphic designer or coder to do for you. Agree on a timeframe and set some checkpoints along the way so that neither of you are caught with some major mistake that only shows up at the end of the project

You should also make sure that you read the terms of service of the person who is doing the work for you. Don't assume anything because, as many of my clients find out, your assumption could be totally wrong. Read the terms and, if you don't understand any of them, discuss them with the person who is doing the work so that you are both on the same page.

If you're a content provider, graphic designer, coder or anything else and you offer your services to others then make sure that you get clear and unequivocal instructions from your client.

And for greater security get those instructions in writing. If they ring you then ask them to put those instructions in an email. It's far better to be thought of as pedantic than to lose money on a job because you took instructions by phone ... instructions that the client later denies ever giving you.

While you're being pedantic and getting those instructions in writing give your client a copy of your terms of service. In some countries that can be a legal requirement but even if it isn't required by law it's still a good way to protect yourself.

When you do get those instructions in writing from the client don't just scan them and then drop them into a drawer and leave them there. Read them carefully, go over them and make sure that they fit with the original proposal that you gave the client.

I failed badly when I didn't check the that little old lady's website and it cost me a lot of money in lost time. Her instructions were rather vague in other areas too and that cost me more money in lost time.

If you're a webmaster and you don't take the time to give clear and concise instructions, then it can cost you heaps and put a severe crimp in your business and cash flow.

If you're a content or other service provider and you don't take the time to get clear and concise instructions, it can cost you your business.