I finally caught my own scope creep habit after a client pointed it out in Omaha

Midway through a retainer project last month, a client screenshotted our chat log and showed me how I kept adding 'small extras' nobody asked for, like reformatting their data export for free. I thought I was being helpful but it just made my invoices look random and pushed deadlines. Has anyone else had a client call out a behavior you didn't even realize you were doing?

2 comments

2 Comments

troyc173d ago

My last client didn't screenshot it, but they did start putting "not requested" in parenthesis next to every extra I added, which is basically the same vibe. I thought I was being a hero by fixing their mail merge template at 11pm, turns out I was just the guy making the invoice look like a charity receipt. Now I keep a sticky note on my monitor that just says "STOP BEING NICE, BILL THEM LATER" and it's honestly cut my scope creep by like 70 percent.

joseph483d ago

Damn, I read a whole thread about this on LinkedIn last week, wild how many freelancers do it without noticing.