Realized I was doing client revisions all backwards after a 2am rage session

I always jumped right into the edit as soon as the client asked, no questions asked. Last Wednesday, a client on a $800 project asked for a complete rewrite at 10pm, and I just started typing before checking their notes. Turns out they had a typo in their request and actually only wanted three sentence changes, not a full page overhaul. Does anyone else have a rule about waiting 30 minutes before touching revisions, or am I just slow to learn?

3 comments

3 Comments

sandragrant1d ago

Realized I was doing client revisions all backwards after a 2am rage session" - I feel that deep in my soul. My rule is I have to close the laptop and walk away for at least 10 minutes before touching anything a client sends after 9pm. Once I replied to a "minor tweak" request with a full redesign at midnight and the client was confused the next morning because they just wanted a font size changed.

wadejenkins1d ago

That 10 minute rule is gold @sandragrant. I had to add a hard rule myself after I sent a client like 3 completely different versions of their logo at 1am thinking I was being helpful. Woke up to a voicemail asking if I was okay lol.

paulnguyen1d ago

Disagree a bit here. Setting a hard cutoff just means you wake up to a pile of anxiety the next morning instead of dealing with it when the energy is actually there. Some of my best work came from those late night bursts when my brain finally shut up and let me focus. Learned to just send a quick "got it, will look in the morning" and leave the projects open so I could scratch the itch without sending anything. Clients appreciate the enthusiasm more than they hate a midnight message as long as you dont actually deliver the work at that hour.