PSA: That $250 'quick website fix' turned into 40 hours of my life

I quoted a small business owner $250 to update some images on their Shopify store, but they kept finding 'one more thing' to tweak across 3 weeks. By the time I realized they had no intention of paying the final invoice, I had sunk 40 hours into their site for less than minimum wage. Has anyone else fallen for the 'it's a small job' trap and ended up doing way more than agreed?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_rose8d ago

That "one more thing" line is how they get you every time. My friend took a "simple logo resize" job and ended up rebuilding the client's entire email template library because the client kept saying "while you're in there..." until she was in for 30 hours. She finally had to send a hard cutoff notice, and the client acted shocked like she hadn't been adding work the whole time.

mason.drew7d ago

30 hours of free work because of one "while you're in there.

carr.luna8d ago

Think the client probably just thought they were being efficient.