0rchardUK

I'm as mystified by the situation as you guys, so I'll hear him out on Monday but then that may be 'it' if he delays things again. I guess the reason I've wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt is because he does have loads of staff working for him who are happy, so he can't be all bad, and he does keep telling me he's happy with my work. But yes, I take on board all your points.

Well taking the analogy of the date/girlfriend further, the situation I'm in is like a girl I'd dated a couple of times and who told me we're now a couple in her eyes, but ever since, she's not replied to my emails promptly and has postponed a number of dates, because she wants us to sit down face to face and talk about getting more serious together. If when I go see this guy Monday, he doesn't sign my contract and/or doesn't pay me or otherwise delays payment for the last 6 weeks, and/or messes me about, then it's curtains, right? i.e. I should remove myself from the debarcle? Over the last few weeks I've been told he's given one of his other suppliers the boot, which is why he's been stalling on my contract signing, as he wants me to handle some of the work this booted supplier used to do for him. Is that valid reason for 6 weeks to have lapsed with postpone meetings and no signature/payment? Sometimes patience works out well, that's all, which is why I've not put my foot down too hard yet.

Well here's the latest with this 'client' He booked a meeting in with me last week but cancelled at the last minute, saying he would rearrange very soon. Nearly a week passed by and he finally contacted me, asking when I can see him. I gave him a few options and waited 18 hours. He didn't reply so I phoned him and he said he just quickly glanced at my suggested times. I reminded him of the options verbally and he picked one, which is on Monday, so almost another week. In the meantime I really do think he and his staff expect me to fulfil the tasks I agreed I would do on a weekly basis, even though it's been nearly 6 weeks now and he's not signed my contract yet. He will cite the delay as being because he wants to meet me to extend my scope and work for them, so if I put my foot down, he will likely tell me I've shot myself in the foot, as he was going to offer me MORE work at this next meeting, but he's not inclined to any more as I downed tools. That's what I predict will happen, but hopefully I will be wrong and he will sign my revised contract at this meeting on Monday, and pay me for the 5-6 weeks I've done the services out of good gesture so far.

Many, many (most) forums I see do have moderators who actively moderate posts made by forum members. So how come this ruling re Safe Harbour basically says if a forum owner moderates any posts, he is making himself liable? Surely removing suspect posts is a good thing?! http://www.zeta.net/online-strategy/liable-for-moderating-comments.html

PS - I guess part of me just wants my upcoming forum and blog to feel robust and unpenetrable, so I can enjoy running it. Which is partly why I was researching spending a modest amount on insurance. Does anyone here handle social media for clients? If so, do you have professional indemnity insurance for that?

Oh, interesting! I really thought there would be a rule about posting a photo of someone on a forum, no matter when the forum is about! But then again, a local business directory website for my home town did end up publishing a photo of a department store, which I happened to be walking past at the time! So if the forum is very obviously about dogs and not taking spying pictures of people, it doesn't matter if you spot a very rare dog and it's too close to its owner to crop him or her out of the photo. Great - sounds like I was worrying over nothing then. Aren't people and companies starting to sue each other over tweets, though, and also wasn't someone jailed for having a conversation on Facebook with a jurer? All I'm saying is, I hear what you've all said, but isn't society becoming more litigious when it comes to social media including blogs and forums?

Ah ok, well I already plan to include lots of disclaimers, terms and conditions, and so on, throughout the forum and blog. I assume the same sensible policing and moderation process would apply to user generated content which involves people uploading photos, too. So if I had a forum about dogs and it had a 'rare dogs seen' section where people can upload pics of rare dogs they've seen (and the website terms say photos cannot include owners' faces or any other identifying information), and someone uploaded an unsavoury photo not of a dog, or uploaded a dog photo showing the owner and the owner's child, then it would be the moderators' job to remove the photo ASAP but that's all?

Situations for example where a forum member says a particular product is absolute rubbish or makes some other defamatory statement against a manufacturer, or someone says negative things about a particular person. That kind of thing, where the manufacturer or person may want to sue. But I have some friends who run forums and blogs, and they don't have insurance either, so I guess the majority don't.

Has anyone here got a website which is primarily a blog, or a forum? You know the kinds of things... holiday reviews forums, blogs about fashion, spot and the news, car owners forums, product review sites where people can post reviews, and so on... Well I'm thinking of starting one myself soon but I read in a few places that sites such as blogs and forums should really have insuranec, such as cyber insurance or professional indemnity insurance. Is this right and where can policies be taken out, as most 'standard' business insurers don't cover blogs, forums or other sites with user generated content, as far as I can tell from brief research and discussions?

Gibson, you'll be glad to know I do try to encourage them into emails instead meetings and even phone calls, as I've always thought it's important to keep a written record, as you say. I can't always take call transcripts/notes and I definitely can't make minutes in meetings, so I do always email them. I'll go to this 2nd meeting as the final one, then I'll start putting my foot down til I see their signature on my contract and some serious commitment.

Thanks for the few forum members who have sent me a PM about this so far.

PS - It's not just freelancers who find incessant meetings a problem. My wife works for a large bank and they often have meetings literally just to plan the time of the next meeting, so the expression "meetings about meetings" is actually true there! Argh!

That's a good strategy! I do usually tell people I have a certain amount of time for the meeting, but if I find out the client knows a mutual friend, went to the same school, knows my home town or some other thing in common, I often give them a bit extra time. I'll try not to from now on!

Ah, I did - in the contract I sent them the day after the 1st meeting a month ago, it did state a price per meeting. But seems they'e ignored it. Ironic, seeing as their business is built on detail. But maybe they just expect me to go see them this 2nd time because of the new developments and the extra work they're offering me, hence meaning I need to alter the original contract anyway?

They've told me they will sign the contract when I see them tomorrow, fingers crossed. Sure, meetings are sometimes part of it, but not pointless ones for little reason, and the fee I'm charging for the work doesn't reflect regular meetings. I did try and up the fee, but they set me a strict ceiling, which in my view isn't enough for more than 2 meetings per month. So I'm glad Jock agrees about meetings with clients based an hour away. Incidentally the work I'm doing for them is via another company of mine, not the web design/development company I'm selling.

The slightly unique thing is that I'm one of the client's clients and they offered me their service free of charge next year. I do actually trust this guy, and his assistant has told me in various chats since that his boss does fully intend to keep my services and sign my contract as they are extremely pleased, which is the actual reason why they've given their previous guy the boot, to make way for me. I think it boils down to them being obsessed with face to face meetings, which to me seems really inefficient especially as they are 45 minutes drive one-way. But maybe they want to get to know be a bit better personally because they're going to be offering me the slack created by their previous guy having gone? I just can't stand inefficient meetings about meetings, but maybe I'm wrong feeling that way?

I recommend Clook or 34SP

I went to visit a prospective new client a month ago. They were impressed and offered me the job verbally and shook on it. The following day, I sent them my contract, which they said they would sort out soon. A month has now gone by and I've regularly reminded them about signing my contract, as during this time I have actually started the work for them out of good faith (he's a well-known guy and all his colleagues tell me his word is his honour). They now want me to go to see them for what will be the 2nd time. The thing is, the contact isn't huge in the first place and they are 1 hour away, so for a 1.5 hour meeting, it's more or less 65% of my day gone, and despite them saying they will sign it in my presence when I go to see them, I feel relunctant. I've been told they have given their existing consultant the boot, so it may result in loads more work for me. So I guess this time I bite the bullet and go to see them one more time, but no more, not until they sign my contract. Good thinking?

I'll make more (proper) posts on this forum and put it in the marketplace on here, and also register on some business for sale type websites. If anyone wants me to PM them some details if they're genuinely interested, let me know.

Hi guys, After 9 years running a web design and development business I've decided for reasons of health, life changes and 'pastures new' and 'time to move on' reasons to sell up. Can someone kindly suggest good places where I can provide info on the business, as I assume I can't list it on eBay? Thanks very much!

As Renaissance-Design it's important to get a decent percentage upfront, to commit the client, and it means you've got some money even if the client disappears. Disappearing clients can be frustrating but there's often a good reason, so keep the faith.

Hi Enlighten_web_design, Like the others have said, Wordpress is a very good CMS. Movable Type is good too, but I personally prefer Wordpress. For many of my clients, the Expression Engine CMS was used, but it's not free and costs. How are things going with starting your web design business? I am actually wanting to sell mine for various reasons mainly related to health, life changes and 'pastures new'. Let me know if you're interested.

Porkchops is right. If they are happy with a not-very-good logo (in your opinion) then they won't want a site that looks absolutely amazing, modern and flashy. It's hard working with poor logos, though - I agree.

Bookkeeping is best done yourself, but it's important, I think, to have an accountant to prepare your accounts, help you with HMRC forms, etc.

Working from home can be very difficult if you don't enforce a cut-off time and achieve that needed separation. But moving into an office can be costly, especially if it's a traditional leased office, which normally involves a solicitor in the process. Serviced offices are a good first step IMHO as you can test the water with a relatively short minimum-occupancy-period.