Independent lady magazine is the name of a project I was going to take on. I’ll tell you about it, since you know I hate having my time wasted, and this is a wonderful story of time wasting. Angela was looking for projects for me, and found someone on CraigsList.org that needed a magazine layout done. Their initial project that they tried to get me to do for free to cheap was to photoshop the text off a cover that someone had sent as a proof… on a photo that they didn’t have the rights for. They wanted to change the text content. I mentioned (and they agreed) that the fonts were pretty awful, and this thing looked very amateur. This guy kept telling me how great their magazine is, and how everyone is so excited about it, and how it’s going to beat out Vogue, and other highly circulated publications. I had educated this person about what can be done with this project… layout, covers that look professional, the importance of copyright, and… since he told me the whole point of this was just to create a sample magazine so that he can impress investors, and then do a real magazine, I offered up many insights as to what investors would actually be looking for… and that if I was an investor, and he showed me what he presently had, I would laugh him out of my office. Well, what I saw certainly wasn’t impressive, but he hadn’t sent me the content yet to read. I spent much time on the phone with this guy… he needed it! He kept trying to tell me how he’s got people that offered to do it for free. I kept telling him to go with them if he wanted. When he heard I design websites, he got interested. When I informed him about what can be done with a CMS (Content Management System… a site that allows you to modify the information frequently and easily… a site like this one for example!), he got kind of excited, and totally changed his tune. Now he said he wasn’t looking to do a print magazine, but was looking to just get people interested in Independent Lady Magazine online (Independentladymag.com). To get me to do a design real cheap, he kept telling me of this guy that did his last website, complete with Flash, for only $500. I grinned and said “Well, how often did you change the content?” he said “Well.. you can’t!” That was my point about a CMS… if I set up a CMS for you, then you do not need to call me up to make changes to your content… you can log in at any time, and change it. They are exactly the thing that online publications need! The reason they cost more than a simple flash site (The one he showed me, which he claims was never even finished, was awful!), is because they take a little more work to do… but then you can modify it yourself. You don’t need to pay $500 each month just to change the content. Since he was talking about a magazine, it would be ridiculous to have a static page! You’d have no user interaction, and if it’s just a mock-up, investors would see that there’s no new content.

The funny thing is, that I had a business meeting with an associate of mine, and when I described the power of educating a client to him (I try to educate all my clients about what is possible, what can be done, and how they can maximize their results), he said that he had just had an experience like that with someone from craigslist.org as well! When we compared notes, it turned out that it was in fact the very same guy! He had been in contact with a guy about doing a layout for Independent Lady Magazine, and good luck trying to get money from that guy, because he just talks and talks (and calls from a “No caller ID” number, and said he doesn’t have a phone to be called on. ), and just tries to get work for free. My associate said he had spent like 18 hours on the phone with this guy, and finally said that he can’t do any more for him unless he wants to pay. I figured since I was so professional, and had offered a lot of education, that I would be getting the project, but every time this guy called me about Independent Lady Magazine, he’d just chat and chat and chat, and try to get all this information out of me. We scheduled a time to meet on Saturday, when his car would be in the shop. He said he couldn’t get a hold of his mechanic, so let’s reschedule for another day, as he doesn’t have the $500 for a deposit yet anyway. So, it was rescheduled for Monday. Monday I did not hear from him until the evening, when he casually says “let’s reschedule for Thursday or Friday, I should have the money then.” I replied that since he had canceled a meeting twice, and my time is valuable, he can just call me when he actually has the money, and we can meet then. Until that point, I have to work on my existing projects. The price I had given him was a steal, and since he kept complaining about the recession and how hard times are for him right now, I even let him break the payments up into 3, instead of the usual 50% up front.

I got this e-mail tonight:

This was sent by the owner of Independent Lady Magazine. This is a cut/paste of his e-mail, and you can see the grammatical errors and poor spelling. This is the same poor English that was in the content he wrote for Independent Lady Magazine. I even caught a few typos in the submitted (by other people) content, although I admit some of it was catchy.

Trying to beat Vogue will be difficult with such poor spelling and manners. In life there are no shortcuts. In order to get something that’s quality, you need the people who are already making good money doing the tasks needed to form a successful magazine (editors, writers, publishers, designers, marketers, etc). Unless you can prove to people that Independent Lady Magazine really promises to beat out these other publications, and make a ton of money that you’ll be compensated with later, or will be a piece that you can be truly proud of, you’re not going to get people to work it for free.

My take on it, is that Independent Lady Magazine is never going to launch. The guy had called me up one day, and asked what I thought about what his friend had offered him: to pay (the friend) $2,500, for which he (the friend) will clear up the guy’s credit, and get the banks to loan him $50,000-$100,000. Crappy credit is not that quickly repaired. Banks are smart… that’s why they have the money to loan out. A person looking for shortcuts like this, and tries to get everything for free, is likely to take similar shortcuts with his product. There is a reason his credit is so poor… looking for shortcuts, and trying to get everything for free. I told him to forget about it, and use that money towards his publication, instead of some lame idea that won’t work. His friend would probably run off with the money. There are unsecured loans, or he can get Angels, sponsors, joint venture partners, or even buy $2,500 worth of lottery tickets. All would work better than his idea. The other reason it will not work, is that he spent all this time telling me what a great editor he is, and what a great writer. Yet, his stuff was the worst spelled out of the entire bunch that he showed me (as you can see from his letter).

The Independent Lady Magazine guy seemed pretty upset, because I wanted a deposit, and was not willing to offer more of my time for free. Let’s see you get a lawyer to donate 5-6 hours like that. I’d love to see it. For now… go to www.independentladymag.com and see where it takes you

Oh yeah… by the way, I did reply to his e-mail. I said that I’m not pretending to be Mr. big shot…. I just told the truth, that my time is valuable, and that I am not looking to work for free. My last sentence was my favorite though:

When your website fails, you can come back, and I’ll do your site for double the current price (if I have the time).

Realistically though, between the blocked caller ID, the attitude, the frugality, and constantly changing story, I do not think that is a client I’d want to work with- even at a higher fee. It kind of reminds me of the story I told you when Couch 56 canned their largest client, based on my adventures… and they got a replacement client that matched the previous one $ for $, while respecting their work, treating them like professionals, and giving them full control over the project. Their dream client basically. Taking on clients that want to drag you down is preventing you from getting the clients that are the reason you got into your business to start with.