Every single time I didn’t listen to that instinct, I paid the price. I have finally got my “bad job” rabbit ears finely tuned. Some of the wisest decisions I’ve made lately involve deleting certain emails and tossing certain sticky notes to call so and so back. There is no way around it – you have to trust your gut when you feel something is off. 100% of the time, you will be right. Sometimes the right answer is “No”!

Thanks

I committed at least three major crimes in my interview/presentation interrogation:

1. I did a mock-up: I thought that it would be a good way to demonstrate to the (not) client that I was capable of giving him the work I thought he wanted. He had mentioned a competitors website before, so I mimicked the style of the competitor and create a mock-up.

I wasted three days doing a mock-up that did not use his logo (I did not know the logo he had on his original page was their logo), used a different typeface (they actually use Times New Roman as their typeface) and used a color scheme he found repulsive.

No wins at all in that area.

2. Price: I set the bar WAY too low. They paid the previous designer (who stuck a JPEG on four pages and charged them $5,000) without a mock-up at all. I offered to redo the page “correctly” for half.

Dumb move!

3. Since I do not have a big portfolio-and they know that I still work full-time at another job-The (not) client asked me, “If you are so good, why are you still working another job?” I thought the answer I gave was great, now that I think about it, it just made me sound like I was desperate for anything I could get.

In short, I came off as a desperate novice and they gave the job to a gentleman I know for sure does not care anything about decent web design – only about keeping as many clients on a string as he possibly can.

I’m learning…

I STOPPED giving free specs – STUPID of me to begin with!

http://www.shortgig.com

I never do mock ups, firstly because I don’t see why I should hand over design ideas for free that take up my time. I want to be paid for my time.

Secondly because you don’t want to spend too much time on a mock up just in case you don’t get the job – there is a chance it’s just not going to be good enough, and then you are making the client feel that this is all your are capable of when of course you can do much better.

If you aren’t going to show them your very best in terms of mock up (but why do this when you aren’t paid for it, it devalues the industry I agree), it’s better to show them nothing at all other than portfolio works and win them over with this and your words.

Never design on spec. Ever. You are wasting money and devaluing yourself if you do this.

http://www.zeldman.com/daily/0104h.shtml

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/position-spec-work

Your swamp analogy is spot on, that’s probably one of the most eloquent and thought-out analogy I’ve encountered regarding freelance job searching. Thanks for the share, I’ll quote your comment from now on, whenever I attempt to describe that feeling of uncertainess.

Thanks!

@Kofi Ansah — this article is geared specifically for you (the people just starting) out, to inspire you to keep pushing if you get turned down. It takes a lot of “No’s” before the “Yes” start rolling in.

@Tom G — Thank you, this article was a bit out of my element, since if you check out my website, you can see my writing style’s a bit more technical. This one, I wrote straight from the heart. It may not be perfect, but it’s an “experience” article not a “educating” article. I want to share what my thoughts are on “rejection”.

Love to hear your own stories, make sure to spice up the discussion over here!