Being easy to work with is a massively underrated career skill
As a young lady in this Profession, I try to be as easy to work with as possible. And yes it has always helped me. Majority of my Clients are of the opposite sex and married and with the partners feeling secure. I can assure you I have never crossed the line with any of them. I give them this sisterly vibes. And I have been so blessed with decent Clients I tell you. I am like an open book, I do not pretend. I make sure I am as professional as possible. I do everything decently. I make my work transparent. I am focus driven.
Majority of my clients are not even based here in Nigeria. And my profession is such that has to do with a lot of money. How do they entrust me with all that money even when they haven't never met me?. I don't know, but I make sure I am honest every set of the way. And to be honest, I love my job and I love my name.
I am very easy to work with. If any of my previous Clients have doubts about my competence, I am sure they wouldn't pay me any money even without seeing me face to face. I am sure they all give me that benefit of a doubt and learn to trust me. I also always promise to give them the very best for their budget.
Hiccups could sometimes happen when it comes to work and budgeting. But since I have learnt to do more market findings before settling for any budget, things have been much better for me. I had to learn to always make my market researches vividly before collecting/settling for any budget the hard way. And since I learnt my lesson from my own mistakes things have been getting way better for me. But I can assure you that when it comes to money, I make sure I don't disappoint. Integrity is so expensive to loss. Plus I render the services the very best your money could offer.
Few years back was when i realised I wasn't doing proper market researches on prices or even making proper researches on outside Lagos projects. Yes, I am based in Lagos, Nigeria. And I have picked up projects almost all over the entire Nigeria.
Its no one's fault, I was ignorant enough not to do my assignment very well. I accept unrealistic budgets or accept too much responsibilities for a minor budget. I find out after projects I sometimes do not make up to 2% whereas it's meant to be much more than that for a standard service charge and yet these clients still wants more. I am sure they know I am naive in these pricing and want to take advantage of that too with all due respect. I found out I was always struggling.
Aside for this I wasn't always specific enough in my quotes. I had to grow through the process. I had to learn to be specific. You know sometimes if the plan was to buy a shoe for instance, because I am not always specific I get to be told to also buy sock and some even go as far as telling me to buy shoe polish. Because I don't want to loss their trust in my head, I keep over loading the budget that it always always affect my take more. Sometimes I end up with nothing or even worse in losses.cutting out of what's meant to be my take home. I keep working and getting nothing. I finish a project and I cannot buy myself a new change of shoe because I have to pay other artisans involved.
I remember a project I picked up far away south-south region of Nigeria. I couldn't even afford to sleep in an hotel because I wanted to make the budget work. I was 3 months pregnant then. I slept inside my van when it broke down along Imo state/Port Harcourt state road. That road is one very dangerous path. Three of us had to cramp inside the van. We slept with one eye open. I didn't make adequate research before settling for the budget. And in other to make the entire budget work I had to make so many sacrifices. Sacrifices that could be deemed dangerous.
I am very easy to work with. If any of my previous Clients have doubts about my competence, I am sure they wouldn't pay me any money even without seeing me face to face. I am sure they all give me that benefit of a doubt and learn to trust me. I also always promise to give them the very best for their budget.
Hiccups could sometimes happen when it comes to work and budgeting. But since I have learnt to do more market findings before settling for any budget, things have been much better for me. I had to learn to always make my market researches vividly before collecting/settling for any budget the hard way. And since I learnt my lesson from my own mistakes things have been getting way better for me. But I can assure you that when it comes to money, I make sure I don't disappoint. Integrity is so expensive to loss. Plus I render the services the very best your money could offer.
Few years back was when i realised I wasn't doing proper market researches on prices or even making proper researches on outside Lagos projects. Yes, I am based in Lagos, Nigeria. And I have picked up projects almost all over the entire Nigeria.
Its no one's fault, I was ignorant enough not to do my assignment very well. I accept unrealistic budgets or accept too much responsibilities for a minor budget. I find out after projects I sometimes do not make up to 2% whereas it's meant to be much more than that for a standard service charge and yet these clients still wants more. I am sure they know I am naive in these pricing and want to take advantage of that too with all due respect. I found out I was always struggling.
Aside for this I wasn't always specific enough in my quotes. I had to grow through the process. I had to learn to be specific. You know sometimes if the plan was to buy a shoe for instance, because I am not always specific I get to be told to also buy sock and some even go as far as telling me to buy shoe polish. Because I don't want to loss their trust in my head, I keep over loading the budget that it always always affect my take more. Sometimes I end up with nothing or even worse in losses.cutting out of what's meant to be my take home. I keep working and getting nothing. I finish a project and I cannot buy myself a new change of shoe because I have to pay other artisans involved.
I remember a project I picked up far away south-south region of Nigeria. I couldn't even afford to sleep in an hotel because I wanted to make the budget work. I was 3 months pregnant then. I slept inside my van when it broke down along Imo state/Port Harcourt state road. That road is one very dangerous path. Three of us had to cramp inside the van. We slept with one eye open. I didn't make adequate research before settling for the budget. And in other to make the entire budget work I had to make so many sacrifices. Sacrifices that could be deemed dangerous.
The total square meters of the land the house was sitting on was said to be 600 sq ms. I was also contracted to tile the floor. But the total square meters from the architectural plan was way different from what's on ground. It was much more. I had to work with the architectural plan due to the distance. The building is a story building. Meaning the upstairs and downstairs a total much more over. And moreover the house has a lot of Verandas, Balcony and Stairways. You know I didn't consider all these while allocating the budget for the tiling expenses to the house. I don't even reason I had to calculate the tile skirting and so on. I messed up. The job was way out of my usual location. Manpower, labour and cost of living was so high in that state. I calculated miscellaneous but my miscellaneous expenses went four times over.
I also did the painting, woodwork, furniture design and construction, furniture remodeling, outdoor floor design and Interior Decoration. I managed to finished with my sweat and blood. Not one of my supposed budget allocation didn't go over board. So many regrets on that job but hey, it was an experience even money can't buy. I sometimes wished I could turn back the hands of time because of this project and the job owner, my Client who is a very wonderful man. But I tried my best, it just wasn't good enough at that time. But it was a learning curve for me.
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