After being in business for myself for years I’ve learned some lessons that are quite valuable.
I not only do recording but I do a ton of small run CD/DVD duplication. Right now it’s Christmas season and I get lots of orders. The problem with this time of year is that most people blow off doing their Christmas projects until the last minute. Then they freak when they find out every place in town is slammed with people just like them trying to get their jobs done in time.
Over the years I’ve had many a project where something was not done right either due to client error, accident or my error. After “eating” several projects it is easy to figure out a new policy of requiring clients to “proof” their jobs before I run them.
So this lady orders a 200 piece CD job from me which includes the disc, cases, print etc. Of course she is in a big hurry and she approves her graphic layout quickly. I did the job (which was not easy) and got her taken care of. Two days after she picked up the discs she called to inform me that there was a typo. Oops. Too bad. I told her that I’d be happy to fix the job but she’d have to pay and she understood.
On another occasion I had a client who ordered 1000 custom CDs which were packaged with print into a dvd case. It was a nice piece. He proofed his art and approved it. As soon as he came to pick up his job he went straight to the typo on the disc and freeeeaaaked out. He was SO mad but he knew HE would have to eat the job if he wanted it fixed. He opted to keep it.
Experience saved me some dough today.