ngs. It's his receptionist ready to fax over the names and phones numbers for the interviews. I asked what's been going on? She says they just got busy and let this fall to the side.

But I was already booked for July. I

I signed a contract over a month ago to do some copy work for one of the largest dental clinics in London, Ontario. I had no trouble convincing the client to agree to ongoing royalties. The following week we did an interview together for about an hour - where he happily provided rich details about his practice and his clients.

So things seemed to be going well…

Then the dentist never faxes the phone numbers of his clients who I need to interview.

I give him a few days past the deadline. After that I call. He's with a patient, so I leave a message. No reply. Next week I call again. No answer, so I leave another message. No reply comes. Next week I send a fax. No reply. One more time… call. He's on vacation. So I leave a message.

I had all but given up.

I was literally writing a cheque to refund part of his advance and close the account.

Then the phone rings. It's his receptionist ready to fax over the names and phones numbers for the interviews. I asked what's been going on? She says they just got busy and let this fall to the side.

But I was already booked for July. I

together for about an hour - where he happily provided rich details about his practice and his clients.

So things seemed to be going well…

Then the dentist never faxes the phone numbers of his clients who I need to interview.

I give him a few days past the deadline. After that I call. He's with a patient, so I leave a message. No reply. Next week I call again. No answer, so I leave another message. No reply comes. Next week I send a fax. No reply. One more time… call. He's on vacation. So I leave a message.

I had all but given up.

I was literally writing a cheque to refund part of his advance and close the account.

Then the phone rings. It's his receptionist ready to fax over the names and phones numbers for the interviews. I asked what's been going on? She says they just got busy and let this fall to the side.

But I was already booked for July. I

o interview.

I give him a few days past the deadline. After that I call. He's with a patient, so I leave a message. No reply. Next week I call again. No answer, so I leave another message. No reply comes. Next week I send a fax. No reply. One more time… call. He's on vacation. So I leave a message.

I had all but given up.

I was literally writing a cheque to refund part of his advance and close the account.

Then the phone rings. It's his receptionist ready to fax over the names and phones numbers for the interviews. I asked what's been going on? She says they just got busy and let this fall to the side.

But I was already booked for July. I

d a fax. No reply. One more time… call. He's on vacation. So I leave a message.

I had all but given up.

I was literally writing a cheque to refund part of his advance and close the account.

Then the phone rings. It's his receptionist ready to fax over the names and phones numbers for the interviews. I asked what's been going on? She says they just got busy and let this fall to the side.

But I was already booked for July. I

ngs. It's his receptionist ready to fax over the names and phones numbers for the interviews. I asked what's been going on? She says they just got busy and let this fall to the side.

But I was already booked for July. I didn't have time to fit this project back in. So I faxed back saying it will have to wait until August. That was a test of my confidence right there. I might have lost the project (not that that would've bothered me too much - more work everywhere).

Next, I needed the dentist to email some pictures for the ad, plus sign off on the dimensions.

I sent a fax last week, with a Thursday deadline. Monday comes, and there's nothing.

So yesterday, 8:30am Monday morning, I pick up the phone. (At this point I'm ready to "fire" my client.)

I ended up interrupting his time with a patient. He came to the phone. Sounded a little hesitant. Promised to send the fax out today. Apologized, but they were on another vacation (lucky guy).

That was a hard call for me to make. I knew I needed to start setting some serious parameters. I've already decided to pass this client onto so