Communication is Key

I'm learning - when working with clients, communication should be done early and often.

Those who have read my blog for a while will know that I quit my day job in May to weave full time. This was made possible by contract weaving for one woman up in Oregon. The biggest obstacle that we knew we faced was the distance. Planning material movement becomes a big deal when the margins are slim and the cost of travel is great.

In June, we found ourselves planning two months in advance because Annie was traveling for the month of July. This meant warping every available beam and packing a truck to haul it all down to my studio in San Francisco.

In the middle of the big project, disaster struck. One of the beams had some substantial problems. (I'll say it again, mostly to remind myself... Don't work under the influence of fever, nausea, fatigue, or anything else that prevents you from doing your best work. A few hours' time can cost you weeks later in the weaving.) It would have been no big deal except that travel made communication difficult. I decided to just slog through it, dropping my weaving rate down to an unsustainably low rate. This started a cascade of other problems so now I'm behind on my weaving and going to have a really tough time coming up with my rent.

And here's where communication comes in. When we finally talked on the phone, we each realized that the other was making assumptions. I was assuming that I had to weave a beam through to completion, even if it was causing me problems. She was assuming I would stop, go on to the next beam, and let her deal with the problems. The whole cascade of bad feelings and lost income could have been prevented by recognizing that these were assumptions and asking questions.

So, from now on, I'll be checking in with clients once a week instead of once a month.