I was nearing completion on a huge website project. I was the sole designer and developer, only one other server administrator was a secretary in the company. I had total autonomy. However, about a week before we were going live, I had a discussion with the owner of the company. He decided he wanted a YouTube-like social platform on top of the other tasks I was performing.

This wasn’t part of the contract, so I mentioned I’d need more time and the contract would need to be modified. The following day, all my administrator privileges were gone and I received an email saying the company “had gone in a different direction”.

Unfortunately, the client was out of state and I had only received a tiny fraction of the total pay for the work I had done.

Now, I ensure contracts are water-tight and I rarely work with companies in a different jurisdiction (and I certainly make sure I meet with the owner face-to-face before starting a project). My problem was that I had a guise of total control, and had very little idea that I could be kicked out so quickly.