Know when to fold

One day I hope to be able to apply what I have learned in a capacity that will earn me cash.  I am not a professional filmmaker and have never claimed to be one.  I do hope to be able one day to provide a service to people in exchange for consideration.  I would like to start my own small production company with some friends.  Nothing big maybe start out with some weddings and youtube commercials.  Just this week a friend and I were invited to meet with some potential clients to produce a 9 minute film for their organization.  The film was to be embedded into their webpage.  We were first informed that the shoot would be for a grand opening of a new office and would last 4 to 6 hours and that the film would use the footage from the one location.  Later at the meeting we learned that this would not be the case.  The clients wanted multiple shoots at different locations on different dates.  They also seemed to want to dictate the creative direction of the film and as the meeting went on we started to get the vibe that we may be out of our comfort level in reference to what their vision was and what we would be able to deliver.  So we decided to bow out gracefully.  I believe what they wanted was a professional crew on a novice budget.  My point to this post is trust your gut when it comes to negotiating a contract to produce a film or video.  Make sure that expectations are clear and that you can deliver what you promise.  Oh and if you don't get a good vibe at your face to face meeting there is probably a reason why.  Sometimes you have to know when to fold.