It's a Service Industry
You may not like them all the time, but clients are the key.
…so involve the customers!
I’m shocked by how little customer / client interaction some of the other designers & developers I know around RIT incorporate into their projects. To me it seems like a rather simple concept that you are building a website for the client, you are not building what you want in the website.
The design and/or development of a website really has to be the collaboration of all parties involved. The designer, the developer, the user, and the client. That is something that seems to be lost in the education, formal or otherwise, that most designers & developers are getting. You can not survive in the long run by just doing what you want in a project.
Build up the relationships with your clients that you can work very closely on getting a project to completion. You’d be surprised by not only how appreciative they are to be involved and informed, but how well that translates into your word of mouth advertising. One happy client can become two happy clients. Two happy clients can become four happy clients. You get the point.