Comments on The WMF Archives: Freelance Writing Business Practices: I Got Ripped...

Great honest story with good learnings, Angie! RT&...

2011-01-10T17:59:09.397-06:00

Great honest story with good learnings, Angie! RT'd by me.

I actually let a client go just in the past week or so, even though they really owed me $1,200 on our contract. They were real dysfunctional -- their blog changed direction twice in the two months I was there. And then they complained that they weren't getting traffic, even though they never put up half the posts I wrote for them.

They paid their first month and I did all the work for that, but then I couldn't get topics OK'd for the second set of blogs. I had written three, and when they indicated they wanted to stop work and didn't want to pay any more, I made a decision.

I removed the three blogs from their site -- at least one I think I can reuse elsewhere. So I'm rally only out about $250 or so, and decided it wasn't worth spending more energy on. Sort of saw the writing on the wall on it.

We've all found ourselves in what we've defined as 'special situations' -- we love the client's topic, or identify with their story, or the person who referred them is awesome, and the next thing we know we're screwed. We need to remember there's no 'special situations' -- it's just business.

I had one massive scope-creep client in '09 that I ended out some money on, and as a lesson to myself, I kept the unpaid amount at the top of my accounts receivable the whole year, to remind myself not to get in that situation again!

I fell under the same issue last year. When my hus...

2011-01-10T14:38:47.902-06:00

I fell under the same issue last year. When my husband was laid-off work, I went into panic mode. Bad business decision. I began taking clients I would not have considered prior.

What it taught me was business is business. I cannot treat clients as friends, and I cannot bottom line my prices just to get business. I found the clients willing to pay a fair price, behaved fairly and understood all contract terms.

The clients that I “gave a break” or “tried to just help out” were horrible business people. Their expectations were not only unrealistic, but they all expected far more than agreed to, and then became angry and threatening when I explained these things were not in the original contract. They were also the ones who called me at all hours and emailed me constantly.

When all was said and done, these clients cost me time and money.

I am now just as picky when I interview a client as clients are when interviewing me.

I tried to fill a niche I felt was missing in the web design world, the results...

I’ll stick to writing and the money I make there. The small niche I was aiming to help isn’t ready yet.

Great article!

What a bummer. But it sounds like you learned a l...

2011-01-10T13:46:54.742-06:00

What a bummer. But it sounds like you learned a lot from a crummy situation. Thanks for passing on your hard-earned wisdom.

That is a very telling story. I'm glad you sha...

2011-01-10T13:00:51.369-06:00

That is a very telling story. I'm glad you shared!

I use a contract and spell everything out. I give...

2011-01-10T12:47:15.759-06:00

I use a contract and spell everything out. I give potential clients a link to my portfolio which has been working out fine. If a client wants a quote, I give them a detailed quote. I also send out detailed invoices when the work is complete.

I started to ask clients if they understand the terms of the contract, and if they have any questions. I reiterate to them to make sure I'm the right writer for them.

I do all those things now, too--I've yet to ge...

2011-01-10T12:00:32.112-06:00

I do all those things now, too--I've yet to get really stung, but I've learned through others. What I do, though, to make some things simpler is require 50% up front on projects above a certain amount, since I figure a quick edit that takes three hours doesn't require the few dollars in the morning and then the rest in the evening.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Angela--it was people like you--who were generous in sharing their experiences--who I learned from.