I've been around the block when it comes to running a business. That was one of the skills which I honestly believe helped me transition into a successful freelance writer. I used my knowledge from running a small company back in Colorado, combined with several years of supervising for a multi-million dollar construction company, and applied it to my writing business.
One of the things you learn fairly early on is never, under any circumstances, do spec work. Ever.
With that in mind, I've been fairly lucky in my freelance career so far. I've never had a client not pay me, and I've never come across any that fished for free samples. Until today.
I'm still waiting to see how it pans out, but the gist of it is this: I am fairly steady with the few clients I have. I'm not starving, by any means. I can afford to be picky, and I only apply to new jobs when they are ones that really pique my interest. Such was the case with a recent job I came across. I submitted a resume + three previously published samples that were relevant to the job, plus a fourth sample as requested by the client on a topic they requested. I heard back within 24 hours, and had a favorable response. They loved the samples, felt that I was perfect for the position. We moved to phase 2 of e-mails. I received the Author Agreement/contract, as well as the project overview. Cool. Everything looked good. I did not sign it, but sent an e-mail back saying that everything looked good, but the client was asking for a faxed copy of the contract. First of all, I haven't touched a fax machine in over 6 years, much less even seen one. That's so 20th century ;)
The next e-mail said a scanned copy was fine, but that they would need me to provide them with 3 of the initial articles out of the batch, to "make sure" that my style was going to fit in with their website.
SCREEEECH!
Uh-uh. I don't do spec work. Never have, never will. Especially not when the initial e-mail said that my four samples were "exactly what we're looking for" and that "it would be a pleasure working with you". I'm sorry. You already have 3 samples. You do not need an additional three. Furthermore, in retrospect, I'm afraid that I will be unable to start the project for you unless a good-faith payment is made, in advance, for the first 15 articles of the project. I am more than happy to put my name to a signed contract in regards to that.
We'll see if I hear back or not. Honestly. Asking for 3 additional samples to "make sure"? You have my resume. You have dozens of links to my previously published materiel. I provided you with published samples. References that you can check to verify my credentials. You absolutely do *not* need me to write you anything for free.
In my previous occupation that would have been like a homeowner calling me in to look at a 15 thousand dollar project and then asking me to do the entire entryway for free, so they could determine whether or not my craftsmanship was going to work for them. Wrong answer.
My construction contracts actually had clauses depending on who I was working with. Some clients I would specifically ask for 25% of the money up front, in cash, before I would even unload materiel and tools on-site, with the stipulation that the next 25% was due halfway through the project and the remaining 50% upon completion and a signed letter of agreement of completion.
I'm a HUGE fan of legal binding documents. They protect EVERYONE involved, both the seller AND the buyer. People who try to get you to do things without paperwork, and even worse, for free, are just potentially scammy.
So I'll wait back and see if I hear from this guy or not. I have to admit it was a nice little 2 thousand dollar project, but his request for an additional three samples (the first three articles off the list they sent me) just threw all sorts of huge red flags up for me, and unless he's willing to give me a good-faith payment up-front, I'll be walking away from that one.
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3 comments:
It's good to trust your instincts on this one, if not most cases. You've proven you have good instincts.
Contracts are nice, but it still comes down to working with honest trustworthy people, when you can. I learned this the hard way.
What if you have a contract specifying they pay you $1000-2000 dollars? If the other party doesn't perform, you'll have to spend at least that much on legal fees. And I bet you do a lot of international work. Imagine the cost of suing someone in Thailand or Kansas. You'd end up writing it off and never work for that party again.
Best to avoid lawyers when you can. In any dispute, the lawyers always win.
You bring up something I've been discussing with my wife recently, Steve.
I've been lucky so far. I've had ONE brush with a client who tried to renege on payment. They had paid me on-time for 4 months before the issue, and back in December I sent them a project. The contract stated they had 2 weeks from submission of the project to request any revisions. They didn't. They pushed it live to their website. As of mid-February I had still not received payment, so I queried. Their reply was that "the product isn't performing as well as we'd like, and we think it's because the article wasn't up to your previous quality. As a result we are only going to pay you half of the money until you bring the project back up to acceptable standards".
Wrong answer. By pushing it live to your website you accepted the project. Use constitutes acceptance. If you felt the product was inferior, you should have requested a re-write during the 2 week contractual period, prior to pushing it live to your website.
Interestingly enough, that client WAS in Thailand! Fortunately, once I showed them the clause in the contract, I had full payment within about 2 hours. But that was my closest brush so far.
For the record, I get get burned once...big time. In fact, it was the job which left us with the decision to move to Bulgaria.
I had always had contracts in my business. I worked my way up the ladder and ended up being asked to look at the prints for a new home being built for a couple in their late 50s. I met the builder, the home-owners, and proceeded to spend the next 18 months working hand-in-hand with them, helping to design, plan, and otherwise. I went out to their project multiple times, dealt with the wife as she made multiple changes to layout and material selections, and otherwise. I did this on a handshake and letter of intent.
My final bid for the project was around 70 thousand USD. The project kept getting pushed back. I turned down several other projects because each time I thought their project was going to launch, and each time it was pushed back. Finally, it was supposed to start in December of 2007. It was late November, and I asked them to formalize the agreement with a contract, rather than simply a letter of intent.
Imagine my surprise when, on the very day I was scheduled to meet the home-owners to sign the contract, I get a phone call from the shop I had been working through that they had chosen to go with someone else, they had already signed a contract with the other individual, and he was already on-site with his crew, working.
First and only time in my life I have literally thrown up from shock and outrage. I had literally passed on over 30 thousand dollars worth of work due to several false starts on that project, and I had been counting on it to be our bread and butter job for 2008. I hadn't scheduled any work for the first of the year, because I was "in". I had signed paperwork. Handshakes. The builder himself had used the exact phrase "They think you are the best thing since sliced bread, so no worries."
I did some digging. The alternate crew was of questionable legality. The main issue? My bid had been for 70k USD and I had projected 6 weeks on the project with myself and 2 other guys. This "questionable" crew rolled in with 7 guys and told them they could get it done in 3 weeks, for 28 thousand USD. Less than HALF of my bid.
The worst part about it was the lady who had been my go-between at the carpet shop for the past couple of years. Up until that point she had been extremely nice, had always gone out of her way to get me the best-paying projects, I had literally heard and seen her write praises about me to clients. When she called me up to say the owners had gone with someone else I asked her one question: do you know who the other tile crew is?
I was met with silence. I repeated my question. About 30 seconds later she whispered, "Yes."
I ripped her a new one for stabbing me in the back. The least she could have done is warned me that they were looking at someone else, which was in direct violation of my letter of intent. Her excuse was that she was only doing what the homeowners wanted.
No one has customer loyalty anymore. It's all about the bottom dollar, and putting a paycheck in your own pocket. I was faced with the reality that we had no work lined up for 6 months, only enough money in the savings to float for 3-4 months, so we made a choice: try to take it to court and see if I couldn't get compensated for the time involved (which would have required probably 2 years of court and God knows how many thousands in legal fees), or try something else.
Our something else was to move here, where we have a home that's paid for, in full, where her mom runs a 20+ million Euro company that is growing in leaps and bounds, where Evy's school payments are taken care of, and I'm in a new career that I am much, much happier with. All good at the end of the day :)
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