Walking Away from a Potential Client

May 8, 2012

heidit Business, Writing , , , 9 Comments

For people new to freelance writing, or for those who have trouble making ends meet, it can seem contradictory to walk away from a potential client (or to price yourself out of the client’s budget, putting the client in the position of walking away). I haven’t been freelancing a long time and I’m definitely not in the 1% of financial earners (nowhere close), but lately I have walked away from a few potential clients and I haven’t regretted it.

Usually I communicate with a potential new client via email and over the phone to get a feel for him or her. Sometimes, even after one quick phone call, I can get a sense of whether or not the client and I will be a good fit. (Note: I don’t always get this sense over the phone and the only way I’ve developed it is by having some bad experiences, which is how many writers develop their sense for clients. So don’t feel too terrible if you sign on for some less-than-desirable clients. It’s all part of learning.) The good news is that I can share with you some signs that tell me the client might not be great.

1. Warnings from other writers or contractors.

Sometimes a business relationship goes sour and it’s not really anyone’s fault. But when someone you know gives you a warning about a potential client, listen and ask if the warning seems reasonable. I recently had someone call me about some writing work. He said he was referred to me by another contractor (a graphic designer). When I emailed the graphic designer to thank her, she mentioned that he was a client of hers, was nice, but had gone AWOL halfway through the design process. She advised me to get a deposit from the client before starting work. (This is also a great reason to cultivate relationships with other contractors; they can tell you what to watch out for with certain clients, so you can learn from their experiences.) I decided the job probably wasn’t worth it.

2. Unrealistic budgets.

If you’re being asked to provide content for a full website for $50, the client has unrealistic expectations of what you can do, how long it takes and what you should be paid. Yes, you might wind up with $50 more than if you walked away from the contract, but if the writing takes 10 hours, you’ve just worked for $5 an hour. You’re further ahead to get a minimum wage job. You can’t just look at potential clients as profit–you have to consider how much time you would spend on the job and whether it could potentially pull you away from meeting new clients or making more money elsewhere. Remember, if you take too many jobs at $5 an hour, you won’t have any time for higher paying clients (nor will you even have time to meet higher paying clients).

3. The client says he could do it himself.

This isn’t always a bad sign. Sometimes the writing work isn’t terribly difficult and the client is just being honest–he’s way too busy to do it himself. But, if his comments diminish the work you do or are part of a pattern undermining your services, then be wary. I recently had a potential client tell me, when  I asked about his previous relationships with writers, that he had done all the writing himself. No problem. But then he said, “I just looked at similar websites to mine and changed a couple of words. You couldn’t even tell it wasn’t written by a professional writer.”

Two thoughts immediately went through my mind. First, maybe HE couldn’t tell it wasn’t written by a professional writer, but chances are others could. Second, if he was looking at other websites and “borrowing” their writing, then it’s possible his website sounded professional, because he was probably stealing from a professional writer. Bad signs.

4. The budget isn’t worth the time to complete the project.

With one client, I knew going into the quote process that the budget was probably small. But the writing work was tedious and it wasn’t worth it for what they wanted to pay. So I charged exactly what I normally would–an amount that made the job worth my time–knowing I was unlikely to get the contract. And I didn’t get the contract. But I was okay with it, because the pay simply wasn’t worth what they were asking me to do. I couldn’t justify taking less money for what they wanted done. (The kicker is that I recently saw the finished product and I have to say, the campaign they went with really doesn’t make any sense. But I’m glad I wasn’t responsible for it.)

5. Your instincts tell you to stay away.

You have your instincts for a reason. Sometimes they’ll be off, but as you have more experience with clients, you’ll learn to recognize the signs. You’ll be able to tell when your work is being undermined or undervalued or when the writing they want just isn’t worth what they want to pay you. You’ll learn to better value yourself and your time. You’ll learn that it’s okay to turn down the job, and the money, because you have a bad feeling. And don’t feel too bad if you wind up with a client or two that you wish you hadn’t. We’ve all done it.

(PS, in my examples above, numbers one, two and three were all based on the same potential client. Knowing that he didn’t want to deal with a lot of questions from the writer, before I sent him a quote, I sent him an email filled with questions about the proposed project. I’ve never heard back from him. I’m okay with that. My next post will deal with great ways to walk away from a potential client.)

Do the Right Thing

April 19, 2012

heidit Business, Writing , , , , , 4 Comments

In this day of companies constantly doing the wrong thing and apologizing later without really meaning it, (I’m thinking of you, drug and oil companies) it can be easy to shirk doing the right thing; in fact it’s almost expected. But as small business owners–and freelance writers–it’s vital to do right by our clients, not only to generate repeat business but ensure that when our clients talk about us, they say good things. Plus, to be corny, it just feels good.

I speak from experience. A couple of weeks ago, I took on a short-term client who needed some copy written in a hurry. I agreed, got all the necessary information, wrote up the copy and sent it to her one day before the deadline.

Or so I thought (cue ominous music).

In fact, when I thought I hit “Send email” I actually hit “Save draft” and didn’t realize it. When I hadn’t heard from the client for a few days, I thought she was busy and would get back to me eventually. She did, three days after my deadline, to ask how the writing was going because she hadn’t heard from me.

In a panic I went through my email and realized my terrible error. I sent off the copy in a hurry, with an apology for the delay. The next day, I followed up with an email to confirm she received the work. She responded that she had received it, that I had done a lovely job and that I should send her an invoice so she could pay me.

After brief consideration, I sent her the invoice but cut a third of the price (it wasn’t much to begin with) to make up for the delay in her receiving the copy. Even though the deadline wasn’t critical (it was a loose deadline), even though she may never need my services again and even though she did not ask for a price reduction, I offered it and the thank you note she sent along with her cheque shows me that she appreciated it.

It hurt that I had to give up some of my income–no matter how small–because of an incredibly stupid error on my part, but lesson learned. I’m glad I learned it when there wasn’t a lot of money at stake and when the client was so understanding and just happy to have the work done. The situation could have been a lot worse, for both of us.

Sometimes it feels good to do the right thing, even if you were forced into that position by your own foolishness (it was one of the dumbest mistakes I have ever made). But it was the right thing to do and I’m glad I did it. I don’t just want to be a successful, happy freelancer. I also want to be thought of as a good person to work with, and someone who does right by her clients.  (I am not talking here about going out of my way for unreasonable, demanding or difficult clients. I don’t believe that the client is always right. Sometimes, the client is a jerk. But that’s a post for another day. When you have committed an error, and you’ll know by the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, it is up to you to make it right. It doesn’t always have to be a reduction in price, it just so happened that in this case the price reduction worked for me and the client.)

If you operate your own business, chances are at some point an error will happen that affects your clients. No matter how careful you usually are, something incredibly stupid will happen. That’s how life goes. The important thing is to take responsibility for what happened (at least with your customer, if you want to blame your puppy later you go ahead), address the issue and offer something to make up for the error even if the client doesn’t ask for it. Your client will remember it and will appreciate it.

Did I mention I blame my puppy for this error (that’s how I take responsibility)? The lost income is being added to his bill.

On SOPA, PIPA and Hypocrisy

January 20, 2012

heidit General Musings, Writing , , , , 9 Comments

So it’s old news by now that SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) have been withdrawn. And all through the world, individuals have cheered their enthusiasm, noting, I guess, that the system “works.” I can’t argue the ins and outs of SOPA and PIPA. I know the meanings behind them and I understand the rationale, if not the minutiae. So I won’t bore you with my ruminating on the merits or demerits (is that a thing?) of SOPA and PIPA.

What I will do, however, is talk about how alarming it is that the main players involved were massive, billion dollar organizations whose entire interest is to protect their monopolies and their profits. Oh sure, they acted like they were concerned with the little guy–the average Facebook user and Google searcher. But they’re not. And I’m not just aiming my guns at those who wanted to see SOPA and PIPA dismantled, I’m talking about those in favour of the acts, too.

Because at the end of the day, all the people cheered that Google and Facebook managed to get that big, bad old SOPA law withdrawn, but what seems to have been lost in all of this is that these organizations actually said very little of use. Terms such as “oppressive regime” and “pro-Internet” aren’t all that useful to me in this debate. Nor is the organizations’ stated desire to protect “Freedom of expression.” Because I find it very hard to believe that Google and Facebook care all that much about freedom of expression, unless it negatively affects them, which means that I don’t trust them when they say that my “freedom of expression” is at stake.

Disgusting acts of censorship have occurred in favour of SOPA and PIPA, despite those who wanted the acts withdrawn saying they were against censorship–I’m speaking here of the boycott of GoDaddy that resulted in the organization withdrawing its support of SOPA (read about it here). Because nothing says “Pro-Internet” quite like having organizations planning a “Leave GoDaddy Day” and threatening to move more 1,000 domains from the site after GoDaddy stated its support of SOPA and PIPA. Yup. That SCREAMS pro-Internet/anti-censorship to me.

Facebook is against the censorship of the Internet but famously, has been accused of censoring the photos of women breastfeeding and not only removing the photos but freezing the accounts of said women. (You can read an excellent article by Anne Douglas on this situation here.)

We are once again stuck in a world where it’s us versus them, pro-Internet versus anti-Internet, and that’s a terrible, terrible place to be.

But don’t worry, I’m not letting those in favour of SOPA and PIPA off the hook. Because the public face of “anti-piracy” and “copyright protection” was none other than Hollywood, including the studios, those magnificent bastions of copyright protection and digital rights enforcement. Assuming, of course, that you’ve completely forgotten the dark ages of television, around 2007-2008, when the writers’ strike lasted for over three months (a particularly terrible time in history that I refer to as “My Depression”). Remember what the big issue was? That’s right, writers wanted to be paid for the digital rights to their works. And big business Hollywood studios DIDN’T WANT TO PAY. (According to an article by the AP, prior to the writers strike, writers received approximately 3 cents on a DVD that sells for $20. Following the strike, the writers now make 3.5 cents on the same DVD. I kid, of course. Obviously, they wound up with 2 cents per DVD.)

You might be tempted to argue that Hollywood studios, by virtue of protecting copyright and its royalties, would have more money and therefore pay writers more, but then I would be tempted to call you the most naive person on the planet (and I would have to resist the urge to kick you in the shins). Because Hollywood doesn’t care about its writers’ copyright or about paying them fairly. It, like Google, Facebook and everyone else, wants to protect its own profits.

And so I, as an outsider and a writer, am left to wonder who the hell actually cares about protecting the little guy’s rights. Because I am damned sure positive that none of the players publicly involved in the garbage over the past few days give so much as a tiny rat’s behind about my rights or the rights of the person next to me (and I speak here about writers in general, since very few American lawmakers or companies care even a sliver about a Canadian, let alone a Canadian writer). But I don’t really want to speak out about the issues involved because I’ll be accused of being greedy, or selfish or anti-Internet or in league with the pirates, depending on which stance I take.

SOPA and PIPA should have been a time to have meaningful debate and discussion about the nature of copyright, the ways to go about protecting copyright and what the organizations’ responsibilities are in doing so. Instead, the debate was framed by large organizations with a vested interested in downing (or protecting) SOPA and PIPA not because the rules where inherently fair or unfair but because the rules negatively affected those organizations that have a monopoly. The “debate” that occurred involved use of stupid, marginalizing rhetoric on both sides that did nothing to further discussion or highlight the real issues, which made it almost impossible for people with actual, intelligent things to say–from both sides of the debate–to participate. And that makes me sad.

At the end of the day, the withdrawal of SOPA and PIPA was not necessarily a victory for the Internet or for the average Internet user. It was a victory for Google, Facebook, Wikipedia and all the other big organizations that wanted it withdrawn. That’s it. And if we learn nothing meaningful from this experience, then how can we expect it be any better the next time around? Will the rule of thumb when creating Internet copyright law simply be, “Don’t piss off Facebook and Google?” Will they ever come up with meaningful legislation if honest discussion can’t be had?

Anyone have any thoughts? I’d actually like to hear from both sides on this–not the big business sides, but the little guys–and what their honest thoughts are about SOPA, PIPA and copyright on the Internet. I’m genuinely interested in what people on both sides have to say. Really. Just leave the name-calling out of it, please (and I promise not to call you naive, or kick you in the shins).

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