Comments on: The Great (or not so great) Compromise

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 18:30:06 +0000

Wade, I wouldn't call it a trend necessarily. I would say it happens that toward the end of summer and into fall/winter, budgets do dry up, on magazines in particular. I'm aware of a few regular clients who try to stretch the budget to keep the freelance work coming in. I've not seen the same trend Carol refers to. I've lost one blog gig, but I have others that are still going strong. I guess it's all in the perspective. :)

EP, great insight. I agree - if it becomes a regular thing, then it may not be worth it anymore.

Thanks, JP! Glad to be back. You mentioned exactly why it's okay to cut rate in certain situations - the residual work that may come from the gig. I'm with you, though. If it's too low, it's not worth it no matter what fringe benefits are involved.

And damn! Nice client! Can you clone that one and pass him around?

By: Jake P

Jake P — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:55:41 +0000

Welcome back, LW. Sounds like a great trip!

I've only had one client in recent memory do that (a newspaper with a host of custom pubs that I write for). They've had financial troubles, resulting in a ton of layoffs and lower rates for some (not all) freelance articles than they were back in '06-'07.

I'm OK with it for the reasons you cite in #3: It's steady work, and generally pretty light stuff. (The articles have also produced leads with local businesses.) If they drop any further, though, I might have to pull the plug--they're right at the margin.

There's also a converse: One of my clients ALWAYS voluntarily gives me a 50-cent/word bonus when something's on a short deadline or requires an extraordinary number of interviews. That's the best kind of non-negotiation for me!

By: EP

EP — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:38:50 +0000

I recently had a case where this came up with a long-time client. It's true. They come back regularly (you like them, they like you), so what else are you going to do? If it becomes a habit and gets to the point where you feel you are being taken advantage of, that's another story, I suppose.

By: Wade Finnegan

Wade Finnegan — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:34:09 +0000

Lori, are you alluding to a trend you're seeing? I just read a post over at Carol Tice about paid blog posts drying up. I believe all business is about relationships. If the relationship is solid then negotiating can work. I'm with Devon if they nickel and dime at the beginning then they always will.

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:24:44 +0000

Anne, I'm okay with saying no, as well. If the budget changes are temporary, fine. If not, I need to be okay with it for the duration. That's not always possible. It's a business decision.

Paula, same here. And when they apologize, it makes me feel a bit better. That's a signal that they value the work I do for them. Obviously, your client feels the same way about you.

By: Paula

Paula — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:08:17 +0000

I always try to be flexible with my top two or three clients, and they usually reciprocate.

A couple years ago, one my favorite editors apologized for not being able to pay as much as she wanted to; their editorial budget had been slashed and she needed to stretch the remaining funds over multiple issues. Everyone was offered a bit less per article. She did her best to divvy up the budget among longtime writers by reducing the number and length of features and breaking that "recovered" word count into several shorter pieces so we'd all have some work.

It was a great way of showing that we were all in it together. Thankfully everything is back to normal there now.

By: Anne Wayman

Anne Wayman — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:20:26 +0000

Of course I come down on the side of being ok with saying 'no.' The nature of most of my projects is that they are flat fees paid monthly or so – not as much wiggle room there I think.

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:23:22 +0000

Totally agree, Devon. Breaks at the outset indicate a pattern in my book, too.

Can't wait to read them. :)

By: Devon Ellington

Devon Ellington — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:15:33 +0000

When we have built a solid relationship. If someone starts nickel-and-diming me right off the bat, I have no reason to think it will ever be any different. If we've had a good relationship and this is a temporary setback, I'll roll with it.

I do think it's important to make it clear that the reduction is TEMPORARY, and not the new permanent rate with this client.

By the way, I've got a couple of freelance anecdotes on my blog this morning that I was saving until you got back. One is about subcontracting, and goes back to some conversations we all had here and on one of the other blogs last year.