Agreed, Paula. Though I will say I've had good luck in one instance with it.

Wendy, I wish I could bottle you and sell your wisdom to those who think they need a posse. 🙂 Well said.

In a lot of these cases, the second opinion person ends up being their sister-in-law, who sends text messages to their friends, daily. Somehow that makes her the expert over me. That's when it gets on my nerves.

When I asked my client if it was possible for me to work directly with her client, she said she'd prefer that, too, but her client was a Fortune 100 company that required all outside vendors to go through a rigorous approval process that can take several weeks, but since she was already approved she could hire me herself and still meet the deadline.

Either way, I got paid the same rate. I would have preferred direct access to the client, but it's their inefficient system, not mine.

Basically, I was writing a Q&A for a guy to appear in a trade magazine. I recorded the whole interview, so pretty much anything I wrote was exactly as he said it–with grammar corrections as needed to smooth things out while retaining his voice.

I attribute his desire to send it around to unfamiliarity with editorial etiquette rather than malice. Anyway, it all turned out OK and he was happy with the final product…just a little more byzantine than I prefer.

Currently I work with a PR person whose clients don't know I exist. She realized her skills lie in marketing and branding – not writing. I'm fine with that because she handles the clients and she and I have a great relationship. It can work. It just requires a strong relationship with the client and the understanding that misunderstandings will happen and I should be given the chance to fix it.

I'm like you, Anne. I like working directly with people. It does cut out a lot of misinterpretation and miscommunication. But there have been those times when corporates hire me to please their clients. I'm okay with that as long as my rates are met and I have access to those clients. The few times I didn't have access, it all blew up.

It's a bit of a flipside to the Freelance Follies video I promised the other day and put together yesterday–"A Second Opinion"–with a client who decided to overcomplicate the approval process by dragging a bunch of outsiders into it. Drives me nuts!

I'd so much rather work directly with the client – when it gets interpreted it usually goes, if not wrong, at least not right.

Those who won't let us deal direct are afraid and I'd rather not work with them either come to think about it. I've never stolen a client and I'll bet you haven't either.

hugs