Comments on: The Freelance Grab – A Cautionary Tale

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 23:28:05 +0000

Unfortunately, I think a lot of us were taken unaware by the same freelancer, Sharon.

Great advice to the newer freelancer! We’ve all had to learn that. Better if someone like you can tell a newer freelancer in advance — saves them so much aggravation if they heed your wise counsel!

By: Sharon Hurley Hall

Sharon Hurley Hall — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 13:11:53 +0000

Every word of this resonated with me, Lori. In the first case, I know the freelancer you’re talking about, and fell prey before I realized what was really going on.

As for the clients, I gave the same advice to a newish freelancer the other day. 1) As a freelancer, you’re not an employee, so the client isn’t in charge. 2) If they can’t afford your rate, it’s ok to tell them to come back when they can (nicely).

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 15:29:16 +0000

In reply to Yo. Really? That's very good to know. Thank you. Wonder if wrongful cutting of grass is, too? That's been happening after the guy was told many times to stop.

By: Yo

Yo — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 15:21:38 +0000

Wrongful cutting of a tree is covered under, believe it or not, TREE LAW, and can pull a hefty settlement in court. If the trees cut down are valuable or even if it changes the view in a certain area, the neighbor could be sued.

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 17:36:30 +0000

I remember that invoice fiasco, Paula. Absurd excuse! They forget that social media can uncover the lie pretty quickly.

Yes, I think I’d remind them directly that those weeds are their problem. Walk her around and show her the property markers maybe?

By: Paula Hendrickson

Paula Hendrickson — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 15:49:12 +0000

I’ve had a couple clients ignore invoices and make up ridiculous excuses—my favorite being that the publisher of the magazine had the flu. Why should that excuse him for paying his bills? I sent him an email, saying I’m sorry he’s been so ill, and that I know what it’s like to have to work while fighting the flu. I then reminded him that students who are out sick still have to do their homework. If they can do that, he can surely sign a check. Realizing he couldn’t keep using the flu as an excuse (especially since he’d recently posted photos of himself of a golf course), he signed the check and paid extra to overnight it to me.

Also, I have the opposite issue as your friend, but it’s still an example of scope creep. Most of my neighbors have fences, I don’t. The fences on either side were installed by homeowners, near if not on, the property lines. Retaining walls separating the properties in spots didn’t allow the fence posts to be right on the property line, and a couple of weed trees have grown in the gaps. The current owners didn’t install the fences, and seem to think those weed trees are on my property. They aren’t. Then there’s the property line in back. Big metal property markers clearly show where my property ends and the neighbors’ yards begin. The fence of the yard directly behind me was professionally installed, meaning it was set one foot in from their property line. The owners should know that – they can see the markers on my side of their fence (and when I saw trees growing through her fence have told her that her fence is a foot inside her property). The rest of their yard is meticulously (or obsessively, according to another neighbor) maintained, but they have allowed three or four weed trees— some at least 6″ in diameter – to grow through, and bend, their chain link fence. They seem to believe it’s my responsibility to maintain that section of their property. Ha! And the guy next door to them has a half-rotted tree that grew around one of the property markers (about 1/3 of that tree fell into my yard years ago, revealing the full property marker). I’m at the point where I’m considering getting hunter-orange or hunter-pink paint and painting the property markers to so they can’t claim they can’t see them.