We see a lot, we freelancers.
We see countless job postings promising “Make money freelance writing!” that turn into some pretty questionable terms just after the initial “We want you, freelance writer!” call to action. They do want us. However, they want freelance writers who are willing to compromise on quite a lot in order to get a little change.
The lousy offers are often pretty obvious:
- Lots of exclamation points
- Long list of must-have experience for too little compensation
- The “buy into our dream for free” spiel (a.k.a. volunteer your time in exchange for, well, nothing)
- The convoluted math that is intended to confuse you into thinking you’re making more than you actually would
- The straight-up “You’re earning no more than $5 per article” messaging
And they go on.
However, there are some pretty crafty messages going up these days. The intent is to make you buy in before you get to the payment. You know, the ones where you invest your time and feel that it’s going somewhere while they’re hiding the Dead End sign.
And there’s part of you that wants to work. Needs to work.
That’s where my friend Randy’s Sentence of the Week (hell, of the millennia) comes in handy. Randy summed up the one though every freelancer should be taking to the bank:
“It’s easy to get so focused needing work that you lose sight of whether you need ‘this’ work.”
Boom. Mic drop.
She’s right. Right now, plenty of writers are scrambling to fill in the gaps left by clients whose budgets dried up or whose doors were shuttered this past year. Sometimes, even a questionable offer seems like the right move when you need to make money.
If you’re marketing consistently (meaning all the damn time), you don’t need the jobs that offer you 10 bucks for every 1000 words. You won’t need to take the job that pays “.0035$” per word. You won’t think that the pay that “could raise to .0040$” per word is worth hanging in there for three or six months to earn.
If you’re marketing the right way, you won’t even be looking at these job postings. You’ll be reaching out to your own selected list of potential clients.
But this isn’t a post about marketing — it’s a post about being picky.
Do you need this work? That depends. I can’t decide for you if your integrity is more important than having heat this month, but I can help you decide if the offer being dangled in front of you is worthy of your talent. Some questions to ask:
Are they hiring more than one freelancer? That’s usually a sign that they’re not going to pay much. Why? Because they want volumes of work. Few clients have the budget for volumes, so they cut corners. Your corners. You’ll be the one sacrificing.
Is the pay near to what I charge normally? Like in a situation I faced recently, the answer matters. If you’re off by a little and the workload isn’t going to bury you or prevent you from working on other clients’ projects, then you may be able to negotiate or accept a lower rate.
Are they avoiding committing to my rate? This is different than the last question because it speaks to intent. I had a nice conversation with Person A on the phone. I mentioned rate, shocked her, but she was amenable to seeing what we could work out. Then Person B from the same company sent me an email outlining the project, and asking if I was interested — if so, they’d share the pay range. The “range” was 1/4 what I was charging, and it came three emails in, wasting my time entirely. They tried to entice me with the project details, W9, intro to the project lead before discussing price. That’s deliberately deceptive, in my opinion. Any potential client unwilling to negotiate price before sharing more detailed info is assuming way too much.
Is there too much work? One thing you don’t want to do is tie yourself to one client, who makes up the bulk of your income. They disappear, and you’re left high and dry. Make sure any client you sign on with gives you plenty of work, but doesn’t take up all your time. You need time to work on other clients’ projects to keep a more consistent flow of revenue.
Are the details clear? Show of hands: How many of you have had it described as X only to see an email or contract later that says you’ll be doing Y? Sometimes it’s an innocent mistake –hiring managers don’t realize the people needing the help didn’t really want X but needed Y. But it’s also true that they describe things like “4 articles a month” and then after you’ve given a rate, they’ve sent the agreement that states you’ll be delivering “4 articles a month, 10 social media posts, and 2 pitches to industry publications.”
Uh uh. No, you won’t. You will be responding that since the scope of work was apparently more than you realized, your adjusted fee is $XXXX. Maybe it’s not intentional; some clients will toss in other work once they realize they have help. But each new thing comes with its own price, and you are well within your right to ask for compensation. And you should.
But it could also be that the caginess over the details is because the project is bigger than they’d like to admit to, and they’re hoping to get someone signed on, in hopes they won’t bail. My advice in these situations: Bail. Don’t assume your commitment to a project extends to the hidden details.
When in doubt, ask yourself: Do I need this work? Trust your gut, and don’t be afraid to walk away should you have any doubts.
Writers, how do you vet projects?
Have you ever taken a project only to find out later that it wasn’t as presented? How did you handle that?