lwidmer | Words on the Page

Myth Busting

Posted on by lwidmer

It cracks me up to read writer advice columns sometimes. So many of them parrot what they think to be true without really considering if it holds up in practice. My least favorite: Write what you know. Considering that back a few decades ago when I first heard this advice I was living in the…

Manic Mondays

Posted on by lwidmer

So far this morning the power has gone out and with these high winds, I suspect it’ll be more of the same all day. I’m fortunate that my deadlines are Friday. It’s going to be a long day. It was a long weekend, too. I was on edge – a client had written and expressed…

Worthy Tip: Stand Up

Posted on by lwidmer

Welcome to Friday. If you’re like me, you look forward to weekends during the busy times especially. Today I’m floating on the remnants of the wonder-drug codeine and its counterpart penicillin. I’ll kill this sinus infection or myself. Either way, I’ll not be sick much longer. Today’s worthy tip: When dealing with client negotiations this…

Say Aaaaahhh

Posted on by lwidmer

This has been the best week. Yes, I’ve been miserable with this cold/sinus infection, but when I open my email in the morning, I don’t tense up or stress. I smile. More signs that dropping those projects was a great idea. Because I fulfill my obligations, I still have residual edits coming in from this…

Recovering

Posted on by lwidmer

I’m not talking about my recovery, but yours. Mistakes, errors in judgment, bad decisions just happen. Sometimes it’s because we’re inundated with too much work, sometimes it’s because we open our mouths and insert our foots, sometimes we take on something we’re not sure we can handle. It happens to everyone. How we recover, well,…

Thump, Thump, Thump

Posted on by lwidmer

That’s the beat hammering out in my sinuses right now. Having had little sleep last night thanks to the sinus infection that’s taken over where the cold left off, I’m exhausted. I went to sleep with high hopes – I’d had a good day, little coughing, much healing. Then I made the mistake of lying…

Politically Speaking

Posted on by lwidmer

Maybe it’s a new trend and I’m behind the curve, but I’ve been seeing a great deal of email correspondence, tweets, and bold statements lately from business colleagues expressing their political views in group emails or segmented business groups. Before you think I’m overreacting, know that these are people with whom I’ve worked but have…

Showing Up Sick

Posted on by lwidmer

You may not realize it, but I’ve been sick most of this week. I caught his cold, which isn’t fair – he flies home from warm places and I get to keep the germs he’s shared on the airplane. The last three days have been spent trying to keep my lungs from exiting as the…

Worthy Tip: Finding Value

Posted on by lwidmer

If you haven’t gone over to Screw You! and read Kathy Kehrli’s account of her Demand Studio experience, please do so. It’s insightful. It’s also a balanced report, one in which Kathy herself is upfront and makes no judgments based on anything but her personal experience. It’s a good read for new writers faced with…

Saying When

Posted on by lwidmer

No one likes to drop a client, especially when that client has been a steady source of work and income. But we outgrow each other, we move in different directions, and dare I say we bore of each other? By the end of this week, I will have ended a long-term client relationship for numerous…

Eileen

I say "when" when the client seems to think they're the one setting the rates, not me. That's not to say I'm closed to any discussion on a particular fee; I'm not. But there's a world of difference between a client saying, "My budget only allows for $X; how can we make this work?" versus "This job pays $X. I'm only going to pay you $X for this." The latter tells me the client sees me as commodity, and fails to understand I'm a valuable consultant and service provider. Buh-bye. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Devon Ellington

I agree with everything you said and everything Eileen said.

Disrespectful clients get the boot.

Journaling Woman

I love your list of signs when you need to break up. We might consider this for other areas of our lives as well. 🙂

Lori

True enough, Journaling Woman – especially the slave part!

Eileen, so true. You can tell instantly, too. They start out by showing you their immovable wall. And you're right – they treat you like a commodity and not a business person.

Yep Devon, disrespect earns the buh-bye wave.

Paula

Another sign to add: Sudden change of ownership/management.

One place I wrote for early on had frequent turnover of young associate and assistant editors, but the two main editors remained the same. One even stayed on part-time after deciding to quit to be home more for her special needs child. Then out of the blue, a new team of editors came on board. None had actual experience at a business magazine (the newly minted Executive Editor had written a sports column for a small town daily, the new Senior Editor also has a sports background, I believe). They had no clue what they were doing, assigned stories that made no sense, then butchered good, clean copy so they could use bad puns as headlines, and squeeze in "quotes" from advertisers.

All of that happened virtually overnight. And yes, they were the ones who took 11 months to pay me for an article. My LAST article for that rag. (The magazine was soon sold to a new publisher that was able to turn it around and get a few more years out of it. Without the idiot editors, natch.)

Lori

Yikes, Paula! That's the bunch? I'm glad you finally squeezed out payment from them. I remember these guys – what a horror story!

Wendy

I have been burned many times, but I have learned and am still learning. I now have set hours I work and that's that. When 5p. comes, (my time not their time)I'm done with any email or phone transactions. You've got a question or a request, it will wait until the next day. You don't like it, tough.

It's amazing how some clients can think that you should respond within seconds of them contacting you. When I was an employee, my time was demanded only during the set hours I worked. Even then, they understood if I was busy working on something else. Why should that be any different now that I'm a freelancer?

Lori

Wendy, I like your system. It's just like mine. I don't have to work M-F, 9-to-5, but for now I choose to. I work with corporates for the most part. Those are their hours. I accommodate as much as I can, but if you get a weekend, so do I. If you choose to work your weekends, sorry. Can't follow your example. I have priorities. Work is second. Always.

Valerie Alexander

I've learned to walk away quickly from clients who:

1) don't respect writing and/or imply that anyone can do the job

2) want hours of chatting, phone calls, brainstorming and commiseration that aren't productive or billable

3) have unrealistic expectations in terms of turnaround time and project scope.

I just took a deep breath and let go of a tech client that was driving me crazy. Not only were some of the engineers I worked for practically illiterate and hostile over being edited, they expected me to "write" by viewing a document on a netmeeting, then dictating changes over a conference call. It was crazy.

Too many clients think freelancers should be "grateful" for work. We need to politely but firmly stand our ground with them.

Lori

Oh amen, Valerie! All three are deal breakers. It sucks when #1 happens. Worse, it sucks when you stick with them out of some skewed sense of loyalty.

I agree – editing over the phone is a ridiculous requirement. Sometimes you just can't, especially when you have a herd all talking to you at once.

You said, "Too many clients think freelancers should be 'grateful' for work. We need to politely but firmly stand our ground with them."

Amen.

Amie

Here's another one for your list of break-up signs: complete and utter lack of communication.

I have three projects with one client that have stalled in various stages for this reason. Despite numerous calls and emails asking specific questions or requesting materials that I was told would be provided, I've never gotten a response. I've pretty much written her off…I don't even know if she would respond if I officially ended the relationship!

Lori

Amie, how strange! I have had that myself, but not to the point where the paying client deosn't answer at ALL. You'd think with three ongoing projects, the client would be more responsive, especially if there was an upfront payment.

Carson Brackney

When it stops being fun.

There's not enough time in life to spend any more of it than is absolutely necessary doing things you don't like.

When I notice a tendency to put Client X's work lower on the to-do list because I just don't want to do it, that usually means it's time to either discuss changes to the project/relationship or to walk away (after meeting previously agreed upon obligations, of course).

Lori

That's a pretty good indication, Carson. I found myself loathing the idea of opening the emails. The projects were one after the other, which were fine, but then they became more complicated with edits, phone calls, and hassles that sometimes extended miles beyond the fee I received.

When you feel chained to the desk because they expect fast response, it's time.