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Pope-apalooza

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I’m Poped. It was a long, tiring, glorious weekend in which I experienced many firsts. The first time I’ve ever seen a city completely shut down to vehicle traffic. The first time major highways were closed. The first time train service was running just two time periods a day. The first time I’ve ever seen…

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Your Freelance Career Evaluation

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What’s on the iPod: Naked Kids by Grouplove Today’s my TGIF (TGIT?). I’m taking tomorrow and Monday as we have this guy from Argentina showing up, and about a million of us are going to the city on Sunday to greet him…. Pope madness. It’s not the visit itself that’s created the madness (though it’s…

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The Worst Freelance Writing Career Roadblock

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What’s on the iPod: Misfits and Lovers by The Wallflowers Progress. That’s how last week ended. I’d made significant progress on a white paper project, and I hope to have it finished by Wednesday. Good thing — I have two more projects starting up, and a third that will show up right when I don’t…

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7 Ways to Vet a Writing Course

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Today is going to be busy. I have plenty of interviews to go over for a white paper, and some research to finish up. Plus, writers group is here tonight. Not only do I need to clean — I need to write something to present. Behind the scenes here at the blog, I’m busy putting…

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The Letter of Introduction, Simplified

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Thanks to everyone who showed up for the Marketing Q&A webinar hosted by Jake Poinier! It was a great conversation and I hope you took something actionable away from it. We promise to do it again soon. We had some really interesting conversation in the webinar, too. With 54 people in attendance, the questions were…

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Free Advice Friday: Your Freelance Prospecting List

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What’s on the iPod: Hardliners by Holcomb Waller For a week that has just a few items on the to-do list, it’s kept me busy. Yesterday I talked with a new client and started in on their project almost immediately. Today, I continue that, plus I’ll be starting a draft for another client and talking…

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Writers Worth: Undoing the Client Posse

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What’s on the iPod: Down With the Shine by The Avett Brothers What a nice, long weekend! Mine actually started a little early — Friday was the first day in months that I didn’t have a ton of work in front of me. I’ve managed to get through three more projects, and the three remaining…

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Monthly Assessment: July and August 2015

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SOLD OUT: Sorry, but the FREE Marketing Q&A webinar hosted by Jake Poinier and featuring yours truly has no room. However, you can get on the list for the next one! Get on the list here What’s on the iPod: The Loneliness and the Scream by Frightened Rabbit This week’s marathon is nearly complete. I have…

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8 Traits of a Professional Freelance Writer

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SOLD OUT: Sorry, but the FREE Marketing Q&A webinar hosted by Jake Poinier and featuring yours truly has no room. However, you can get on the list for the next one! Get on the list here What I’m reading: Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie What’s on the iPod: I’m a Mess by Ed Sheeran Another week…

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Free Advice Friday: This Job, Not That Job

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SOLD OUT: Sorry, but the FREE Marketing Q&A webinar hosted by Jake Poinier and featuring yours truly has no room. However, you can get on the list for the next one! Get on the list here Remember that relaxing I wanted to do yesterday? Didn’t happen. Just as I exhaled, a favorite editor sent over an…

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7 responses to “Free Advice Friday: This Job, Not That Job”

  1. Amel Avatar
    Amel
    August 28, 2015

    I recently added a new section to my blog called "Bad Jobs," and it is similar to what you are doing here:

    http://www.freelancemarketguides.com/category/bad-jobs/

    I saw the first (so-called travel writing) ad yesterday and was going to write a post about it on my blog…but looks like you beat me to it. Great job!

  2. Lori Widmer Avatar
    Lori Widmer
    August 28, 2015

    Amel, I love your take on these lousy jobs! Go for it. Just because I covered it doesn't mean you can't, right?

    The more of us getting word out to unsuspecting newbies, the better.

  3. Melanie Kissell Avatar
    Melanie Kissell
    August 28, 2015

    It's Friday. I needed a good giggle. I experienced something much better here — hearty belly laughter!! What made me laugh the hardest was this jerk's 'serious' tone. This guy is off his rocker! Or as my dad used to say, "A half bubble off true level." LOL!

  4. Lori Widmer Avatar
    Lori Widmer
    August 28, 2015

    Isn't this one great, Melanie? I love that Jenn sends me these. 🙂 Definitely a half bubble off! LOL

  5. Paula Hendrickson Avatar
    Paula Hendrickson
    August 28, 2015

    I'm guessing the "employer" – who probably isn't even in the US himself – was seeking people traveling outside the US in an effort to circumvent Federal employment regulations.

    I've got one for you, Lori. First hand, no less.

    You know I'm a big knitter. In the past I was a contracted blogger for a knitting company. They compensated us with yarn. Lots and lots of yarn. Not just the yarn and supplies needed to make items to blog about, but $100 worth of yarn (our choice) few months – after submitting something like 6 or 8 posts. That worked for me!

    Anyway, last week I saw a listing seeking writers who knit to write pattern descriptions. The pay was low $11/hour, but I thought it might be fun. They only wanted 10 hours per week, so I figured I could write about knitting on evenings or weekends and make $110 a week. Not what I'd LIKE to make, but it would put me back in the knitting world.

    Last weekend I heard back. They explained what they wanted and how they worked. They asked if I could re-write (first red flag) a couple of vague pattern descriptions, 75 words each, on the promise that if they used they they would pay. I thought, Why not? He said to let me know how long each one took. Maybe 12 minutes, but I took a moment to research the yarns so I could write something that made sense. He loved them and said he'd pay me. (Of course!) But said most of his writers average SIX MINUTES per entry, so I'd have to get it down to that.

    Right then I knew it wasn't for me. Basically, he wants 10 75-word descriptions (or 750 words) per HOUR. For which he'll pay a whopping $11. Really?

    I emailed back asking how and where the descriptions would be used. No reply. So I haven't even had the chance to lecture him on how that $11/hour breaks down to $.0146667 per word. I can't even pronounce a number that small – and the 666 seemed fitting.

    No, I won't demand payment…I doubt he'd pay me for the half hour I spent on the two blurbs. And I can't even do the math to figure out what the per-word rate would be on those.

    Waste. Of. Time.

  6. Lori Widmer Avatar
    Lori Widmer
    August 31, 2015

    Paula, that one stinks! Amazing how some people, with what they deem to be a bit of power, go nuts with it. Honestly, even writing back to tell him how insulting he is isn't worth it.

    What gets me is he didn't care about the quality as much as the time. Screams content mill to me.

  7. Anne Wayman Avatar
    Anne Wayman
    September 1, 2015

    Awful… truly awful.

    btw, I don't worry about spelling – that's one reason to hire a writer.

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