Get Paid to Write Online » writing business

Lessons Learned From Getting Stiffed On Writing Jobs

Sharon Hurley Hall — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:00:59 +0000

My writing business has changed a lot since I started freelancing. Then, I did lots of one-off jobs for a wide range of small clients, getting many of them through copywriting agencies and the occasional job board posting or ad. Now, I work for a few bigger clients, and many of those have come to me via word of mouth and referrals from other people who have been happy with my work.

One of the advantages of having this type of client is that it makes for a more stable and reliable income. I know that each month, unless something major happens, there’s a basic amount that will be coming in – and I can always increase my earnings by taking more work for a couple of clients who offer regular single item jobs (like resumes).

Of course, that only works when the clients pay up on time. Most of them do, but then there are the others. I’ve been lucky enough not to get stiffed too many times in the last five years. That’s because I ask for a 50% deposit on all work for new clients and keep that up till we have established a relationship of trust. But it’s after that point that things can go wrong, especially if your client runs into financial difficulty.

Case Study One

One of the sites I blogged for a few years ago (I won’t say which one, as it’s now under new management and it wouldn’t be fair to the new owner) started off as a good gig, where the owner always paid in arrears, but on time, promptly on the first of every month. So when he was a couple of days late one month, I didn’t panic. I figured he was on vacation and would pay when he got back. After a while, though, so much time had passed that I realised that there had to be another reason. After several weeks he finally responded to my email, saying that he’d had a health problem (read ‘an addiction problem’) and had no money but would pay up when he got on his feet. I’m still waiting. One of the problems I had in this case was that I didn’t have all his contact details. That was a $500 lesson. It’s something that’s now at the top of my client questionnaire.

Case Study Two

In the second case, I was writing for a publication that operated like a print magazine. In other words, you invoiced and got paid once you had delivered the articles. That’s the way it works, and they weren’t going to give a deposit to suit me, though they did make a one-off good faith payment at the start.

I feel a bit sorry for this client, actually, because the recession hit and the client’s advertising income (which basically funded the publication) dried up. Big companies moved from 30 to 90 day payment and the client’s ready cash disappeared. The only trouble was, the client still owed me money and tried to persuade me that I should hang in there a bit longer. I did the maths – had I waited another month, the client would have owed me double the amount, with even less prospect of paying me. So I got out, and the client has paid the debt in increments, though some is still owing. The lesson I’ve learned is to only work on that basis for a bigger, well established publication and to make sure it’s not a big part of my income.

My writing career is a constant learning experience and there’s nothing to make you learn like not getting paid. I have to be honest – the missing money isn’t hurting me financially, it’s just the principle of the thing. I did the work, I should get paid. The big lesson is that even when you do everything right in managing your career, random events can affect the bottom line.

The Lessons

1. Make sure you have full contact details for every client.

2. If you have clients who pay in arrears, make sure they don’t represent too big a chunk of your income – and be rigorous about collecting payment on time.

3. Know when it’s time to end the relationship and get out; don’t be sweet talked or pressured into continuing to deliver work you’re not getting paid for.

4. Remember to consider the effects of random happenings and chance events on your writing income.

Lessons Learned From Getting Stiffed On Writing Jobs was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

Recognizing the Signs of Freelance Writer Burnout in Yourself

Dana Prince — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:17:44 +0000

Do You Juggle too Much?

Usually, I’m a pretty positive person. But yesterday, I had an ‘I suck’ moment. I had a meltdown during a difficult assignment and didn’t feel good about the work I’d done. I got stuck. I questioned my abilities. It was awful. It’s not always easy being a freelancer and having to go it alone. It’s been a while since I’ve taken any time off. Thinking back, if I’d looked at myself yesterday as an outsider I probably would’ve said, “She’s got burnout.”

I’ve had to give myself an awful lot of pep talks, lately. I think that’s a sign that something that needs to change.

My meltdown wasn’t pretty. But, there’s no crying in baseball… so, finally, I emailed the client and told them I was sending them what they should treat as a draft and asked them to come back to me with feedback to help me deliver what they wanted. Then I got out of the house for a few hours to clear my head.

I’ve been working a lot of hours in the past few weeks. I’ve also had about half a dozen things go wrong around the house so I’ve been feeling stressed. I don’t want to suck. Maybe I didn’t. Maybe I just felt burnt out. Maybe I did suck. I guess I’ll find out when the client replies to yesterday’s message.

I had trouble sleeping last night. Then this morning I looked at a very long to-do list and felt very overwhelmed. I decided to just break it down and do one thing at a time. So far it has helped.

-I wrote mini to-do list on a Post-It with most urgent projects. That way the to-do list is short, rather than long. One thing at a time!n

-Did a quick clean up my work area so I don’t feel so buried.

-Got food in my tummy and took my vitamins.

-Found something for the little one to do so I could work uninterrupted for a bit.

-Decided to try to have a positive attitude.

I did a press release for a new client first. I probably shouldn’t have even taken the job since I had so much on my plate this week but that’s another problem I have — not being able to say “No” to work. When I got started, I felt so apprehensive thatI toiled over it for about an hour longer than usual. Yesterday had left a lingering feeling of doubt. But…no revisions. They loved it and placed a new standing order. I don’t suck today. So far… :)

When I’m overworked it affects my eating, my sleeping, my family, my confidence, and my writing. Another client wrote today to point out an error I’d made that I probably wouldn’t have made if I weren’t so darned…overwhelmed. I decided that yesterday was a big red flag warning of freelance writer’s burnout for me. I’m going to work hard to get through this to-do list and then take a day off. Then, a 3-day weekend next weekend… away from the house AND away from the computer. I bet it’ll do me wonders. Do you recognize the signs of burnout in yourself? Please make sure you watch for it and act on it. I’m pretty sure that your health, your frame of mind, and your writing will all thank you for it.

P.S: On previewing this post I saw that Sharon Hurley Hall has a post from about 3 years ago here that’s highly relevant: How to Cope With Writer Burnout. Check it out.

Recognizing the Signs of Freelance Writer Burnout in Yourself was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

Toot Your Own Horn – Use Testimonials to the Advantage of Your Writing Career

Dana Prince — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:09:40 +0000

Gotten a great testimonial? Hope you’re taking advantage of all it can do for you!

The other day, Sharon Hurley Hall was elated when she had a rave review from a happy client. Don’t glowing testimonials just make your day? Mine, too. One day this week I had a particularly difficult assignment and when I sent it off, I was waiting for it to come back with red pen all over it. But it didn’t. The client said, “This is great. Thanks so much for all your hard work!” If you’ve had great testimonials, don’t sit on them or smile and then file them away. Share them with the world. Seriously. Toot your own horn. It’ll help you immensely. Here’s how:

-Add it to a testimonials page on your website. This page will show prospective customers how past customers have felt about your work. More content on your website equals more potential traffic, too. Every time you update your site, search engines could come visit to see what you’ve added and then send you increasingly relevant traffic. If you look at Sharon’s testimonial linked above, you’ll see another reason why clients find her and offer work to her. Her testimonials help her with her online marketing. marketing. How? That testimonial is on its own page on her writing site with a keyword optimized permalink structure, relevant category, and tags that relate to the type of writing and to testimonials. This strategy ups the chances that someone looking for those specific services will find Sharon and find out that not only does she offer resume writing services but also that people LOVE her work. I have a testimonials page on my website today but think I’ll take a cue from Sharon and re-create individual pages on my blogs for those reviews as well.

-Send the kudos out to the social sphere. Mention it on Twitter, Plurk, Facebook… wherever you hang out online. A prospective customer may read it and contact you for a quote. (Hint: This works well when you use the Twitter widget on your blog, too. Clients can see those testimonials in your sidebar when they browse your website to see if they’d like to approach you for a quote.)

-Add some short but rave reviews to your bidding template. Do you use a template when you apply to writing gigs? If so, a few blurbs about what existing and past customers have said about your quality of work could help tip the scales in your favour.

Here are some Do’s and Don’ts to consider when posting testimonials:

-Don’t post the client’s name unless they give you permission to do so.

-Do consider linking back to the client’s site or the source of work you’ve done, if the client is agreeable and you aren’t going to be breaching any ghostwriting / confidentiality agreements, of course. Then, you can show prospects what all the buzz is about.

-Don’t be afraid to ask . If a client seems happy, ask them if you can have a testimonial. Offer to link to their site, if they like. Links are coveted online and offering a link could make your client jump at the chance to write a recommendation or… to sign off on a recommendation you’ve written for them about you. (A client of mine didn’t have time to write one but responded when I told him I was offering links on my testimonials page and he gave me the green light to write the testimonial for him and to tell the world how much he valued me. )

-Do consider joining and using LinkedIn. This site is great for creating a professional profile and networking. There’s a feature on the site where you can get and give recommendations and those are updated in your time line so those recommendations are viewable by others (after you approve their going live). If people recommend you on LinkedIn, you may want to add those recommendations to your own site or blog as well. Don’t be afraid to recommend great clients on LinkedIn and perhaps they’ll return the favour.

The next time you get a pat on the back, I hope you’ll use it to your advantage!

Toot Your Own Horn – Use Testimonials to the Advantage of Your Writing Career was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

Are You Ready for OR Resisting the Freelancer’s Summer Slowdown?

Dana Prince — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:14:18 +0000

Do You Have a Summer Writing Schedule?

School is OUT for summer! Does summer slow down for your freelance writing career? For some writers, this is welcome. Some of us have kids at home, some of us like to get out more. But some of us dread the dip in income and the scrambling. Summer is here so here are some things you could do if your volume is slipping and you’re not so happy about it:

Contact your existing customers and say Hello to ones you haven’t heard from in a while. Many of them may be on holidays so not ordering as much automatically but a bit of gentle prodding or a summer sale could get their attention. An approach I tried last year worked out well for me in a post I wrote for my customer blog that suggested that summer time was a great time for them to up their content publishing efforts. (Feel free to give it a read at: Summer Time, a Great Time for You to Make More Money Online)

Do some marketing. Raise your writing profile, use social marketing, do some article marketing, and you could get some new queries.

Content companies. Many writers don’t like dealing with content companies and the pay could be lower than you’re accustomed to but if you’re not against it (or are in a pinch), many of them offer an all-you-can-write buffet, which could be the ticket to filling in some summer schedule gaps. (Options could include: Break Studios, Demand Studios, TextBroker, Internet Brands)

Start bidding on a job site like Elance. You could grab some one-off gigs or find new long-term customers.

If you’d rather take advantage of your lighter workload, you could also do the following:

Finally work on that novel you’ve been meaning to tackle. Or, write and market an e-book for additional residual income that could help you through NEXT summer.

Start some niche blogs or other content sites to generate passive income and more writing samples.

Read. Read about writing, read about marketing your business, or read a few great novels that you’ve been meaning to get to.

Care to share any of your summer strategies?

Have a safe and happy summer.

Are You Ready for OR Resisting the Freelancer’s Summer Slowdown? was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

Daily Freelance Business Checklist

Dana Prince — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:31:12 +0000

What's on your daily freelance checklist?

Being a freelance writer isn’t always about being a free spirit. Some structure can be required, especially if you have clients to answer to and want to live off your writing. A daily checklist is a good way to keep your business running well. Some days that checklist can help you prioritise and decide what to do with a busy day and other days a quick look can give you peace of mind as you take a well-earned a day off. Here are some of my checklist items:

Regular Projects

I have quite a few ongoing gigs. Some require a bit of work most days and some work in a way that allows me to work in batches. On a daily basis I need to look at my to-do list to determine where I’m at with these. Checkmarks and asterisks help me manage everything.

One Off Projects

Projects come in on a regular basis that are one-offs. Some clients have extra projects and I have a nice trickle of new clients that approach me through my business site. I keep a running list of my to-do items and checking this list daily to see where I’m at helps me not have too many late nighters or moments of panic when I realise I’ve forgotten a project. A daily look at my list keeps me on track to meet deadlines and earning goals.

Billing

We all want to get paid to write. Right? I like to keep close track of billing. Does anyone owe me money? Do I owe anyone money? I use a colour coding system on my project spreadsheet that helps me see what’s what with my invoicing. I check it regularly so I know what’s coming, what’s due, and what might be overdue and require a follow up to keep my family fed and keep the power and (the blessed) internet on.

Marketing & Networking

Marketing on a regular basis keeps the work flowing in and helps me not have to go banging on doors too often. I don’t market every day but I keep marketing on my to-do list so that I can keep that steady trickle of inquiries coming in. If I see queries start slowing down then I know to move marketing up on the priority list.

Marketing and networking can go hand in hand. Visiting some blogs and social media sites for a few minutes on a regular basis helps me network almost effortlessly. This keeps my name in the minds of customers and peers and can shine a light on me to potential customers, too. I looked on Twitter this morning and saw I hadn’t updated since last week so I’ll make sure I do some microblogging this week. I’ll probably tie it into some of my passive income efforts and marketing for my business blog as well.

Passive Income

I have about a dozen or so blogs. Some are updated regularly and some haven’t been updated in months. In a perfect world, I’d update each of them each week and check that off my list. I’m not doing that right now as work is keeping me busy but I do keep the topic of passive income on my checklist. What are my earnings at? What do my blog traffic stats look like? Can I use that statistical information to help me earn more? Paying attention to these things helps me keep money trickling in from some of my passive revenue sources, such as: Clickbank, Amazon, Google Adsense, Kontera, etc.

Some writers add extra items to their list, such as time for creative writing projects, time for print publication queries, and other things that are important to them. A list can change, depending on my priorities. It can help me prioritise, check things off as they’re done, and help me feel in control and accomplished at the end of the day. The best way for me to get my bearings when feeling overwhelmed is to clean my desk and look at my list. What’s on your freelance business checklist?

(photo: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/iprole)

Daily Freelance Business Checklist was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

Tips for Wooing Your Writing Gig Prospects

Dana Prince — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:18:36 +0000

Improve Your Marketing Success

I’ve advocated marketing to help the writing clients find you as much as possible. By marketing and helping clients find you, you can make more money and reduce your competition instead of focusing all your energy on banging on the same doors as dozens of other freelance writers who saw a gig listed on a job board. For those that have started that marketing campaign to help clients find them, here are some tips to help you get people to query as well as to successfully court those new prospects once they make first contact.

Website Design

There are lots of ways to get traffic to your business website. But when you get traffic to your site, what’s there? Beyond a professional-looking website or blog, make sure your pages correspond to the types of keywords you’re trying to attract traffic for. Analyse your traffic reports regularly to investigate how people arrive on various pages. Does the content on their entry page deliver what they’re searching for and display your skills in the best light possible? Anticipate your visitor’s wants and needs on that page in terms of content, navigation, and links that can help them delve deeper for the best user experience possible.

Contact Page

Instead of hoping prospects will dig for your e-mail address, provide a contact page. Most website templates have this feature built in and it saves you from having to publish your address on the site, which leaves you vulnerable to spammers.

Initial Response

When someone touches base, I often use a new client questionnaire that I’ve developed to help me with their initial project. It also helps them see that I am professional in my approach of trying to find out how to best help them. The questionnaire should help you understand the scope of the project for quoting and researching purposes as well as help minimise crossed signals and rewrite requests. Questions on your questionnaire can relate to target audience, call to action, SEO keywords, and more. Another thing I like about the questionnaire is that it gives me an opportunity to indicate my terms. My questionnaire has a blurb about my payment terms, details about copyright, and info about my revision policy. It helps set expectations up front.

Next Steps

If the prospect doesn’t make the next steps clear, don’t be afraid to ask. I give people time to absorb the info included in my quote and if I am interested in hearing back from them but don’t hear back within 2-3 days I do a follow up to find out if I can provide further info to help them make a buying decision.

Additional Tips:

Try to anticipate potential questions when laying out your website and answer those questions. List samples, list your specialties, and demonstrate your expertise. If you do, chances are that by the time people contact you, they’ve already decided you’re someone they’re seriously considering hiring and this can shorten the pre-sales process as well as save you time during client courtship.
Don’t be afraid to decline potential business. Just because someone approaches you doesn’t mean they are the best client for you. In some cases it takes an attempt to help you both decide if the relationship is symbiotic but if something doesn’t sit well, trust your instinct and decline.
If you’re not peckish due to a workload famine when you get a new query, price on the high end of your price list. I have two sets of pricing and if I don’t need the work, I price at the high end. I have nothing to lose and they’re already interested in me so it doesn’t hurt to try to boost earnings. Plus, while I don’t generally deal with hagglers, quoting high gives you wiggle room….if you want to wiggle.
Make a questionnaire template and save each completed one. I have some clients who’ve given really valuable info in their questionnaire that I come back to later in the relationship and in some cases, that detail can help me adapt to their tone and style. I also save my initial quote so that I’m consistent with them if they come back later.
If you are quoting during a famine, don’t pigeonhole yourself into a certain price point permanently. To help prevent this either in feast or in famine mode, I typically put a disclaimer on initial quotes or on my questionnaire that states I review pricing every six months. That way, I’m not locked into the initial quoted pricing forever and clients (hopefully) won’t be indignant pricing goes up later on (after proving my worth).

Do you have any tips for courtship with a new client? Please share!

(photo: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/duchesssa)

Tips for Wooing Your Writing Gig Prospects was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

Are You Doing Risk Management in Your Writing Biz? You Need To.

Dana Prince — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:29:40 +0000

Minimise Risk in Your Writing Business

Freelance writers wear many hats as self-employed people. One important hat to don on occasion is the risk management hardhat. Most businesses have a risk management department that attempts to mitigate risks. Especially when your earnings are not mere hobbyist earnings… you need to seriously consider doing the same — to protect yourself. Here are some areas to consider:

How much money have you got out in receivables right now?

Are you keeping close enough tabs on the money owed to you? The best way to minimise cash flow crunches of your own is to stay on top of things at all times. I keep a list of overdue invoices and follow up regularly until I’m paid. I’m also very careful about setting terms with new clients to protect myself.

What’s your payment policy?

Is there room in your payment policy for substantial loss? Too many freelance writers only set a policy after a substantial loss has taught them a lesson. And far too many break their own rules and open themselves up to potential loss (I did this myself recently and regret breaking my own rule! Lesson learned). By at least requiring a deposit from new clients or clients with a lousy payment history, you minimise risk. It’s fine to put clients on terms once they’ve proven they’re trustworthy but even then you need to closely watch your receivables to make sure you have a constant flow of cash coming in and to make sure that you don’t let one client get too far in debt with you. If you sense potential danger on the horizon, act fast to protect yourself!

How much of your income comes from one source?

While it’s great to have a steady client that pays great and keeps you busy, what would happen to your business and your earnings if they suddenly stopped doing business with you? Would you be able to rebound quickly? Most freelancers would agree that you need to not only diversify your income sources but you need to have a Plan B “just in case”. Do you have a backup source for work if the main egg in your basket slows, halts, or goes belly up and can’t pay? Do you have cash reserves in case someone who owes you a substantial amount takes longer to pay than usual?

Is Your Writing Business Green?

Are you green in that you’re new? You’ll want to learn from the pros regarding risk management ASAP. Are you green in terms of being sustainable? That’s what you want!

Looking at your freelance writing career as a business will help you with business continuity and sustainability. Risk management is vital! There will be times when you wear a salesperson’s hat to wow a new prospect, a collection agent’s hat when clients get tardy with payments, and even a drill sergeant’s helmet (to kick yourself in the butt when you’d rather be surfing than writing or to be tough on clients because you need to be). Make sure you set your own risk management policies with rules that you’ll always follow to reduce risk and maximise profitability.

Are You Doing Risk Management in Your Writing Biz? You Need To. was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

My Writing Business Review

Sharon Hurley Hall — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:07:06 +0000

At the start of the year one of the things I decided was that I would review my writing business regularly to help me with planning. I had already looked at freelancing income in the past and made some decisions based on that; now I was looking ahead.

In order to do this I created a spreadsheet listing all of my main clients and how much money I expected to earn from them until the end of 2011 (click on the image to see what it looks like). To help me I looked at what I’d earned in the past year and then averaged that out to give me a figure for the coming year. I had do do some guessing, but I tried to keep this conservative. I didn’t include advertising and affiliate income in my forecast as this is variable.

In my spreadsheet I did something a bit different (well, different for me, as I am not that comfy with spreadsheets) and added the columns going across as well as down. That gave me the amount each client was likely to bring in over the next 21 months. Where I wasn’t sure of something I tried to err on the side of caution. Even so it looks like I’m looking at about a 30% increase in revenue this year over last year.

What else did I learn? I learned:

what percentage of my income each client represented and would represent over the coming year.
which clients were not really bringing in enough (more on that in a minute)
where I could increase income if I needed to
that even if I lost one major client I would still improve on last year’s revenue.

I also did another exercise which was to work out how many hours I spent on each of the major clients each month. Dividing the amount they pay by the number of hours gave me an hourly rate for each client. I could see at a glance which ones were the lowest payers.

So what will I do with that information? I will use it to tweak my writing business further. That means either withdrawing from contracts which do not represent an adequate rate of pay or negotiating a better rate.

I also discovered that I am now working more hours every week than I wanted to because of the new business that has recently come in. That’s something else I will need to address to keep my life balanced.

Have you reviewed your writing business?

Stop Multitasking from Killing Your Productivity

Dana Prince — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:25:33 +0000

Do You Juggle too Much?

Some days I pride myself on my multi-tasking abilities. But some days I curse multi-tasking because I’ve become so adept at it that I now have trouble mono-tasking. I’m learning that while it can be good for a freelance writer to have the ability to manage multiple projects, there are times when it may be more advantageous to just do one thing at a time. Doing too many things at a time can kill your creativity, hurt your time management, and multi-tasking doesn’t always do as much as you think it does for productivity. In fact, when I do too much at a time, I not only get fewer things accomplished in a day but I feel frantic — which isn’t healthy.

Do you do too many things at a time?

Do you check email constantly, even when you’re under the gun with a deadline? Turn it off. Especially outside of business hours. If you’re working late, make the time count and focus on the task at hand — so you can finish sooner.

Do you feel compelled to answer the phone or IM chat to a client or colleague when you’re busy doing something? Turn it off. They can wait / go to voicemail / catch up with you later so you can focus on what’s most pressing. I don’t know about you but when I’m feeling the flow, interruptions really mess with the qmy ability to pick up where I left off.

How many tabs and windows do you have open on your computer right now? Do you really need to be doing that many things at a time? (PS: Having 17 FF tabs open will slow your system down so it’s counterproductive, anyway.) I am a recovering alt+tab addict. While doing something, I alt+tab almost constantly to check on / do something else. The ability to do multiple things at a time can be good but it’s not always necessary. If you just close the distracting stuff off once in a while, you will get through tasks faster.)

Do you look for something to do while waiting? I’m famous for this. I have joked in the past that I don’t even mono-task when I go to the loo. If you’re wound too tight, multi-tasking can wind you even tighter. Impatience is not typically a virtue.

I partially blame IBM and their OS/2 operating system. Back when I was barely old enough to vote and a purchasing agent in the early 1990′s, the company I worked for upgraded from Dos to OS/2 and I had my first experience with multi-tasking on a computer. It changed the way I worked.

I also partially blame dial up. When I started as a freelancer I had just moved to an area without high-speed so as I waited for pages to load, I kept busy during that wait time. It made me go from being a multi-tasker to a super-multi-tasker.

I now blame myself. I have become far too impatient and greedy with technololgy because the more it gives me, the more I want. In fact, I often keep two computers going at a time so that I can do multiple tasks even more efficiently. Yes..too much multi-tasking. Time to slow down before the stress takes its toll on my health.

I say it’s time to slow down. It makes sense that if you’re feeling overwhelmed, slow it down, focus on one thing at a time, and not only will you move through your to-do list at a less frantic pace but you may feel more accomplished at the end of the day (and you might not display as pronounced a nervous tic next time you face a line-up at the bank.) As an alt+tab-o-holic , I’ve decided I have to regularly remind myself of this.

(P.S: I only checked e-mail 6, ok.. 9 times during the writing of this post. Yes, an improvement for me.)

Are you a multitasking monster?

Stop Multitasking from Killing Your Productivity was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

7 Signs You Need to Break Up with That Client

Dana Prince — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 02:03:34 +0000

Getting out of a bad relationship is good for you but it’s not always easy and this applies to client relationships for freelance writers as well. Just like breakups can be painful and agonizing (but necessary); the same can be said for client relationships. I broke up with a client recently (actually they broke up with me but I was on the verge of doing the dumping) and it was something I expected but that didn’t make it any less painful of a breakup. In fact, the split isn’t totally resolved yet.

Lori Widmer wrote a timely post today that struck a chord with me because just like her, I’ve been planning for the obvious and preparing to fill the gap because I’ve seen the writing on the wall and frankly, I wanted it to end but dreaded doing the dumping. In the end, it was the equivalent of being dumped on a Post-It for me and it messed with my productivity for the whole week (add to that a sick child as we’ve had a case of the sickies running through the house for the past few weeks and you’ve got one mucked up freelance writing work schedule). But I’ll get over it. Probably pretty fast. No post-breakup pints of ice cream necessary here!

Do You Need to Break Up with a Client?

Not all relationships are destined to work out. Not every client will be your “soul mate” in terms of a perfect ongoing working relationship. Thankfully you’re a freelancer so you’re free to end relationships if they aren’t working out. No lengthy and messy divorce is necessary!

Here are some signs that you need to break up — even if it’s painful to do so:

(Some of these applied to this situation for me and others have applied to previous relationship breakups)

Sickness outweighs health. Do you love less and less about the client’s project(s) as time goes on? Do you dread it like you used to dread Sunday nights before you became a writer because they made you think about Monday morning back in cubicleland? That’s a sign you shouldn’t ignore.
Are you having to forsake all others? Does the money not justify the hassles when you break down the time and headaches vs. the income? Is this project impacting your ability to do other things?
Do you have a problem with the integrity or lack thereof of the project or people working on the project? Are there games and is there back-stabbing going on? Never do something you can’t feel good about (and don’t ignore your instinct) and if you can’t trust someone, don’t do business with them.
Are there lies and excuses about money and is someone trying to get to you drop your pricing after the relationship and terms have been established? Get your money from the next invoice and then don’t walk…run… before they ask you to do something else.
Are you treated like an employee (like plankton on the corporate food chain) but not paid like an employee?
Are people playing ‘the blame game’ and blaming the writer for their lack of research, a poor business model, or running a business with guesswork and getting indignant when things don’t come together?
Is it just not fun any more? When the love is dead, why prolong the inevitable?

Freelancing is often tough and unpredictable but the good thing about it is that at times a door closing means a better one opens. Every time I end a bad relationship, it all works out and so far I have always been better off after the fact — even if it takes time to heal. I haven’t had many bad breakups but every one that has happened has taught me something. The relief of knowing that I won’t have to dread the very next Monday morning can be reward enough. Feel free to share some of your breakup stories and lessons learned… if they’re not still too raw and painful

(photo: www.sxc.hu/profile/spekulator)

7 Signs You Need to Break Up with That Client was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.