Being a stay at home writer is not all it is cracked up to be, y’know... Internet based work has its drawbacks, not the least of which is getting ripped off from time to time. Working for a remote clientele can be straightforward and in fact you can go for months without anything unpleasant happening on the work front and then be hit like a Mack truck by two or three clients who disappear without paying. The trick is to build up a regular clientele who can be trusted to an extent to pay on time. The problem is that with the best will in the world even a regular client can experience web problems or cash flow restrictions that have a knock-on effect down the line. Human nature, unfortunately, leads people to lie about their situation rather than be upfront and admit they have a problem with payment. The result can cause conflict between the writer and the client as the writer is left wondering why he has not been paid and the client struggles to put things right, while at the same time putting payment on hold. The unpalatable truth is that writers are usually at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to meeting financial obligations; way down there at the bottom, paying the writer comes somewhere between ‘paying parking fines’ and ‘alimony payments’! It is not all bad news, of course. When the client is doing well the writer will also do well and getting paid on time would not be an ongoing problem. The greatest tragedy is that the writer and the client will often be made for each other but end up parting company due to payment issues that cause resentment and a breakdown of trust. For writers who find themselves in this dilemma, it is always worth sending a friendly email (grit your teeth and try to remember that everyone has money problems now and then) asking if the client would like to ‘suspend’ payment for a while. Try approaching the client again in a month to see if they are interested in contracting more work, with a polite reminder that arrears are outstanding. Balancing the workload can be difficult for a freelancer. Quite often a client will ask for a batch of five or ten articles with no indication that further work might be imminent. New writers must always ‘try out’ and the first batch of work could well be a trial for a 500 article contract requiring thirty articles per week. Taking on an enormous workload such as this can be great for the short term bank balance but if you allow it to capsize your existing portfolio and lose your regular payers, you could end up with no ongoing work at the end of the project! Aargh! The writer’s challenge is one that requires diplomacy as well as first class writing skills. For new freelancers setting up there are some tips on offer: • Never agree to ‘free’ work. A client who is genuine will always pay a reasonable fee. • Never agree to work for a rock bottom rate. Some writers will work for 50c per 500 word article (unbelievably) but they usually produce a poor standard and if you join the ranks of the poorly paid you may expect to be treated badly. The latest trend on outsourcing sites is to offer writers US$5.00 for a batch of work consisting of ten articles. Writers living in third world countries are most grateful for this amount but $5.00 does not go very far in Europe or the US. Ignore the listings that carry this kind of remuneration and hold out for a decent rate. • Stay within deadline. If you cannot complete on time for some VERY good reason, always inform the client immediately and also indicate when you will be able to complete the work. • Don’t marginalize your talents. Write on a variety of topics, products and services and research your subject thoroughly. • Agree to take on only work that you find interesting and manageable. If you contract to complete three hundred articles on the advantages of installing a gas boiler you could struggle after the first two and wish you had never started the project! Research thoroughly on every article even if you think you are reasonably well acquainted with the subject. • Try to find something new and informative about products and services you write about. The world of the home based writer is one that varies from day to day. There is always something new to write about and the great thing is nobody can make you deal with clients you don’t like and don’t want to work with. The fly in the ointment is very much the issue of being unpaid but it is an occupational hazard that freelance writers must swallow to stay in business.
Article Source: http://www.bizymoms.com/expert-advice
Jan Gamm is a prolific writer and illustrator working at home. She is commissioned to write articles and create cartoons and caricatures for newspapers, magazines and web based companies worldwide. Article marketing can significantly increase traffic to your website. Jan writes targeted and effective articles to promote just about any product or service. See some of her work at www.jangamm.com/