Comments on: Sometimes, a Writer Needs to Say “No.”

By: Carol Tice

Carol Tice — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:14:13 +0000

I know it's scary when you 'feel poor' to say no to gigs…but I think there's a concept where if you don't make space in your life for good-paying work, you can't attract it…and when you're busy with low-paying gigs, they take up ALL your time — you have to work so many hours at a lower rate to earn well! Then you have no head space to think of high-paying markets you could query, big-company clients you could connect with…and so on.

By: Robin

Robin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 05:05:40 +0000

"No!" is such a wonderfully magic word… I use it liberally. And my economy hasn't collapsed at all

By: Brandi

Brandi — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:48:21 +0000

Impeccable timing on this post! I was just hemming and hawing over a blog job I was offered. My intuition was telling me that this client would end up being a difficult one. After going back and forth, I finally decided it wasn't worth it and I deserved better. Then, I saw this post! What great validation for what I did! Thanks!

By: Carol Tice

Carol Tice — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:37:24 +0000

I also had a prospective client want me to accept PayPal. I asked them to cover the fee on it, and never heard from them again. I was glad, as they had seemed a little on the flaky side, and this confirmed it. It's a convenience for them...still not sure why I should receive less as a result. But best is if you can build it into your initial quote and simply bid more... More on jobs I've said no to here. Carol

By: Star

Star — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:28:55 +0000

Call me nuts–and I may be–but I fired a client who would only pay thru Pay Pal–we had no choice. So the stated fee was $10 less–PP commission. I wanted the money I was promised and asked could I but $10 more on the next pitch (which had been approved). No–I wasn't worth $10. So I quit. I know–it sounds stupid, but it wasn't fair and I felt disrespected. I also kicked a job where they contacted me for eight 400-word stories a month…for $250. Was I intrigued, they asked me. Not really. Pass.

By: Anne Wayman - About

Anne Wayman - About — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:51:55 +0000

"No!" is such a wonderfully magic word… I use it liberally. And my economy hasn't collapsed at all

By: Lindsay Woolman

Lindsay Woolman — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:26:53 +0000

Woohoo! Congrats to that mentee for a $750 assignment. This is really great advice and what a wonderful thing to point out. Very inspiring post!

Lindsay

By: Carol Tice

Carol Tice — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:23:27 +0000

RIGHT ON, Brian!

Thanks for leaving your success story to inspire others.

Carol

By: Brian V. Hunt

Brian V. Hunt — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:17:45 +0000

Carol,

True words. I just sent the paperwork for signature on an $1100 job rewriting two case studies. I imagine the job will take about ten hours max.

Brian