Is life with your writing clients a few sandwiches short of a picnic?

Maybe your client insists you attend their staff meetings without pay. Or they pay 90 days after checks are due, only after you nag them a half-dozen times.

Then there’s the screamer. The company that has your work gang-edited by an eight-person team. The magazine editor who sends back your work covered in red ink. The solopreneur who wants to instant-message you at all hours, seven days a week.

And, of course, the one who pays you one-tenth what you should be getting paid.

Whatever the particulars, it adds up to one thing: Your client is a Pain In The Ass.

It can be sort of fun to complain about your PITA clients. “Can you believe they did this?” you moan to your writer friends.

But even more fun is resolving your PITA problems and having only pleasant, productive, positive relationships with your clients.

Here are my five tips for keeping your client list PITA-free:

1. Make initial contracts short. I like a 60-90 day initial contract. This gives you a natural opportunity to redefine your working relationship after a short period of time. Once you find out your client is desperately needy or really wants 750-word blog posts, not 250, this is your chance to raise your rates — or to bow out and move on.
2. Clearly define boundaries. Without exception, PITA clients are boundary-pushers. Whatever they should reasonably expect from you, they want more. So make sure you spell out exactly what you are doing for the money. You want to know when things are due, how soon they pay, the length of your piece, how many interviews they expect, when you’ll need to be available for calls or meetings…the works.
3. Ignore them. Often, PITAs want loads of your time. Simply be unavailable, at least sometimes. You don’t have to answer that email, phone call, or instant message right away. You want to communicate to them that you are busy and they are not your only client (even if they are). Make it clear you are not going to be their 24/7 on-call staff writer at freelance rates…or you’ll find that’s exactly what you’ve become.
4. Charge them more. It’s amazing what doubling your rate can do for your feelings that a client is a PITA. Suddenly, their annoying foibles don’t seem as oppressive. Whenever you feel frustrated, you can always take a look at your bank balance to remind you why you put up with them.
5. Say goodbye. In the end, you’ve got to weigh all the factors: How bad do you need the income from this client? How stressed out are you by them? If you asked for a raise and they’re not going for it, and you feel like you’re gonna puke every time you have to talk to them, it’s probably time to give notice that you’ll be moving on. The bonus? Often, as soon as you do, a better client comes along. You’ve just made room in your life for something better, so it has a chance to appear.

No matter what strategy you use to rein in your PITA, remember the most important rule: Stay professional.

Yes, I know they throw tantrums and talk nasty. But don’t you do it. Leave all your doors open and bridges unburned — never know when you might want to use them again.

Have you had a PITA client? Leave a comment and tell us how you dealt with it.

One of the most frequently asked questions freelance writers had on my free call earlier this month was, “How can you tell if an online writing gig is legitimate?”

Funny story — I got a very strange email earlier this week that I think illustrates how difficult it can be to tell very solid opportunities from bogus ones. Here’s the story:

I got this email at 10:30 pm. The sender name and the company names involved are disguised, but otherwise this is letter for letter how the email looked:

hi Carol
My name is (person’s name) and I’m looking for a writer for a project I’m managing.  I’m not sure if you are available but thought I would reach out.  The project is really to create an annual report for a few business programs for my large client in the SEattle area.  I need someone to work with me better now and May 5th.  Not sure if you are available but i’d love to chat.  all teh best (name).

Kind of suspicious-looking, huh? Looks like someone typing on their mobile device or something — someone who doesn’t care how their message looks. And they’re sending me an inquiry at a pretty weird time for doing business.

In general, when I get feeler emails like this that don’t include a company name and phone number, and the email doesn’t reveal a company name — which this one didn’t — I tend to be extremely wary.

I often fire back an email saying if they’re from a real company to please reply with their company name, address, phone and URL. I have a habit of never wanting to spend time discussing projects with anyone who won’t give me those basic pieces of information.

But there were a couple things that made me give this email a second look.

The first was the mention of a big client. The second was the fact that her email did end in a name that I knew was associated with a service offered by a big local company. That gave it enough chance of being a real offer that I wrote back:

Hi (name) –

Thanks for reaching out to me! Annual reports are definitely up my alley — as a longtime business reporter I’m very familiar with that format. I’m pretty slammed for about the next week, but after that my schedule should get better. Why don’t you give me a call tomorrow to discuss your project?

In the meanwhile, maybe you could send me a bit more contact information for you and your company so I can take a look online?

Also would love to hear how you found me — thanks!

After I sent this inquiry, I decided to run the sender’s name through LinkedIn with “Seattle” attached. Bingo: The sender was affiliated with a very large company. I wasn’t surprised when I got her response below. Marketers, note the interesting way she found me:

hi Carol
I’m with (major project management agency)  and we are working with (Fortune 500 company) on a large project for the office of the CTO.  I found you through linked in online to be honest and was looking for someone with adequate experience.  This is a huge project and I need someone for 80hours between now and May 5th.  Let’s chat tomorrow

I also need to know if you can help me with interviews and a few client meetings to review documents once we are done or are you jsut remote?

thanks much

(name)

All of which brings us back to our question: How can you tell if a writing gig is legit?

Answer: You have to do some sleuthing. Don’t take prospects at face value. Start researching and find out if they’re who they say they are.

My experience with this prospect shows how hard it is in our casual-email era to tell good from bad. So you really need to look hard at the prospect before you leap.

Ways to investigate a prospective writing client:

1. Get their contact information and look them up online. Have they been around a while? Do they sell a real-world product or service — or magazine — with a proven track record of success? If they won’t provide a street address, run.
2. Ask around your writer forums on LinkedIn or wherever you hang out — has anyone worked for this company? If so, what are their impressions?
3. Poke around in social media to see what this company is saying…and what others are saying about them. Also try the contact person’s name on Twitter and Linked In — does their bio say they work for the company they told you they represent?
4. Try Googling that company’s name + lawsuit and see what you turn up. Use the Google News tab to see if there are news stories about the company.
5. Ask the prospect: What is your business model? (If it’s “we get you to write tons of content cheap or free and then we put ads next to it,” run.)
6. Ask: What are your pay rates and your payment schedule? You want to know up front if they pay on an instant bank transfer or take six months.
7. Be on the lookout for obviously scammy propositions — it they ask you to write a bunch of free samples, or to write for peanuts because they might be able to pay more later on, or if you get enough pageviews…run.

Ever gotten scammed in a writing gig? Leave a comment and let us know what happened, and what you learned from the experience.

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It happens to nearly every freelance writer at some point. You have a client, and you want to get rid of them.

They don’t pay enough, or their people aren’t appreciative, or their deadlines are too crazy, or all three. Maybe things started out great, but now the situation has changed. You find yourself putting off their work and maybe not doing the best work you possibly could on their account.

The bottom line: This client has got to go.

Making the decision to drop a client is a positive step. It signifies that you value your time and your career, and are only going to associate with clients that treat you right. It’s an empowering moment, really, when you have the insight that you want to drop a client.

But it can also feel very scary. Maybe you fear the economic uncertainty, or you just hate confrontations.

This topic has been on my mind lately because I recently dropped two steady clients. Here is how I decided these clients needed to be pruned off my roster, and how I handled the situation.

Choosing which clients to drop

In looking at my 2010 earnings, I identified two clients that needed to be cut from my list. I felt strongly that if I dropped these two clients, I would be able to replace them with better clients. I also needed to free up more time to work on this blog.

One client had been a great, steady account for a couple of years, with a nice editor who loved my work and gave me usually two articles a month. The articles appeared on very popular Web sites and gave me some great visibility. But the sad fact was their pay rate was lower than anyone else on my roster, and I didn’t find I got a lot of referrals from the stories. (One of my metrics of whether a client’s work is worth it is whether their clips generate referral business.) I asked for a raise for 2011 and they said they couldn’t do it.

The other was a steady gig with much good about it — a wonderful editor, a cool virtual chat room with all the other excellent reporters, a major brand behind it, huge website traffic, and a chance to learn tons about blogging. But it also had significant negatives, including a crushing monthly workload that had to be met or pay was zero. And its per-blog-post rate was my absolute lowest. It also did not generate referrals, and would have required significant additional time to build income — time I don’t have.

Often, we cling to existing freelance writing clients because it’s comfortable. We know what’s expected of us. It’s a known quantity. It feels secure.

But the reality is that if we don’t keep improving our client list, our income won’t grow. I eventually realized it was time for me to make some changes, which you want to do before the quality of what you’re delivering starts to go downhill.

Once you’ve decided a client is getting the ax, the trick is to do it in the best possible way. Here are my tips for managing the process of saying goodbye to a client:

1. Line up your replacement client first. This isn’t always possible, but ideally, you don’t want to see any interruption in income. Try to keep control of the situation. Bide your time and do your assignments until the moment you’re ready to ditch them in favor of a better client. If you let your attitude or work quality deteriorate, the client may give you the ax first. Then you’re scrambling to find a replacement, and in your haste may latch onto another substandard client.
2. Give notice. Don’t leave your client in the lurch. If you know you have a contract coming up for renewal, let them know several weeks ahead that you don’t want to renew. With more sporadic clients, it may simply be a question of turning down several assignments in a row by saying you’re too busy, then finally saying, “I think I’m not going to have time to do anything for you going forward.” If you write for mills, of course, it’s simply a matter of not visiting that dashboard again.
3. Give referrals. A classy way to leave a gig is by giving the editor a couple names of writers who might replace you. This is where you can be a hero to your writer network, since there’s always someone who’s at a different point in their writing career, where your loser client might be a great client for a friend. I was happy to be able to refer a writer to one of the clients I dropped who was a perfect fit and got an assignment right away.
4. Be professional. Even if you thought this client was a raging lunatic whose unreasonable demands drove you to the edge of madness, keep your cool. Remember, editors move around, publications change, and content budgets increase sometimes.
5. Leave the door open. The ideal is to leave on a positive note, with the idea that if things changed, you might work for them again in future. This keeps you in the driver’s seat, with the possibility of coming back to the client later. It also means more likelihood this client retains good feelings about you and might refer you if they hear about other gigs.

My dream with the second client I dropped was to get more casual, better-paying occasional freelance gigs from them instead of being part of their monthly grind. I was classy, gave lots of notice, made sure my editor knew how much I valued working with him…and mentioned that I was available for any special projects. Presto: Since exiting my regular gig, I’ve gotten several fun, easy blog assignments and made a total of $1,300, with the potential for more work to come.

Sending a snarky farewell email or slamming out your editor’s door may feel good for a moment, but it burns a bridge. Better to keep all your options open for the future.

Have you dropped a writing gig lately? If so, how did you go about it? Leave a comment and let us know.

Photo via stock.xchng user Makau

Today, I’m reaching into my freelance-writer mailbag and answering a question I got from a participant in my recent 40 Ways to Market Your Writing webinar. Oscar Halpert emailed me after the session and told me he’d recently plunged into freelance writing after being laid off.

He got referred to a possible writing client by someone he met at an in-person networking event. Oscar’s new contact thought this CEO might need a writer. The client call didn’t go so well, though, Oscar reports:

“We spoke for 90 minutes, during which time I asked a lot of questions about her business and its problems and needs.

I agreed to a followup call in nine days. [Then] looked closely at the company web site and realized:

a. The CEO has no marketing plan and no marketing strategy. They’ve done one press release in four years.

b. She wanted me to devise a strategy to get her company leads. I told her that’s a marketing function, not a writing function. She suggested a win/win: I produce a YouTube video that goes viral and bingo-bango, we both benefit.

c. She had a limited budget.

d. She had me sign a nondisclosure agreement.

So, now I have a CEO who was referred to me by her trusted ally. I backed out.
He looks like an idiot and she still needs her problem solved.
And, I’m still working on finding my first portfolio items.
Did I mess this up?”

To answer that last question first: Maybe. It depends. But I think you bungled it less than you think.

First off, I try to keep initial discussions with prospects to half an hour, or an hour at most, especially if I haven’t had a chance to size them up. Try to get them to move quickly from initial pleasantries and blathering about their company’s greatness to defining the writing project they want to assign.

To your points:

a. Put on the blinders. Ah yes, the company without a plan. There are herds of these ungainly beasts roaming the business world. They often want to hire freelance writers in a desperate stab at doing something about their marketing problem.

In this situation, you’ve got two choices. You can point out the obvious: Writing this one thing will not change the underlying lack-of-marketing problem. Or you can look at this initial writing offer as an opportunity for the company to begin solving their marketing problem — and for you to get an ongoing series of assignments.

They haven’t done a press release in four years? What an opportunity for a freelance writer.

Propose a plan to write 12 in the next year, or even six, to start getting their name out there again. Charge even $300 apiece for them — I shoot for $500 personally — and that’s a sweet $1,800-$3,600 gig that pays you a bit each month. You get in, you write a little, you slay them with your amazing wordcraft wizardry, and make yourself indispensable.

Then, you might help them see the need to create a media kit, new Web content, new product descriptions, a regular weekly blog post, ghosted guest-blogs on industry sites, a Facebook fan page, a monthly e-newsletter, a white-paper series. Soon, they’ve got enough puzzle pieces to do some real marketing.

When you’re starting out freelancing, every writing assignment may not be a big success for the client, because these first-rung sort of clients are often too dysfunctional. But in the meanwhile, you got paid and got a clip. If you need work bad, you just take what they offer and hope to build the relationship from there.

b. Time for a referral. If you don’t feel qualified to advise on marketing strategy, the best option is to refer the CEO to a marketer from your network. That way she gets needed advice, and the grateful marketing strategist keeps you on the team for writing.

If her idea is “make a YouTube video” but you don’t do that sort of thing, you simply say so. Then, refer them to a digital video specialist, where you’d write the script and they’d execute it. (And then there’d also be someone else to point the finger at if her video doesn’t “go viral.”)

c. No budget: Dealbreaker. You don’t really define how limited of a budget you’re talking about, but it’s possible the game ended here. If she doesn’t have the money to hire a freelance writer to do even an initial small project such as a few press releases, then she can keep dreaming about more sales. Some CEOs are dumb this way. Don’t expend energy trying to convince them of your value. They don’t get it.

However, if her “limited budget” is $10,000, or even $1,500, there’s room in there for some writing fees. I say, do what you can with the resources they got.

d. NDAs…a non-issue. Not sure why the nondisclosure agreement matters. I’ve signed NDAs, reviewed proposals, and then passed. Just don’t tell the world their finances or trade secrets, and you’re good.

Planning a graceful dismount. Finally, you seem like you’re covered in shame because you declined to work for this woman. I think you can hold your head up, as long as you conducted yourself professionally.

When you say you “backed out” — did you promise this woman something? Sign a contract? String her along for months?

If not, then you were referred to a possible writing job you investigated, and then declined. I get referred for weird stuff on a regular basis that I pass on. You’re under no obligation to take every gig you get told about.

Also, you had known the person who referred you for 10 minutes. It’s pretty minor collateral damage there. He doesn’t really look like an idiot. He merely suggested you two might be able to meet each others’ needs. Didn’t turn out that way. No biggie. Happens all the time.

Be sure to send your referrer a thank-you note or email for thinking of you. You can let him know she didn’t really have a budget, or it wasn’t a fit for you. And you’re still looking for writing gigs. Be a pro about it, and they’ll refer you again.

Finally, send the CEO a thank-you for considering you. If you do this artfully enough, they might call you back some day when they’ve got more budget and a better idea what they want to do with marketing.

Have you had writing-client referrals that didn’t pan out? If so, leave us some tips on how you handled the situation.

Breaking news: I learned last night this blog is a finalist in Write to Done’s Top 10 Blogs for Writers contest. Special thanks to all the readers who took the time to go over to WTD and nominate Make a Living Writing! I am blown away by the enthusiasm and support from my readers. They’ll announce winners before Christmas, I’m told.

Photo via stock.xchng user juliaf