Along with affiliate marketing and blogging I do some freelance article writing. In fact, this little side business took on a life of its own from referrals.
I got an email from someone asking for pricing and samples. Fine, I sent back a price quote and some article samples. They said they were happy and ready to get started. 4 months passed before I heard from them again. I told them my price had gone up a little because I was so busy and limited on time. Article writing isn’t one of my main focuses. I have a few people I like working with but I have been taking on less and less projects because I have other things I am working on that are my focus.
After going back and forth I tell them I will honor my original pricing. This particular client wanted (10) 300 word articles a day - 50 per week. Ok, fine. Then I get an email today that says will bumping up the word count to 400 affect my pricing. Frustrated at this point, yes, it will affect my pricing.
I am going to politely say that I am busy and won’t be able to take on more work. Which if I was to be honest, I really don’t have the time. Aside from the fact that I am not too thrilled about working with someone so picky and difficult (trust me when I say this is the very abbreviated version).
Honestly, I don’t anticipate doing freelance article writing that much in 2007. This is one of many clients I have dealt with that want articles, but they don’t want to pay for them. Most people are on a budget and thats all good (I know I am) but its not fair when they expect quality and quantity but they aren’t willing to pay for it.
End of [/Rant]
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Geesh ~ how can people so darn pickity? I know you write great articles and you’re worth way more than that ;)
Thanks Retta ;)
On one hand it’s nice that people know you’re good at what you do. What I don’t like, is when they try to take advantage of the fact that you’re good at what you do. Some clients expect you to bend over backwards… and then some. It turns out to be such a pain, I had that problem when I did web design – many clients want WAY more then they’re suppose to get.
I’m glad that you don’t have to depend on it and you’ve got plenty of other things to do! :)
Thanks for understanding Empress! It makes me feel a lot better. I thought I was being nice honoring my original pricing and that still wasn’t enough!
I too am glad I don’t have to depend on it!
Chrissie,
Been there, done that. Sometimes people forget they are paying for a service, essentially, someone’s time and they try to take advantage.
Usually, when I offer a quote, I do it formally with a bullet point for everything that the quote includes and state prominently that the quoted price is only available for x number of days. This helps to get rid of the tire kickers.
Glad to hear you won’t need to deal with it much more in 2007 though. :)
~ Teli
Good advice Teli, to be honest I didn’t say it was for X amount of days but if I do any in the future I will be sure to include a time frame.