Are You a Pain in the Butt Freelancer
November 27, 2007 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing
Do you turn in good work but drive your clients crazy? Plenty of great writers spoil good, recurring gigs because they’re pains in the butt. How can you tell if you’re a pain in the butt freelancer? Check this list to find out.
“It’s the first of the month and I didn’t get paid yet”. Sound familiar? When I worked as editor at a popular Internet portal, many writers would start panicking if they didn’t have funds deposited in their Paypal accounts on the first of the month. Soon the emails would start. Threads would appear on message boards. “It’s the 1st, has anyone been paid yet?” The interesting thing about that gig was that payment was promised for the first week of the month, not the first day. I still know of a few writers who send an email to their editors if they don’t have a payment in their hot little hands by 3:00 on the agreed upon day. Certainly you deserve to be paid in a timely manner, but your contacting your client every time you believe a payment to be five minutes late is annoying.
You argue too much. I dislike micromanaging editors as much as the next guy, but most editors are fair and have valid points. If you argue every change or suggestion, they’re not going to look forward to working with you and may even pick a writer who isn’t as good, all for her ability to be a team player.
You’re a drama king..or queen. Your aunt died, your cable is out, there was a fire in your kitchen. There are always good reasons for your not meeting your deadlines. After a while these little inconveniences begin to sound like a whole bunch of excuses.
You have an ego the size of
In my experience, most writers are easy to work with and take direction well. There are a few who feel that that with the title “writer” comes a sense of entitlement. Stop being a pain in the butt freelancer and watch your client list grow.
You’ve brought up some really good points here. I had thought about difficult clients many times, but I had not given much consideration to the other side of the coin. Thank you for pointing these things out.
I agree with Jodee. This calls for little introspection on my part, because ‘pain in the butt’ is not one of the skills I list on my resume. I certainly don’t want to labeled as such either. Now, I must say that I generally inquire about a tardy payment if I’ve not received it within 5-7 days of the promised pay date. This seems reasonable to me. In the rare cases where this need has arisen, the client was either catching up on some things after an unexpected period of being without Internet access or they just completely forgot.
Good points, Deb.
@Paul – I think 5 to 7 days past payment is certainly reasonable. I usually give it a week. Especially on a weekend. When I was a GE, some people used to send me emails for payment on Saturday or Sunday. I’d be like, come on. guys. Can’t you give us the weekend?
Deb,
Email or IM me. Got some ad dollars for you.
Thanks.
Ha, I never really thought it about that way; but yes; many people, including freelancers can be “pains in the butt”.
I can’t write a better comment because I am feeling sick, my kitty just chewed my wires and my kids stole my computer time. Oh, did I forget something? You want to critique me now; especially since I am one of your top performers? And when am I getting paid? It is now 12:05am on the 28th and you promised the 28th for payment. Why don’t I have it? LOL Does that cover them all?
Great article!
Paul,
I’d suggest one way to approach it is to call to see if it was indeed “in the mail,” particularly if you’ve had a bad mail service. But I would typically wait til day 10.
Another point is that some firms will cut checks on certain days (15th, end of month, etc.). It doesn’t matter if your invoice says 30 days if you send it in on the 30th and it doesn’t make it in that month’s batch. So learn what payment policies are and try to get invoices in ahead of time — particularly if the client requires a hard copy invoice. Figure that takes 3-5 days (at least).
On the point of arguing with editors … to do so is stupid, unless they make changes that make an article wrong. Unfortunately, some editors make changes just to make changes, but PR is part of continuing to get work. If you don’t keep up good relationships with editors — who, in many of my accounts, are the ones who do the freelance hiring — you’ll lose a lot of work.
As part of the same point, one should realize that a second set of eyes is almost always helpful — along the lines of a doctor not treating himself or a lawyer not defending himself.
One last point — missing deadlines is all but unforgivable, unless sources are unavailable. Your at will always die, you will always be sick, your computer will always give out — on deadline. Murphy’s Law is the 12th commandment, right after “though shalt not miss deadlines” (Moses dropped that tablet.
If one ever thinks deadlines are tough, try spending 13 years at daily newspapers or worse yet, working for a wire service.
@Laura – I hope you feel better soon.
@Phil – As always the voice of reason. When I worked in publishing, I saw freelancers come and go. It was the ones who always were available to meet with us, delivered on or before the promised day and worked with us without arguing petty points that lasted the longest – and were paid the highest wages.
On the other hand, I work for a company that is always “forgetting” to pay. I’ve been told that many times – “sorry, but we forgot we were supposed to pay you so we’ll square up next week.” So call me a pain in the butt, but when payments are due I will send an email just to firm up that they received my week’s work and that nothing’s gone missing. I find that usually prompts them into remembering to submit payment. After all, I have bills to pay too and I can guarantee that if I’m late making a payment on something like my electricity bill or a credit card, they don’t accept the excuse of “my boss hasn’t paid me yet.”
@Ann – that makes a lot of sense. Of course if an employer is always “forgetting” to pay you should contact him. How inconsiderate!
Ann,
I’ll go you one better. Had a client that finally paid after a lot of hemming and hawing, then got a notice from the bank that the check bounced. I get charged, too. That’s going to be my first call once we hit business hours.
@Deb: You do know that was supposed to be a HA,HA comment right? LOL I was just “writing” an example of how people seem to act when it comes to these issues. As many others; I have seen it and heard it. My children like to pull some of these on me; they learn early..haha.
@Phil: That totally SUCKS! Good luck!
Phil,
It is actually easier to collect on a bounced check than on simple non-payment, because by writing the check, the publisher has acknowledged the debt. If you are in the US and they wrote you a check that bounced and they won’t make it good, you can go to your local police department and file a writing bad checks charge against them, because bouncing checks is a violation of the criminal code.
I had this happen once, and after many tries to reach the publisher, I did this. At the time I lived in a small town, and the cop wanted to avoid paperwork, so he simply called the publisher and told him what would happen if I didn’t get my money plus the bounced check fee within 5 business days. A good check showed up 3 days later.
Larger police departments will probably be less eager to deal with a small matter like this, but just knowing that bouncing a check and not making it good is a criminal activity gives you threat leverage. I suspect that the publisher I dealt with had no idea he could be prosecuted.
Don’t wait. If they are bouncing checks, they are probably on their way to bankruptcy. Get your money before you have to get in line with other creditors. Normally I am tolerant of slow payments, but bounced checks are a different matter. Make enough noise so that it is easier for them to pay you and get you off their back than to not pay.
Tish,
Thanks much for the advice. I know about “on their way to bankruptcy” and have advised others about this before. I also have a brother who’s a lawyer.
I called the client today, who expressed suprise (banks do make mistakes) and promised to make good on it plus the $10 fee my bank charged me for depositing an NSF check. They want more work from me in Jan., so I’m figuring they’ll make good.
I’ve had non-payments before (very small percentage), but in 16 years, this is the first time anyone bounced a check to my business.
Thanks Tish, Great advice.
I hope people are still reading this thread because i do have a question.
while I recognize that you can’t always be “sick,” what is the best way to deal with your clients when you are? I recently had a painful (both emotionally and physically) miscarriage, and I had to take some time off to deal with it. It only took about a week that I had to take off, but I had to. what I did was I got the work that I HAD to get done done, but with my clients that I have a good working relationship with, I explained the situation and asked for a slight extension on my deadlines. What is the best way to deal with this, when it is something where you do not have a choice.
I currently have a bad sinus infection, but am working through that. Every little cold is not an excuse, but there are those times when something really is wrong. How do you handle them? At an office job, you could take vacation or sick time . . .
My sympathies on your miscarriage. I am sure it was a draining experience.
I think any time you have a death in the family, hospitalization, major medical problem or, as in your case a miscarriage, I think the only thing you can do is to keep the client in the loop, be honest about what has happened, and give them as much information as you can about when you will again be available. You might also tell them you understand if they need to reassign the work to meet their deadline. This kind of catastrophe happens rarely, but sooner or later it happens to everyone, both client and freelancer. I’ve found that most clients are very understanding of uncontrollable personal disasters. I think the important thing is to keep them informed and not just drop off the face of the earth and leave them hanging and wondering where you went.
Nicole,
My condolences as well. There are times one just cannont work. I was sicker than a dog Monday, finished two deadline articles, and spent the rest of the day in bed. Puts me behind the rest of the week.
Luckily, I don’t get sick often. However, my Dad’s death 7 years ago prevented me from doing more than the minimum for some time before I got over it.
That being said, as Tish says, there are those unavoidable instances. Good clients will understand if you explain it as you did. But if you’re like the kid in school who had four-five grandmothers die (OK, with divorces and remarriages it is possible, but how likely) that’s coming up with lots of excuses, then that’s an issue.
Thanks for the advice. That’s kind of what I did and what I thought. I did lose one job as a part of it, an editing job, but it didn’t pay worth anything. I chose not to inform the client because I didn’t think it important as I had no deadlines, and as a result of my lack of work for a couple of weeks, they took me off of the editing crew, but all in all I think my clients were very understanding.
Tish,
Thanks again for the advice. I think the client was embarrased. They not only reissued the check that day, but paid not only the original bill, the NSF charge I received, but also an additonal $10. No, it’s not much extra and it doesn’t really cover the extra time I had to spend on taking care of the matter, but it was certainly a good faith gesture.