http://work-at-home-top-10.com/freelance.html

Thanks!

Kudos for your response to Michael’s letter. Well said.

Someone once said “a freelancer is someone who is paid per hour, per piece, or perhaps.” You never know if a client is a “perhaps” sort. Some of my best clients have been very slow about paying… in fact, ALL of them have. Definitely a hardball moment. I deserve to be paid, and ON TIME. No, I won’t stand for less. Right now, I’m in danger of my cable being turned off because a client is weeks late with a $5K payment, accounting for most of my income last month. You can bet I’m playing hardball.

I’ve had clients who promised the moon, but when the contract came–after the work had been done–the contract was an appalling WMFH nightmare. There, you play hardball, as hard as you can, knowing that not only will you never work for the client again, you never want to. Been there, done that, preserved my rights, thanks.

As far as being on the obsequious side when you query or apply, I don’t see that as a strength at all. Yes, be polite, but show that you respect not only them, you respect yourself. Don’t shilly shally about your capabilities or your clips. And don’t be of the opinion that you have to beg (or near beg) for work. You don’t. If you write well, there is plenty of work for everyone. You keep sending out queries, it’s not necessary to be anything more than professional and cordial. If you don’t write that well, your time is better spent honing your craft than sucking up to editors. And mind you, “following directions” is not included in “sucking up.” You’re expected to be able to follow directions… and expected to know when you can get away with cheating, AND expected to know when you should call the editor for guidance.

Anyway, I don’t think you’re a corporate shill, Deb. People see what they expect/want to see (check the NYT for a recent article on the same). I don’t do everything the same way as you do, but that’s years of experience talking. And we all have different experience. By and large, I find that your advice is great for newbies and good for mid-career people. What would I like to see? Well, I’d like to see information for mid-career people on how to take their careers to the next level.

Also, the DP Forums do allow clients to leave negative feedback for freelancers, if that’s what Brena meant by the blackballing comment.