How do you know when it’s time to move on from a job or client? Do you stick around when you’re not feeling the love, or do you just plod along, letting your unhappiness show in your work? I don’t generally move on to a new job until I found backup, but there have been some times my unhappiness was so apparent I had to give notice. I always believe in putting 100% effort into a job. If I’m turning in lackluster results because I’m bored or because I’m not digging the vibe, I move on. It’s not fair to the person I work with to turn in shoddy work. What do you do when you’re not feeling the love?
Leads…
- Green Blogger
- Freelance Writers with Bizarre, Imaginative, Sense of Humor
- Celebrity/Pop Culture Writers
- Entertainment Bloggers
- Lifestyle Bloggers
- Love, Dating, Relationship Blogger
- Website Copywriting for Fashion eCommerce Site
- Marketing & Copywriting for New Spa & Beauty Blog & Web Store
- Freelance Science Writers - Rockville MD
- Freelance Tech Writers – Bright Hub
- Marketing & International Trade Writer
- Technical Writing
- Textbook Writer
- Content Writer - $12/article
- TV Writer – Not looking for resumes, usually a sign of a low payer.
- Female Writers for Publication
- Blerp Has Five Writing Positions Open
- Writers for Real Estate Blog
- Writers Wanted for Community Info Articles
- Technical Writer - Norwood MA
- Writers/Columnists Needed - Boston Metro
- Patent Related Articles
- Inland Empire Writing
- Men’s Lifestyle Site Seeks Experts/Enthusiasts/Aspiring Bloggers
- TV Writer Needed
- Many Writers Wanted
- SEO Friendly Content for Ad Copy
- Blogger Wanted
- Food & Shopping Blogger
- Writers for Web Content Project
- Beading Blogger
- Wanted - ProBlogger – Lifestyle & Travel
- Health Nut Writer - San Diego
- Writers Needed – $50/hour
- Social Media/Community Writing Position – Seattle
- Freelance Web Copywriter
- Business Plan Writer
- Writer for Film Fundraising Newsletter
- Finance & Economics Blogger - $15 – $20/post
- Economy Blogger – $20 – $40/post
- Writer for Techie Blog
- Writers w/Marketing Experience – .05/word
- Contract Editor/Writer -WAshington DC
- Creative Writer - Centreville VA
Enjoy your day and good look with the leads!
Follow me on Twitter @debng and for FWJ updates @freelancewj
Click here to search for jobs in your area on SnagAJob.com
Move Beyond Blogging!
Life’s too short, Deb. You gotta move along if you’re not feeling it. Thanks for the early leads!
I would recommend caution with the Writers Needed – $50/hour. I was sent an auto-responder with a “look through these sites and check if links are working…then email back suggestions on how to make it better.” After that, if they like your ideas, then you’re hired. They are looking for someone who can help rewrite the site but I’m a little hesitant about giving them ideas that they will use without crediting the right person.
Anyway, thanks for the leads Deb.
That’s probably a referral system. The person gets money for clicks on the links.
In the past four years, I’ve left two jobs. Both times, the site owner changed terms to a point I wasn’t willing to put the effort into it. The first job was for a company in Spain. I loved that job, but the articles that were 300 words for $10 each turned into 1,000 words for $8 because “the site isn’t making the money we thought it would make.” I couldn’t work for that low a rate.
With the other, they’d promoted me to marketing director and said I’d get a pay raise. For a month, I did the work they asked and still hadn’t seen a raise, the raise I was told was coming. Part of the job involved daily video conferences through a long distance number. I was told they’d reimburse the phone bill. That never happened either. I finally told them I needed the raise and to have my phone bill reimbursed, and they hemmed and hawed so I told them I was moving on.
Yeah, I’m in a social media/viral marketing gig now that’s steady and reliable, but now shifting focus, bringing on new team members and losing direction. I feel shut out and feel it’s only a matter of time before I’m let go. Wanted to arrange backup first, but may go ahead and cut ties now instead of stressing over it. Besides, I’ve been bored and unhappy for a while, and my experience has been if you go ahead and take that step, great opportunities come along shortly thereafter! For me, your post came at a perfect time!
I’ve only had one client I’ve moved on from. They held payment for 6 weeks past my payday, ignoring my e-mails, and then had the gall to tell me “the product isn’t performing as we anticipated; we think it has to do with the quality of the content, so we’re only going to pay you for half of what we owe you until you edit it”.
I pulled out my contract and showed them where they were allowed a two week period of time after my final submission to request a re-write. They pushed the product live in December, AFTER their two week period, and I was still awaiting payment by the middle of February, nearly 2 months after I had sent in my final submission. I threatened with a breach of contract lawsuit. If they didn’t think the content was good enough for their website, they shouldn’t have pushed it live. They should have requested a re-write within the 2 weeks the contract allowed for.
They asked me if I wanted to do another project for them about 3 weeks ago. I politely told them no thanks, too busy…which I am, but even if I wasn’t, I’m not about to deal with them again after they tried to renege on contract terms. On the plus side, I received my full payment within a few hours of my threatening e-mail in which I included a copy of the signed contract showing them where they were in breach. It resolved itself to my benefit, but it soured me on working with them ever again. I just can’t trust a company who tries to withhold payment for work and then try to claim that unrealistic customer expectations warrant half-pay and a re-write outside of the terms of the contract.
In construction I had a woman homeowner who was one of the types who thinks that Internet research = experience. I dealt with her for months. Every time I’d talk to her she had found ANOTHER forum on the Internet where someone said that you should do something this way or that way, and she was constantly questioning my methods. I kept my patience and politely explained to her that I had been doing this for over 15 years, as a third generation contractor, and she didn’t need to worry about it. I asked her “when you go in to see your doctor about a pain in your abdomen, do you trust his opinion or do you go on the Internet and second-guess the professional who spent years perfecting his craft?”.
That shut her up for about 3 weeks, but she went right back to changing selections every four or five days, which made it impossible to plan the job. Then I found out she rented a trailer and was going to be ON SITE every single day that the house was being built from the ground up, and I walked away. There was no way in hell I was going to work on her home with her hovering over my shoulder telling me what tiles needed to go where and how my job needed to be done. I think I would have cracked
Just a heads up one of the ads (# Writer for Techie Blog) is looking for free writing. Since I know that you don’t generally post those, I figured it was an accident. You might not want to waste your time applying for this one.
Do you move on or go back? Well I was fired from my job at a notice to owner firm, anyone in construction would konw about the florida lein laws. My boss said let go, apples to oranges I say. Well that was in july of 07, In Dec of 07 she called me to come back, well I needed the work and it was part time, I know why?????. Well I was fed up with her and I was tired of being sent off to her husbands office for stupid tasks and I quit in june of 08. Know she emails me crazy emails about me telling tales out of work. she has a crazy saying what happens ant sns stays at sns. It is no vagas baby.
Deb (or anyone else) – Is there any way to get around paying the $7 fee at Freelanceswitch?
I have never had to move on from a client, but I have been fired, which was difficult for me because I’m fairly young and have never had a “real” job, so I took it personally. I have moved on, but I know I wasted too much time getting over that and it taught me a good lesson.
I recently walked off a job, burnt that bridge to a crisp. I highly recommend it.
In nearly a decade of freelancing, I’ve said goodbye to only two clients:
1) The blogging client who paid $27 a post — not a bad deal on the surface until I learned that each post required countless nitpicking rounds of back-and-forth;
2) The content provider that required a significant amount of articles for a sum total of $400/month. I stressed out during the first week of training and finally decided it wasn’t worth my time and sweat. The decision was particularly tough because I’d read reviews of this place from my fellow writers — they loved working there, but I just couldn’t hang with all the work and the relatively low pay.
It’s never easy to let go of a client, particularly these days. However, it’s vital to know when enough is enough — for your sake as well as that of the client.
Deb and others, recently I left a client due to ongoing issues, such as interrupted outages, slow/low/no pay for weeks, even months at a time. Then the owner wouldn’t communicate, handing off the business to a lower level employee who had no authority to do anything. They continually ignored questions and concerns, breaking virtually every contract rule. When writers started breaking contract rules, they, however, were quick to trot out the contract, point fingers and withhold pay. Talked out both sides of their mouths.
It’s tough out there, guys and gals. Be careful of who you work for.
Well, when I was a junior in high school I was involved in a co-op program where I worked at a daycare for like a little over four months, and people there treated me pretty much as horribly as you could imagine- one girl who was only 2 years older than me at the time tried to make me feel like a complete idiot, and another even grabbed my arm once to “scold” me when she was also only a few years older than me (i think that’s how i got ringworm on my arm also)!! Needless to say I was as happy as anything when I finally was able to leave that hellhole and say haha I’m done working with all you sorry excuses for adults; you all can kiss my ass!
but that’s my life, though now I realize I have to start looking for a job again that provides me with a steady weekly (or bi-weekly) income instead of something that pays $30-60 a month.
@Brick’s comment (tough out there) – I had one job offer while I was away in Maine last weekend. How often do people turn down an employer because of their site? I try not to be too picky knowing that some people just can’t spell. This guy first told me I’d be writing for a site that did SEO articles for major companies. I clicked on the link and it contained little information other than a form for more information on what this blogging firm was looking for in writers. After asking for more information, they redirected me to the site I’d be writing for. They listed one of their biggest clients, some construction firm. The sites were were so full of grammatical and spelling errors that I wonder just how old the person is. I’m taking a site that had “constructshun” instead of construction. Any company who is paying a Web design firm, would have caught that error and complained on the spot. Plus, every computer I know of has spell-check programs, so there is no reason for a mistake of that nature to go live. While the pay seemed fantastic, it came across as way too good to be true after seeing the actual site.
I ended up explaining that the site was full of grammar and spelling errors and needed serious proofreading. I know companies hate that, but if this company is truly serious, they need a proofreader. They’ve not responded.
Has anyone signed up with Blerp? I have seen several of their ads for the past couple of months and they are always looking to hire for the same categories. I’m thinking it’s a ploy to get people to sign up and use their site, as they require you to write a couple of blerps before applying for the writing position.
@Tiffany – I did a month or so ago and never heard another word after doing their first post, so I’m pretty sure they’re just boosting traffic.
Good advice…It is best to have a job lined up before you move onto something else, but sometimes it cannot be avoided. I think all you can do is you best. If you know it’s time to move on, just be honest with yourself and the organization. It’s good to leave on a high note rather than a low one.