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Monday, March 2, 2009

Freelance work

Well I have learned a really good lesson over the past couple weeks. I've done freelance work before for colleagues and have never had an issue with payment - I do the work, tell them my fee, and I get a check within a week. I've never needed a contract with them - verbal agreements were always fine. But, now I realize that having a contract on DAY ONE is super important! I've got the tell the story.

I answered an ad on Craigslist for a blog writer and met with the prospective employer after going back and forth through email (submitted resume, got a response, was asked to complete a "blog writing task," wrote it up in about 2 hours of my own time, got a response to meet). So I went to her office and we chatted for three hours - I thought it was an interview, but it turned out to be more of a brainstorming session for what she wanted done. I even showed her some tips for Microsoft Outlook. So, there I was on an "interview" doing work!

So I started working... She first drafted an article for me to just do some clean up and post on her blog. Well the article needed more than just simple clean up. I'm not saying it was poorly written, but it definitely came directly from the Associated Press article! Thank goodness I looked up the original article to check a name or I never would have known it and I would have posted it online. Well my integrity demanded that I edit it so that it wasn't plagiarized... And that was just the first blog.

The next blog she sent over was a very long article and when I first read it, it was all over the place. When I read it again, I realized that there were three distinct themes running through the article, so I separated it into three articles and edited them. She wanted one of the articles posted for a contest - one of the rules required that the articles submitted not be self-promoting, so I removed most of the "I" statements and made it a general informational article. She sent it back to me rewritten, saying that I removed "critical information." I don't know what she was referring to because all she put back in were the "I" statements! And her article received only one comment, so I think that says it all...

And the final blog was something she sent over from another article she received. She read the original and then rewrote each paragraph, so the article would have been just a paraphrased version of the original. Again, my integrity would not allow me to post it that way. I edited it to develop some of the information (some was very vague and needed explanation). I also edited it to be sure that nothing was copied directly from the original. I know I did a damn good job. And she received a comment that said it was a great blog!

Well at the end of it all, because I didn't have a contract up front, this woman has "decided" that she is not going to pay me because she doesn't agree with my charges. She apparently only wanted me to do a light copyedit of her blog posts and then post them as is. Even though her name is on the blog and not mine, I still couldn't allow her to plagiarize. I sent her my invoice and she took 8 days to replay back about my poor work that took too long to do. She may know real estate but I know writing and editing. How dare she tell me how to do my profession! And then to question my bill. Does she allow her clients to decide how much commission they're going to pay? Does she decide how much of her electric bill she'll pay each month? Give me a break.

Well, in all of this, I have learned a valuable lesson about doing freelance work - GET A CONTRACT!!! OK end of rant...