writing and research

People in the writing and research business, whether clients or providers, are generally up front and honest. Very occasionally you might get stiffed by a client, as I did recently. These people must have known when they accepted my work that their business was on a nose dive. Instead of letting me down gently and promising payment for work already completed, this company let me continue believing that last month’s invoice had been forgotten and would be paid with this month’s (start of the month).

I don’t usually complain too much, if a client is in trouble and can’t pay me for $20 of work then it is easy to write off against experience. This company seemed like a respectable seo company who needed a copy editor. I’m quite proficient at editing because of my time in academic circles, editing students’ work.

Long story short I undertook almost $400 of work for them and now they say they don’t know when or if they can pay me, and they want all of the work delivered again to remind them of what I had done. Luckily I always keep copies on my hard drive for several months at least, in case something goes wrong. So now I have to locate everything and get it back to them not knowing whether or not I will ever see the $400 I can ill afford to lose.

Lesson Learned

The lesson I have learned is one that I should have learned long ago, don’t work without some sort of upfront payment agreement.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Just a Five Minute Writing Whinge
• When the Freelance Writing Gets Tough
• Write it Right, Right?
• Freelance Writing: Keyword Research and Other Writerly Things
• A Dog’s View of Freelancing

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