Thread: Respect

It seems that a lot of freelance clients don't respect the writer. My favorite is when people try and tell me, step by step, how to do my job. Have you ever had this happen?

Well, this even happens to designers. Some clients think they are the masters of designing.

Well, I am not a freelancer but I always treat my writer as a friend. I don't tell them how to do their job, I always give complete freedom.
And if I don't like something I just request a change politely.

Once I had someone who was paying $.0.005 per word and he was advising me on grammar etc.

I had mentioned I am not fluent in English in the thread and he agreed, lol.

Originally Posted by Akky

Once I had someone who was paying $.0.005 per word and he was advising me on grammar etc.

I had mentioned I am not fluent in English in the thread and he agreed, lol.

That's an insanely low rate. I wouldn't go to fractions of a cent when pricing. Even if it is side income.

Originally Posted by Sneakyheathen

That's an insanely low rate. I wouldn't go to fractions of a cent when pricing. Even if it is side income.

Yes maybe you are right.

But when you charge less you get many clients.

And also that was during my holidays.

Originally Posted by Akky

Yes maybe you are right.

But when you charge less you get many clients.

And also that was during my holidays.

Still, even doing that math you have to write over 1,000 words to make a few dollars, and many clients only want about 250-600 words written. Even with regular work, you're ripping yourself off and making people think they're getting "bargain bin" quality as well. Raise your prices and clients will respect you more. At least to $0.01 a word, huh?

I would never work for someone who is rude and has no respect.

Ah, the unglamorous side of client relations! Of course, it's quite reasonable for a professional to react violently to a client who's paying for expertise but is taking over the show. It feels like an outright insult most of the time.

But from my experience (I've been in an ad agency and in teams for research, Web and other design projects), I've seen that while our emotional reaction may be valid, the client's directive is even more valid most of the time. They're the ones paying for the goods, not you. They're the ones who are going to use the site or the content that you'll produce, not you. They have accountability for results, not you. So, we're the instruments who the clients are using for their own ends. That's not a bad thing. Whether freelance or big agency, that's the reason why they call it a service.

The problem, I think, arises mostly when the professional (again, freelance or otherwise) takes the client's directives either personally or as an imposition of a standard that's not really good. It isn't that at all. First, if you take business personally too often, you won't last long in business. Better get funding for artistic work and do an art-for-art's-sake thing. Second, clients generally aren't interested in setting standards for their service providers--not with typography, layout, writing style, etc. They're just concerned about the work you do for them. I think we're going to be a lot more comfortable with our work if we accept this fact.

Originally Posted by jarjarjar

Ah, the unglamorous side of client relations! Of course, it's quite reasonable for a professional to react violently to a client who's paying for expertise but is taking over the show. It feels like an outright insult most of the time.

But from my experience (I've been in an ad agency and in teams for research, Web and other design projects), I've seen that while our emotional reaction may be valid, the client's directive is even more valid most of the time. They're the ones paying for the goods, not you. They're the ones who are going to use the site or the content that you'll produce, not you. They have accountability for results, not you. So, we're the instruments who the clients are using for their own ends. That's not a bad thing. Whether freelance or big agency, that's the reason why they call it a service.

The problem, I think, arises mostly when the professional (again, freelance or otherwise) takes the client's directives either personally or as an imposition of a standard that's not really good. It isn't that at all. First, if you take business personally too often, you won't last long in business. Better get funding for artistic work and do an art-for-art's-sake thing. Second, clients generally aren't interested in setting standards for their service providers--not with typography, layout, writing style, etc. They're just concerned about the work you do for them. I think we're going to be a lot more comfortable with our work if we accept this fact.

You make an excellent point, but there are, in fact some clients who just do not respect freelancers. While most of the time you may be taking client feedback too personally, there are a few instances where, well, the client is in fact just being rude.

For example, I've had a client tell me "I don't know if this is the kind of quality corey freeman can produce." I am corey freeman. I know what kind of quality I can produce. Encouragement is one thing, patronization is another.