Beware of Bad Clients
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could trust everybody? If this was the case your career as a freelance writer would be much less stressful. But of course, you know that this is not the case and never will be. No matter what industry you work in there are always going to be people who you cannot trust. And as a freelance writer you need to beware of bad clients who are lurking around every corner. I don’t want to sound paranoid, but there are people out there who will take you for all you are worth if you let them.
There are two types of bad clients that you may face as a freelance writer:
1. Those that don’t pay. I have worked with clients who say they will pay, but then receive the content and run. Of course, this does not happen nearly as much now that I ask for at least 50 percent pay upfront. By doing this you will quickly scare away anybody who is thinking about scamming you.
2. Clients that treat you with no respect. What is worse, a client who doesn’t pay or one who treats your poorly? In my book they are about the same, but I will say one thing: clients who are disrespectful can be difficult to get along with. I am lucky that all my current clients are easy going and professional no matter what they are up against. That being said, there have been clients in the past who wanted nothing more than to argue, day in and day out. These people are not worth your time when there are so many high quality clients in need of top notch freelance writers.
This is one topic that has been beaten to death; I am well aware of that. In fact, I have talked about this very subject many times on this blog. But even though every freelance writer knows there are bad clients many of them still fall prey to them. The more you think about this topic the less chance there is that you will get mixed up with the wrong people. Don’t be paranoid, but be smart about which clients you choose to work with.Â
