Curious What Others Would Do

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blackrose602

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I quit working for a content company today. I know it was the right decision for me, in my particular circumstances, but I'm curious what other content writers might have done.

Background: This is a relatively new company calling itself a "boutique" content place. They pay slightly less, on average, than Demand Studios, where I also work. They also require a 24 hour turnaround on edits. Supposedly the editors also have a 24 hour rule, but I've never yet seen one make it.

There have been management difficulties since the beginning, with the two owners not knowing what each other are doing. But they were friendly and the work was interesting, so I persevered.

Then came the time last week when a revision request came in at 1am on Fri night/Sat morning. Due to an onsite project for another client that ended up lasting more than 12 hours, there was no way I could get the revisions in by 1am Sat night/Sun morning. I apprised the company and did the revisions on Sunday.

That was kind of my wake-up call though. I'm mostly a travel writer for private clients, which requires me to, well, travel. I'm frequently away from my computer for the better part of any given 24-hour period. So I emailed the owners and explained my dilemma, and asked if we could renegotiate to a 48-hour time frame. When they wouldn't budge, I resigned.

I got an angry email in response, telling me that ANY freelancer would gladly check their email at least twice per day during the two or three days following a submission and immediately perform the revisions when they came in. So, I'm curious, fellow freelancers: Would YOU sit at your computer for three days straight waiting for a revision request to come in on a $20 article? If so, how do you make money? I'm constantly busy with different projects, and I can't just sit on hold. Thoughts welcome!
 

frimble3

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Checking your e-mail 'at least twice a day' is one thing, but to expect you to be instantly available at 1AM? Only if they're paying you for full time hours for your constant attendance. Our computer guys are on-call, but they're compensated for being availableb during their off-duty hours.
$20 here and there doesn't seem worth it.
 
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robjvargas

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I'm no employment lawyer, nor all that deep into employment law. That could affect the decisions here.

I would hope that this were addressed up front if you had other clients when your work with this one began.

If you had other clients when you accepted this work, and you didn't discuss that with this group, then I understand their anger.

As far as I'm aware, you're within your legal rights. But if you made promises to them, regardless of your broader situation, and only now are bringing it up, then you've behaved unprofessionally. Nothing egregious. In fact, I'm not sure how much so I'd characterize this. But I *would* say you made promises, and failed to met them. If what I described is accurate.

At the same time, I'm not sure I'd have accepted those conditions for a $20/article gig. That does seem to ask a lot of you.

So, to summarize:
  • They've set unreasonable expectations. Unprofessional
  • you accepted the terms
  • if you had other clients when you accepted this, you had an obligation to account for these demands. If you didn't, that would be unprofessional as well.
That's hard, really hard when you freelance, and not just writing, either. It's the same thing in Information Technology, and why I've opted not to be a consultant.

Your clients tell you what they expect. You have to track all of those expectations and plan accordingly. You have to decide if you can meet those expectations. If you say you can, then you have the obligation to do so, and failing is on you, not them, if you don't.

Sometimes clients will set unreasonable expectations. You have to have the courage to say no.

I've blatantly made a couple of assumptions about how you got to this. So please keep that in mind, because I know what I've said sounds harsh. I don't know everything about this, nor do I claim that I do.
 

roundtable

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A lot of it depends on what exactly the contract states. If there is wording that you have to constantly check emails, then you'd be at fault.

I have one content company that requires 5 articles per week to be completed, including editing, and those editors can be slow, so I do check frequently to see if anything has moved through the queue. But with them, if an article is sent back for revisions, there is no 24 hour deadline.

I only know of one content company that demands writers to check their emails regularly and be available at all hours. I won't work for them. In fact, when I saw their ad stating that writers had to be available without issue in shifts from 7 am to 7pm or 7pm to 7am, I laughed. I have a life, and I have too many private clients who always come first.
 

imjustj

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I think they should be glad that you finished the assignment and then resigned before anything else could be assigned to you.

I do understand why they want a 24 hour turnaround, but I disagree with the claim that "any" freelancer would essentially spend three days on-call for $20.

Beyond everything else, the fact that they sent you an irate e-mail is an indication of problems. Don't worry yourself with an organization that behaves in such an unprofessional manner.
 
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