#45 How Not to Get Shafted

Issue #45 – Tuesday, March 5, 2019

http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2019/03/45-how-not-to-get-shafted.html

Posted by Denny Hatch

How Not to Get Shafted!

Compiled by Barbara Harrison Nobody likes getting stiffed. But if the economy slips into recession, freelancers will be hearing more and more requests like, "Will you work on spec?" or "Will you do it for a percentage?" Should you go for it? Or should you take a walk? Virtually all successful freelancers have what Ernest Hemingway called a "shock-proof, built-in shit detector." Based on past experience, here's what has activated the detectors of some of America's top freelance practitioners. On the Initial Contact "Those one-line letters asking me to 'please send information on my direct marketing services' usually means they're out looking for writers with a vacuum cleaner."   —Dom Cerulli "If the letterhead is hand-typed and lacks 'Inc.', you're probably just dealing with an individual. And if you call up the client and get a general answering service, you're dealing with the modern version of a P.O. Box." —Dennis S. LeBarron "I get lots of letters asking me to send samples and a price list. They promise to send back the samples (although sometimes it's hard tracking them down). I don't think I've ever gotten a job that way. The referral has to come from a mutual acquaintance."   —Gil Gabriel "I don't like to send out samples. I'd rather meet the prospective client, show them my work in person and talk face-to-face. After all, there are people out there who rip off other people's ideas, and some who represent the work of others as their own. It's rare, but it happens."  —Rosalie Sacks Levine "When a questionable new client says that he's not like the others, that he's different and he's honest, warning lights should go on." —Dennis S. LeBarron "When the client says that he usually writes the copy himself, but doesn't have time for this job, I say uh-oh!"   —Rosalie Sacks Levine "Beware of clients who confess that they've never been fully satisfied with any creative work ever done for them."  —Barbara Harrison "When prospective clients ask me to 'read our materials and give us an idea what direction to go.' I tell them that's what I get paid to do—that I'm a professional, and my ideas are my stock in trade."   —Rosalie Sacks Levine "The only time I've ever been shafted was on a job for a friend of a friend with a local business. It was a lead-generating mailing and she didn't get the traffic pouring through her door that she expected. So she decided not to pay me the last couple of thousand dollars. The moral: Don't do work for friends unless you get the money up front."    —Karen Hochman "I always ask where the prospective client got my name. I want to be sure it's from a trustworthy source."     —Ken Scheck "Stay away from amateurs. If they're not an organization that knows direct mail, you're in trouble right away. If they don't know what you're talking about after the second conversation, there's no way they'll understand the direct mail package when you send it in."   —Paul Goldberg "A guy once called me up and said, 'I have something so secret I can't even tell you about it. I have to come show it to you.' It turned out to be a voodoo kit. I didn't take the job, and he didn't put a hex on me (at least that I can tell)."   —Gil Gabriel "Keep your eyes on the trade press so that you know which companies are in trouble. You may still want to work for them, but you'll know to get at least half up front."   —Harry Walsh On the Negotiating Process "I marvel at cold calls from people who want me to ‘share the risk'—work on percentage and be partners with someone I don't even know, just because they pulled my name out of a directory."   —Linda Kolker "I've learned to be careful around the hustler who says, 'If you're so good at what you do, I'll give you a commission instead of a flat fee.' If the client offers you a commission, clearly he has very little capital. And who's going to keep the records? Who picks the lists? The copywriter has no control over a dozen elements that could affect the outcome."   —Don Hauptman "Listen to your instincts when a client wants you to do something on spec and names two other top freelancers who are already working for him on spec. I fell for this only once."  —Dennis S. LeBarron "If I'm working for someone I know by reputation or referral from a trusted source, or because I've worked for him before, I bill on completion of the assignment. If someone I've never heard of raises his hand, I want at least half the money up front."   —John Francis Tighe "When they ask for the 'volume discount,' as though they're giving me ten packages to do, watch out."  —Pat Farley "If the client tells you that if you'll do the job for 1/3 less now, there will be plenty more work later on, take this only if you are very hungry." —Joan Throckmorton "Sometimes you hear about freelancers who have been hired to do a job and have turned away other work as a result, only to have the client cancel, leaving them high and dry. For that reason I have added a line to my letter of agreement that says, 'Should the project be aborted or postponed, the advance may be forfeited.' That makes them realize that there's a commitment being made when they hire me."   —Don Hauptman "I get a reservation fee of $2,500, applicable to the job, to hold a slot in my schedule. Once it's in my bank account, it's never coming out." —John Francis Tighe "Be careful with start-ups—especially new ventures from a former sports figure with $10 million and cheap polyester suits. This well-known figure hired me to write a package for an invention of his, and all I got was two autographed copies of his book."   —Harry Walsh "Be very suspicious when a client asks for 'just concepts and roughs.' They want the most valuable part—your best thinking and the benefit of your expertise—at a bargain price."   —Barbara Harrison "I won't work on just concepts. That's 95% of the value. If I give them concepts, then anyone can write it."  —John Francis Tighe "Beware of brain-pickers. They ask a lot of questions but don't deliver any work. You can end up doing in-depth consultations as freebies to freeloaders who don't have the best of intentions."   —Jerry Gaylord "If they want to pick my brain, I have a fee for that. And I tell them I'll need a check when I leave."  —Joan Throckmorton "Beware of lots of nit-picking in the negotiation stage or of anyone who hesitates over signing a work order. "   —Pat Farley "A flashing red light goes off in my head if I'm told that 10 or 15 people have to review my copy. When a whole herd of eyeballs goes over it, the package is sometimes endangered."  —Ken Scheck "Always ask how long the approval process will take, because that will tell you how many people are going to be involved. And if the client changes copywriters and designers every two months, beware."   —Jerry Gaylord "When you talk budget and they say, ‘Look, money's not important; we don't have any problem with money,' it means they're broke." —Joan Throckmorton "When they say, 'Would you like to build something in for revisions,' or 'What is your hourly rate for revisions?' take them very, very seriously in your pricing."    —Dick Jordan "I have a client who always took me out to a nice lunch. The last time I saw them, they sent out for sandwiches. Maybe that's a sign."   —Len Berkowe On Work in Progress "Use email! After a meeting, sum up what was discussed (including prices and due dates) and email it to the client. Some freelancers are uncomfortable with the business end, but even if you email a short note, it spells out what they—and you—have agreed to. You might also negotiate a 'kill fee.' If a client doesn't want to go further, at least you haven't done the work for nothing."  —Jerry Gaylord "If they won't take the time right in the beginning to fill out my questionnaire, that's a warning sign."   —Don Hauptman "I was stiffed once by a client (although I didn't realize it at the time) who planned to pay me out of what they took in by direct mail. To help them save money on models, I even posed for the pictures in their brochures. That should have been a warning right there!"   —Dom Ceruili "I knew I was in trouble when the client mentioned all the expense he was incurring by installing new computers in his office. He made it clear he was spreading himself thin. He ended up killing the project and wouldn't pay the balance of the fee. All I got was the advance."   —Linda Kolker "Watch out when the client doesn't have an idea where he wants to go. They'll throw a lot of material at me and give no direction, expecting me to do the marketing for them."  —Len Berkowe "Be wary of clients who keep rejecting what you do by saying, 'You're close,' or 'You're almost there.' At the same time, watch out for clients who react too fast—without changes you’re your outline or proposal; they may not be paying enough attention and they'll make changes later."   —Pat Farley "About 12 years ago, the editor wanted me to present my copy to him personally. But when I got there, I there he “couldn't see me.” An assistant offered to take my copy and said he'd call me later. I remember thinking, “Don't hand this over to them. There's something not right about this.” I ended up getting stiffed. I suspect they ran out of money while I was working on it and just let me keep working."   —Ken Scheck "I only deal with the big guys. And I have really good lawyers." —Martin Davidson "I once had a client with loads of gold chains around his neck. He was very slippery, and I made sure to get 50% up front. Every hair on my body was standing on end, expecting payment to be a problem, and it was. The moral? Gold chains dripping off their necks is usually a bad sign—unless you can get them as collateral!    —Richard Armstrong "I once had a client balk at paying for revised lay-outs and copy—after making substantial changes in the format and the offer. 'It wasn't as if type had been set,' the client insisted. Instead, he dismissed the copy and design done so far as 'just ideas.’ ”  —John Clark Lefton "I once did a small job for a fellow who was the middleman, and he had to be paid by his client before he could pay me. He promised to pay me the $3,500—and had the best of intentions—but he died."   —Richard Jordan "Freelancers who get screwed should tell each other about it. Clients think we're a secretive bunch in competition with each other, but we have to let them know that we do talk."   —Todd Weintz "Hank Burnett told me a story that went something like this: He had tried everything he could think of to get a client to pay him without success. Finally Hank said: 'Well, I guess I'll just have to send your name along to the freelancers' blacklist.' The guy paid up like a shot." —John Francis Tighe "If you can't extract payment any other way, here's an idea. I had a client who owed me $16,000. The secretary accidentally gave me his home phone number, so I called him every morning at 5:30 a.m. until he paid." —Paul Goldberg “I was once hired by the marketing director of a publishing company for whom I had written two long-term controls that continued to bring in orders. The project: the launch of a magazine not yet fully formed in the publisher’s mind. I agreed to write and design a direct mail package. When I turned it in, he said, “We’ve made a number of changes in the magazine, and I want you to incorporate them.” I did what he said, delivered the work, and was told they decided not to publish. Sorry for the inconvenience. I said: “Remind your boss that he is currently mailing two control packages written and designed by me. I never signed a work-for-hire-agreement with you people, so I own all rights to everything I have ever written and designed for you. Tell your boss if you do not pay me for the work done (and pay my artist for her design) I will withdraw your rights to mail the two control packages. They paid right away." —Denny Hatch "You own everything you write and design from the moment it leaves your head and is committed to paper or a digital file. The two exceptions: you don't own it if you are on salary and are writing/designing for your employer or if you signed a 'Work Made for Hire' agreement." —Denny Hatch Some Final Thoughts "We don't call it 'freelance.' We tell our clients we're 'fee-lance.’ ” —Bob Singer "Trust your instincts."   —Richard Armstrong "An old Chinese philosopher once said, 'If you fool me once, shame on you. If you fool me twice, shame on me.’ ”   —John Francis Tighe "If all else fails, hopefully you’re married to someone with a real job." —Dennis S. LeBarron --###-- Word count: 2,267  From Barbara Harrison (recently retired) to DH “Somewhere I have a bio but at the moment I cannot put my hands on it. It said something about my 40+ years writing powerful, profitable direct mail packages for publishers of books, magazines, consumer newsletters (including many successful launches) as well as major mailers of continuities and collectibles from coins to jewelry. My specialty is grabbing the reader’s attention quickly and making him realize he’s always wanted/needed/been curious to learn more about whatever it is my client is selling. I have been very fortunate to work with the smartest, best mailers and many of the leaders in our industry, and — following the advice compiled in this article — I have never been stiffed. Not once. —BH