Issue #45 – Tuesday,
March 5, 2019
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
 (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 |
