Hold Your Horses, Cowboy!
A client I had done lots of work for before practically begged me to take on a daily blogging gig (written in batches) for a blog not fully fleshed out in concept yet (I’d have to do the concept too, in other words) for a borderline insulting rate. Forget my hourly rate — it was offensive to the industry. Although not at the silly Elance jobs penny-an-article levels that only the “hey, I know the alphabet!” offshore set would take on — it basically dissed writers, it was that low.
But the occasional softy that I am for folks I like, I did a day of soul searching and eventually talked myself into doing it just for these guys if I could get a few other non-cash benefits thrown into the deal (links, highly visible credit throughout their product line, etc. etc.).
ME: OK, I’ll do it. When do you want the first batch?
THEM: Whoa! Hold your horses cowboy! Write and send over a few posts first to see if we like the concepts for a go-ahead.
ME: …
Eldon Sarte
http://eldonsarte.com