A Way for Freelance Writers to Report Deadbeat Clients

During the course of my freelance writing career, I've come across several deadbeat clients - those who never paid at all, those who did not pay the agreed upon amount, those who paid later than promised, and of course those who requested sample articles and then stole them for their own use. I've never had any real way of collecting what was owed to me.

Today, that has changed to some degree.

At Beacon Reader, there is a section entitled Please Pay Me, where you can report clients who have failed to pay you as agreed. You can post the clients name or company name (Media Outlet), your name (optional), a description of the work you were hired to do, the total that is owed to you, and the number of days the client is late paying you.

This of course does not guarantee that you will get paid, but it may give your deadbeat client more incentive to pay up. Warn the client that you will be reporting him, along with a link to the site. Let him know that you will be reporting him there in 48 hours if you have not received your payment. If you do not receive the payment within the allotted time, fill out a report, and let the client know that you have done so.

Wait a day or so, and if payment has not been received, let the whole world know about it. Link to your report at "Please Pay Me" on your Facebook, your blog, the forums that you participate in, and on the discussion lists you are a member of.

If your client has any business sense, and wants to protect his reputation, he or she will take paying you what is owed more seriously.

You Want a Writing Sample?

I've got your writing sample right here. It's right here, where you cannot use it as your own work. It's already published, and it probably does not contain your keywords.

I'm not trying to be sarcastic, and this isn't really a sample that I use for clients.  I'm trying to help other freelance writers avoid potential scams. As I've stated many times before, I've been in this online content game for a lot of years, and I've figured it all out.

I can understand a potential clients need to see a sample of your writing before he or she hires you or accepts your bid. However, I will never write and submit a writing sample to a client, based on their keywords, unless it is something that I've already published. That is the only way that I have to protect myself and my work from scams where the 'buyer' really isn't interested in buying anything at all.

On sites where there is a good record kept of my work history and ratings, like vWorker or iWriter, I don't need to provide any writing sample what-so-ever. Those buyers can easily just look at my work history. If they still ask for a writing sample, I become suspicious, and I direct them here for samples of my writing. If that isn't enough of a sample for them, I no longer want their job.

If you are asked for a writing sample, direct the potential client to work that is already published by you - with your name on it. Do not direct them to work you have done for other clients - especially if you did ghostwriting for that client. Do not send them work that you have done for another client either. That is unethical, and I avoid potential clients who specifically ask to see work that I've done for past clients.

If you are sitting there reading this right now, and thinking ''I don't have any published samples,'' then you should immediately stop reading, set up a free blog, a squidoo lens, or a hubpage, and start writing. These can - and do - serve as writing samples for potential clients!

Difficult Clients

Most of the time, as a content writer, I get clients who are absolute dreams to work with. There is the rare occasion, however, when one comes along who is quite difficult. Nothing makes them happy, or their expectations are very unreasonable - or even worse, they want far too much for the money they are paying. I especially get a kick out of the ones that come off really nice and friendly, you do the work, and then they try to get far more for their buck by asking so very nicely for extras before they will release your payment. Those are actually the really hard ones to deal with simply because they are so nice.

What I've learned over the years is to hide my soft heart. I've also learned not to form friendships with clients. When you become friends with a client, even if that friendship is completely online, you will find that they are constantly expecting you to do them special favors: i.e. work that they do not want to pay for. I've learned to keep it all on a professional level, and not to allow it to go to any form of a personal level. 

In the past, when I was younger, and I came across a rude client - and there are plenty of them out there - I was quick to let them know that I can also be rude. There are those that really do not know how to conduct a professional relationship in a situation where they are the 'boss' and it simply goes to their head. They get a mindset that I am their employee, instead of someone who has just contracted to do a specific job for them for a very short time period of time. 

What I had to learn is that no matter how ill mannered those people are, you really don't know who their contacts are, or what they may say about you to their contacts. This can hurt you in the long run. So, I've learned to keep my personal feelings and remarks to myself with those types of clients, to finish the job to the best of my ability, and then not to take any further work from them - usually stating that I just have too much work on my plate, effectively ending the relationship on a good note - where they cannot honestly say anything bad about me to others, and I am no longer subjected to their lack of manners or professionalism. 

What these clients have yet to learn is that even though they were the 'boss,' and to their way of thinking I cannot possibly be successful without them, and I'm really just a nobody ghostwriter, is that I also have tons of contacts. I am a ghostwriter, after all. They have no clue who I am ghost writing for. For every client that I have, the chances are good that I am either currently doing work for one or two people that they know - or more, or have done work in the past with those contacts of theirs, or will be doing work in the future for those contacts. The chances are even good that I know exactly what those contacts think of them personally and professionally. 

I am often asked whether I know so and so, or if I have done work for so and so. Of course, as a ghost writer, I cannot always answer those types of questions. But if a client has not honored their agreement with me, or made my life especially difficult, I can say things that will make those who ask such questions stop and think about whether they want to get into business with that difficult client, without giving any 'work related' information away :)

In the end, when it comes to dealing with a difficult client, simply stick to your guns and give the client exactly what they have requested, as they have requested it, as long as that work was included in the price. Be as nice as possible, do not take anything personally, get through the job, and move on with a smile on your face with the knowledge that what goes around, comes around. The client may currently think that you have no worth or importance in their world, and that you are just a 'nobody,' but in the end, they usually figure out that they were quite wrong on both accounts when they have trouble getting other good writers to work with them, or have more difficulty getting other people to joint venture with them on any of their projects.