Do you ever feel like people don’t respect your time, or that you’ve been duped into providing a client consult under the guise of a social visit? I know I do! Let me give you an example.

Last week I went over to a friend’s house for beers and chit chat. My friend works for a local nonprofit that is looking for ways to raise visibility about the agency. Since I’m a writer, my friend asked me how I typically find writing gigs, and how much I typically get paid for work. I told her about some freelancing job boards, and told that in general, good gigs pay about 10 cents a word. Everything depends on the publication, and the length of the article. I got the feeling that she was trying to assess if I would pitch some articles about the nonprofit to different publications, with the hopes that the newspaper or magazine would pick up the tab. And while I support my friend’s effort to employ every medium to pinch a penny, I also know that I need to protect my own bottom line as a freelancer.

What can we learn from this case study? [Read more…]