Don't Work For PIE!
Monday November 10, 2008
Veteran readers of this site will know who Michelle Goodman is: the author of the Anti 9-5, and the brand new My So-Called Freelance Life (a review of which is coming to this space soon!), not to mention a freelancing inspiration.
In today's NYT small business section, Goodman explains why you should never work for pie...er, PIE. Check it out.
Comments
I love to write but when it comes to my ‘zine, I hire freelancers with a small payment, writing credit and of course, they own the rights to their work. I encourage new writers because I was once there.
There are a couple of online companies I would recommend anyone stay away from as far as content writing goes. Someone else’s opinion may differ but when you’re just getting started, you have to be careful when submitting work.
She’s right P.I.E. is B.S.
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This article is some of the best advise I’ve read yet!
The only exceptions would be key lime pie…..from Key West or that heavenly double chocolate Lady Godiva cheesecake pie…..but make sure you get genuine whipped cream. Cool wipe is nice but nothing beats real.
Great advice she shares. This is helpful for aspiring or novice freelance writers…don’t ever diminish your worth. And keep your rates at an acceptable level; one where you aren’t devaluing yourself/expertise.
Thanks for the link Allena. And Michael - I’m with you on working for Key Lime!!!
Has anyone had experience writing for Guru.com? I’m thinking of subscribing to their service, but it’s quite costly and I don’t know if I’ll be able to make the money back. I’d appreciate some feedback on this website, pros and cons, if possible. Thanks so much!
Good question Debbie, sorry I cannot answerbut also have another question…
anybody have any experience on about.com (besides Allena that is)
Debbie, I use the basic version of Guru. I did get a good writing job a couple of years ago. In my experience, you can’t rely on it exclusively, but you can find good jobs if you do the research.
Niki
I wasn’t too fond of Guru — never felt good there — but Elance has rocked my world. You can get started for free (and stay that way if you choose) and they have a minimum bid of $50, which means that you are a lot less likely to be hit by that peanut truck. I bid high and still get about 50% of my jobs through them, earning from $15-$50 an hour. I’m doing more freelancing and less bidding these days, but wow, what a springboard!
Thanks for the link to a good article. I have donated work to very good causes, but I don’t think I would like to do work on spec, you do all the work and most likely get nothing for it.
I have written a few articles as a guest writer on about, and it was a good experience.
Goodman is savvy about professionalism among freelancers and I appreciated the opportunity to read it.
Re bid sites: Appalled by the sweatshop “pay” offered by some of the advertisers, I decided to forego the sites and spend my time cultivating people I know and have worked with in the past. Like Ms. Goodman, I think that strategy will produce better results.
I was glad to read that at least some of your readers have had a good experience with bid sites.
Pat