Can you tell when a freelance gig isn’t a good fit?
Susan Johnston’s got some great tips for determining whether you should take a freelance job on her blog, The Urban Muse, in a post called 5 signs that this isn’t the gig for you. My favorite: when an editor sends your story back with tons of questions and requests for additional details – but insists that you stick to the same miniscule word count. Not going to happen.
When your livelihood depends on saying “Yes” to assignments, it’s hard to say “No.” But that’s exactly what Mark Dugas, a freelance documentary film producer and editor, suggests fellow independent contractors do in a post called Learning when to say no on Freelance Switch.
There is a way to say no but still preserve your relationship with editors or publications you write for often, according to Jodee Redmond, who explains how in this post to Freelance Writing Jobs called Learn how to say no to a client the right way. If it’s a question of timing, say so, Redmond recommends. Be sure to scroll through the comments section for suggestions from other freelancers.
Sometimes it pays to say no, like when a freelance job turns out to be a scam. Here’s advice from Kathryn Vercillo, a freelance writer who blogs at Real Words, on the top 10 signs a freelance writing gig might be a scam. No. 1 – when a gig sounds too good to be true it usually is.
[...] Just say no to assignments that aren’t a good fit – If they make you miserable, even well-paid jobs aren’t worth the money. [...]