Planning to Collaborate? Think This One Through!

Not every collaborative project goes smoothly.

As a freelancer, you have many options for the types of projects you can take on.

You can write quick 400 to 500 word articles in a single topic range, getting paid fast but not all that much. Or, you can take on a meatier project whereby you update or build a client’s web pages or blog. If you’re really fortunate, you may land a high paying gig with a print magazine or corporation, one that will do a better job of covering your bills while also raising your visibility.

My Way

That previous paragraph describes what I do, not necessarily by choice but by expediency. I have discovered a balancing point in my work life, though I must say if I could shift my work slightly to land more major gigs, then I would cut back on my quickie articles for clients. Still, these same clients have been with me for some time and there is one thing I don’t get much of from them: hassles.

Speaking of hassles, are you planning to collaborate in the near future with one or more freelancers on a major project? In just over seven years of working freelance, I’ve only taken on one project where I teamed up with others to get the work done. In that case my main counterpart was a website designer who was much more experienced than I was in project collaboration, something that soon became evident as the project unfolded.

The Collaboration

Yes, I have a story to tell about that experience one that I hope helps you think things through before doing likewise.

The Client – I was contacted by the client, a business aviation firm, to provide 8 to 10 pages of content for their new website. I had worked indirectly with this company’s project coordinator at another business, so I knew her quite well. “Lillian” was someone I trusted and I knew that no matter how the job went, that she would have my back.

The Collaborator – The web designer was new to me, but her staff consisted of several professionals and they had a long list of completed client websites to show for it. I felt honored to work with “Joyce” directly and was glad that she had a sense of humor.

The Job – With eight to ten pages of work needed to be done, I decided to charge $200 per page for my fee. That may sound high to some people, but I knew that whatever I wrote would need to go through several rewrites before upper management signed off on the project. Three of those pages were personnel biographies which meant that I would be spending an extraordinary amounts of time on those pages alone. Unlike the web designer I didn’t ask for money up front (lesson learned). Instead, I accepted and received full payment some six weeks later (never again).

The Process – There were four main parties involved in this particular collaboration: the web designer, a project coordinator, management team, and yours truly. Sometimes the work went very fast, while other times it went slow. A lot depended on the availability of senior managers who were often on the road or in meetings. Sometimes when we thought something had been completed, a late rewrite request was made. Or, the web designer was getting itchy as she wanted to put the project to bed and move on to other work.

The Conflict – I soon discovered how worried Joyce was about getting paid. It turns out that wouldn’t even begin the work until she received one-third of her fee up front. Then, in the middle of the project, she slowed things down again as she waited for the second of three installments. And here I was “satisfied” with not getting paid anything until the project was done. At one point Joyce stopped her work for about a week until she received payment. Fortunately, my work went to the project coordinator who then sent the final copy off to the web designer. Still, the few times I talked with Joyce her worrying about payment began to get under my skin. Never mind that I wasn’t too thrilled about her choice of web design—the client liked it; that is all that mattered.

The Lesson – Once the work was completed, I was happy it was over. No, it wasn’t a painful process but it did reveal to me a few things including getting paid in installments and estimating my costs accordingly. My final bill was $1600, but I believe I could have charged $2000, perhaps more. Joyce and I didn’t battle personally and Lillian and I remained friends, so the project worked out.

Freelance Gigs

But if either of the parties had caused a problem for me I would probably have decided that collaborating just isn’t worth it. Turns out that I haven’t had a serious (well paying) project of that nature to consider since, but I have found some decent gigs where it was just me and the client working together.

How about you? Do you prefer to collaborate on projects or are you happier taking on gigs where its just you working with the client?

What Zig Ziglar Can Teach You About Using Quotes

“People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.” – Zig Ziglar

A handful of my Twitter contacts are a pleasure to follow. I am not saying that I do not value each of my Twitter connections, but there are some who make reading their tweets fun.

What are my favorite tweets? That’s easy: those which offer helpful quotes from famous folks including inspiring sayings from Zig Ziglar, a motivational speaker whom I admire.

Ziglar hails from a humble background, the tenth of twelve children in a family whose father died as a result of a stroke when he was just six years old. Ziglar later served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, meeting his wife, Jeane, in 1944 and marrying her two years later. The happy couple, now in their 80s, recently celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary.

But the most important thing about Ziglar is that he is a godly man—someone who walks the talk and uses his life to motivate others.

That fact hasn’t been lost on @treypennington, @Angel4Tweet, @HeatherO, and others who frequently share tidbits of Zig inspiration or retweet the same. When I see these tweets and other inspirational quotes attributed to Mother Teresa, Benjamin Disraeli, Rudyard Kipling, and others, I like to stop what I’m doing, reflect on what is being said, and see how I might apply these nuggets of wisdom to my life.

And that is exactly what you can do when you are writing a strategy article, selling a product, telling your story, and more.

Every article offers readers a hook, something that the writer offers in order to motivate the reader to take action. That action can include making a sale, winning a new subscriber, making a new connection, and more.

You want people to read your entire article or blog post instead of wandering away, but that is only possible if what you write is interesting, engaging, relevant, and enjoyable.

That means as you write, you may want to consider including a quote which can be tied in with your writing. This can be especially effectual if the person you are referencing is well known with the authority to back up your point even if they lived hundreds of years ago.

Wisdom is not constrained by time, so dig for quotes from some of history’s most famous individuals – even William Shakespeare can help you sell your e-book if the quote is relevant to your pitch.

Allow me to illustrate — if you are helping a client sell her time management services the following quote from William Penn, can resonate with your readers: Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.

By quoting Penn, readers are offered a reminder that many of us can and should manage our time better. That quote, which identifies a problem, should be followed immediately by a solution – in this case your time management services. Your reader knows that time management is an issue for them, so ride in as a white knight and offer them your solution.

Writing winning copy isn’t easy and sometimes we bomb in our delivery. But as Ziglar said, “if you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.” That, my friends, is a good enough reason why giving up should never be an option!

Photo Credit: Ivan Petrov