Deliciously Frightening: When Clients Go Bankrupt
Amendment — The following story is fictionalized and is based on a story idea that I may or may not flesh out in a subsequent novella. I apologize for leading some, perhaps many, to believe that a fellow freelancer was in trouble when that isn’t the case. I should have indicated somewhere in my article what I was up to instead of omitting that essential fact. Again, I am sorry.
I first met Jim, in person, at an automotive show in Detroit in 2008. We initially crossed paths online in 2005 when I began to write for an online car parts company, the type of business that sells their wares through a website exclusively. That particular gig remains one of the most lucrative ones in my seven year freelance writing career, but it eventually came to an end when the company decided to sell out to a competitor.
Jim found me when he left a comment with an article I wrote about repairing power windows. In that article I was very unclear about one of the fix-it steps I shared, so Jim decided to alert me to my mistake. He didn’t put me down nor was he trying to be a know-it-all, but his remark served to underscore something I’ve always hated – getting too technical about something that I wasn’t totally familiar about. I thanked him for his input, amending the article accordingly, while also agreeing to his suggestion that we exchange links to our sites. A friendship was born!
Living It Up In Detroit
I feel like such a heel! I not only referred a friend to a job that has turned out to be a legal disaster, but he's looking at 10-20 years in the federal penitentiary. I suppose I'll be baking him a huge cake with the attendant file inside....
Our meeting in Detroit was fun as neither one of us was under pressure to meet deadlines while we were there. I learned that he favored European luxury while I was partial to American muscle, but we both agreed that the Infiniti G37 coupe was just the right model to bridge our divergent tastes.
Weeks after our get together I forwarded a job lead to him that turned out to be a plum gig, one that I would have considered myself if my plate wasn’t full at the time. That job began in Spring 2008 and turned out to be Jim’s best freelance assignment ever.
Overseeing a staff of six freelancers, Jim took what had been a fairly invisible automotive forum/blog and turned it into an information powerhouse inside of six months. In addition to his base salary, he pulled in commission checks and other bonuses which meant Jim no longer needed to rely on other customers for work – a place where we’d all love to be – but one which proved disastrous.
We missed seeing each other at Detroit this year, as I decided to conserve my cash while Jim was wined and dined by a bevy of auto executives who gathered in the Motor City despite the rapidly changing fortunes of the car industry. Word was out that once Barack Obama ascended to the presidency, Chrysler and General Motors would reap tens of billions of dollars in loan money and aid, a prediction which quickly proved true. And, the thinking at that time was that mostly everyone would survive the challenges of 2009, believing that by Spring 2010 the recession would be long past and consumers would be in a spending mood, partying like it was 1999 all over again.
Things Go Awry Suddenly
My first clue that something was terribly wrong was when I recently visited his company’s site and discovered that Jim’s name was nowhere to be found. Sure, his blog articles were there as were his forum comments, but his last post was in July and his name was no longer among the credits. Just two of his freelancers were listed as “contributors” though it appeared that no one was holding down what had once been a very public and promising editorial role.
I quickly fired off a note to my friend to see what was up, but I didn’t hear back from him for many days. Then out of the blue I received a phone call from Jim, ready to tell me his story.
What I heard was both delicious and frightening – a story of intrigue, lies and betrayal. Regrettably, I’ve been sworn to secrecy, permitted to share a tiny morsel of the events as told to me. I accurately surmised that a legal component was underway, thus the hush-hush nature of our conversation. But, Jim said that I could (and should) warn freelancers of a problem that he believes may worsen over time as that looming difficulty involves the non-payment of funds.
When Companies Go Belly Up
As much as I wanted to know more, I understood that Jim was in a financial pickle, one that might very well ruin him. His story was intriguing, yet scary as I realized that this was someone I knew, plus the unspoken obvious – I was the one who referred him to the job!
What I managed to get from Jim were the following essential points.
As recently as March, his client began to slow down making payments while his once hefty commission checks rapidly disappeared. By April, half of his freelancers were let go and in May the owner of the business was in the news for committing a business transgression. Jim couldn’t tell what it was but I googled the guy’s name and learned that he was under indictment for selling counterfeit automotive parts. Ouch.
Fuel pumps, water pumps, sway bars and intake manifolds were just a few of the fake goodies sold by the perp with a street value in the seven figure range. That explains why Jim has had to retain his own attorney – I assume he wasn’t directly involved, but as someone who was the de facto public face of the company, the D.A. may be taking a very close look at his involvement.
Some Obvious Points
I can only speculate on some of the missing points in our conversation, but what I heard and later discovered on my own brings to light a few things:
- As much as you think that you know your clients, you probably don’t know all that you need to know about them. And, in Jim’s case, all that you probably should know.
- Some jobs are too good to be true. Though I don’t know all of the details about the gig, what initially sounded like a decent short-term assignment, turned into a full-time contract opportunity, one paying him big bucks. I would love to understand how that transition came about and whether Jim thought it odd that he was being rewarded so generously.
- Never burn your bridges. I don’t blame Jim for being too busy to take on other work, especially since the main gig was more than enough for him. Still, I guess I learned my own lesson from a past experience – never rely on just one client, because when that job comes to an end you’ll be in big trouble. In Jim’s case he may have some legal matters to handle as well. Gosh, I hope not.
There are some holes in Jim’s story, which are probably best left unfilled at least until the legal matter has been settled. I did learn that my friend may end up losing thousands of dollars in unpaid freelance work because his client filed for bankruptcy protection this summer. I am supposing that once customers have been reimbursed for fake parts (if ever), then vendors will get their shot at what remains.
Good luck with that, Jim.
Photo Credit: ZoofytheJinx
Tags: clients, customers, freelance, freelance writing, gigs, jobs, work, writing assignments
Marketing | Matthew C. Keegan, 4 Sep 09 | 
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