I had a company contact me today about writing. They had a LOT of work for me.
- A 4000-7,000 word website (likely 15-25 pages) to be edited/rewritten
- A 14,000 word booklet to be edited/rewritten
- A 2,000 word proposal to be written.
- “Many” press releases to be written (guessing 5-10)
They need most of it done “by April” (ummm, it’s March 14th… you think maybe you’d have started contacting writers earlier?)
I suspected from the grammar of the e-mail that it would be a hefty editing/rewriting job (“are” instead of “our”, no question marks when asked a question, etc. Now I’m not saying this in a negative way – I totally understand that English isn’t everyone’s first language – I’m just pointing out that it’s likely going to be a hefty rewrite.)
Anyway, that’s a big project. Easy two, maybe even three weeks work. This isn’t something I can bang out in a day.
So I give them my price. Turns out I’m really out of their range.
Know why?
Their budget for that entire project was $200.
Two. Hundred. Dollars. For everything.
I almost don’t know what else to say. I’m stunned that a company actually thinks I (or any writer… or anyone for that matter) should work a few weeks for $200. Just mind-blowing. Plus, their reply was a bit curt (here’s a hint: when you call what I do “just” writing, it annoys me. If you can’t afford my services, just say “your price is over our budget” and leave it at that, ok? I totally understand.)
I do admit, most people who can’t afford me do just that – they are nice about it. But sometimes, the ones who are obviously extremely under-funded (i.e.: flat-broke) can be a bit rude when discussing price. I don’t know why, but many of the “I have $10, what can you do for me?” people just are.
One more time: If you can’t afford someone’s price, that’s fine. It’s just part of business, in fact. But be nice about it.
And maybe, just maybe, that rudeness is why you have no money, either. Ever think of that?
In addition, did they offer to put a link to your website and talk about all the work that link will generate for you in the future?
(Sometimes I get an offer of payment that’s a link to my website. Nothing more.)
Wow. $200. It strikes me as odd that they think they can get that for such little money from anyone. I find it hillarious and sad when people want someone to work for free with the promise of… more work with the people who can’t pay anything!
I know as well as anyone that every business starts somewhere and some start with nothing to spend, but it’s better to wait until you’ve managed to get together a real budget to take on a project like this.