Freelance Writing: Simple Tips on Complicated Topics
Is It Possible to Be A Good Freelance Writer, While Being a Lousy Person?! PART 2
Hey folks! Missed me? 
I hope that the first part of this article did not offend you personally. You can check it out right here!
This article, as a whole, described exaggerated version of some of the behaviors exhibited by a limited number of freelance writers.
Some of the stories are a generalization of how things may turn out, or how they look from the sidelines, to someone not directly involved in the discussion (with the RWC support team or with the customer).
So, don’t take anything here personally, unless you actually see that some of these behaviors are becoming a part of your life.
Let’s proceed to the next ‘type’ of freelance writer:
The Arrogant Pro
This might actually be the toughest nut to crack! People who are very smart sometimes display a certain arrogance towards others, especially towards co-workers. Think of the fictional medical genius portrayed by Hugh Laurie, in House, but not so extreme. This applies to freelance writers as well. Many of them tend to think that since they have done so many papers, they know, better than the client does, what the client needs.
Unfortunately, nothing seems to change their minds, not even the customer. These writers are very stubborn, and working with them can be a real chore. We don’t argue with the fact that sometimes, perhaps even often, they are actually right. But with time, this number of occasions, when the writer is actually right, starts to decline, especially if the first such conflict situation was resolved in his/her favor.
A writer should always remember that he/she must represent the best interest of the customer. It’s not about the writer, or his/her self-esteem. Instead, it is all about delivering the best product. Furthermore, over time, some of these writers begin to feel that they don’t even need to explain their decisions and choices. They begin to accept their own opinion as correct, indeed, as unshakable truths.
That is when things go wrong. Consider this thought-provoking quote from Charles F. Kettering, the man who founded Delco, and served as a head engineer at General Motors for more than 20 years: “Knowing is not understanding. There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.”
The same goes for experienced freelance writers, with lots of orders and research under their belt over the course of their careers. Knowledge does not guarantee you the universal expertise and insight to interpret matters around you. Nor does knowledge give you the prerogative to regard your opinions as worthier that your clients’.
Therefore, our advice to professional writers who experience repeated conflicts with the support team and the customers is to rethink your point of view, always take a critical view of your own work and assumptions. Otherwise, you may fall into the habit of disrespecting others, and lose their respect.
This advice also holds true for your free time and your interactions with people outside of work. Are you righteously arrogant towards others? Are you sure that there can even be such a thing as ‘righteous arrogance’? Arrogance leads to rudeness, thus make it harder to communicate with anyone in your life.
The Arrogant Rookie
Things can even get worse with these people. Why? Because if you are behaving arrogantly towards clients, without possessing any actual experience, then you were probably arrogant before becoming a freelance writer. Thus, by default, these folks are harder to deal with constructively.
There are not many ways to cool these folks to simmer down, if they get fired up. It’s a good thing that we do not have many writers like this in the company. The ones we do have, however, are highly visible, because of the kind of messages they send to the support team. A lot of them don’t stick with the project for very long, either.
The Beggar
Sometimes we feel sorry for these people. Most of the time, however, they are just irritating. You know the type, like the fellow who accosts you at a stoplight, tries to wipe your windshield with a filthy rag, and then asks you for a tip.
Why is this irritating? These folks, unfortunately, represent the bad side of freelancing. They lack the basic professional skills of a freelance writer, and thus continually have to request additional help with communication, with deadlines, and so forth. Needless to say, these folks don’t stick around with RWC for too long, either. As soon as they are identified as a threat to our reputation, such people leave our company.
If you are a freelance writer, and start to notice that you are often requesting more and more help from the support team and from the customer – most importantly – extensions, then you need to reconsider your techniques and work practices. You have to remember that customers don’t owe you anything more than the order details, files, and links that were negotiated or promised initially.
This is why the customer should not be bothered with your latenesses and other problems, such as Internet disruptions. Again, as noted earlier, such things can occur, but it’s up to you to adjust, be resourceful, and ‘roll with the punches’. This is not because no one cares. The staff at RWC is always compassionate about your problems. However you will not progress in your freelancing career if you can’t ways to handle changing and challenging conditions.
That’s it! I think I’ve exhausted my thoughts on this topic for now! Later on, I will doubtless have more to share with you. I hope that you find the article interesting, and, if you are a professional writer with the right attitude, you might actually find it funny
Cheers! Have a great day!
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