Trift Bridge, Switzerland I had a potential employer the other day that just about drove me batty.
He was from the U.A.E., a country I actually get a lot of work from, both content and eBooks.
Anyways, I could tell this was a ‘foreigner’ right away because of their English ability and their pushiness. It’s most likely someone that has money as well, because they’re cheap.
They had a job to clean up some existing text, add about 30 more pages, and then on top of all that, get it onto both Amazon and print format.
That’s a lot of work, and they were asking for up to $750 for all that. So I put that, and then they said that about half that would be more in-line with their budget. Oh, and there would be no payment until the final product was delivered…because I might go back on my word.
So that project went nowhere, for two reasons:
So how do you build trust online?
He was from the U.A.E., a country I actually get a lot of work from, both content and eBooks.
Anyways, I could tell this was a ‘foreigner’ right away because of their English ability and their pushiness. It’s most likely someone that has money as well, because they’re cheap.
They had a job to clean up some existing text, add about 30 more pages, and then on top of all that, get it onto both Amazon and print format.
That’s a lot of work, and they were asking for up to $750 for all that. So I put that, and then they said that about half that would be more in-line with their budget. Oh, and there would be no payment until the final product was delivered…because I might go back on my word.
So that project went nowhere, for two reasons:
- First, the person doesn’t want to pay for quality, but they want quality. There’s just no way that’s going to come to a good end for anyone involved.
- Second, it’s clear the person doesn’t trust anyone, and that’s one of the most important things I need when I’m working for someone I’ve never met…and quite a few of those I have.
So how do you build trust online?
- I figured I had it pretty good on Freelancer, the site I get most of my work from, because I have more than 200 reviews there, about 80% of them 5-star.
- I figure I have some trust with my Amazon books because many of them have good reviews. Those that don’t, well, they just don’t sell as well.
- And I figure I’ve got some trust built-up on my website because I have a regular content schedule and I also have all those social sharing things around, like Twitter and Facebook and Google+
| You can look at those numbers and see a lot of people like what I do, check it out regularly, and even buy it. If that isn’t trust or pretty close to it, then what is? I get frustrated when I run into employers that know nothing about the market they want to enter or the sites and services they’re using to try to do that. If you can’t do your homework, why should I do mine? I often feel like I need to get a new job, one that doesn’t have me doing stupid stuff for random people. It’s just that I haven’t found many companies looking for quality and results. I sure don’t see any in Missoula, Montana. | |
Maybe I’m just not looking, at all or even hard enough.
Deep thoughts today as I press on as a writer.
Deep thoughts today as I press on as a writer.
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