Freelance Work Online, Keep Your Guard Up.

Freelance Work Online, Keep Your Guard up. Will you be scammed?

Freelance work online is a rapidly growing industry, why? Simply because many people enjoy the flexibility of making their own schedule. The freedom of not having to travel or punch a time clock, for me being able to work in my pajamas and not lose valuable time with my children. If you do freelance online then you understand the importance of trusting each person that employs you, or gives you your next project.

As I am new at this freelance writing thing, I have to warn all, of my personal failures. Everyone likes to think they are smart and can not be taken advantage of, regardless of your walk of life. But if you are doing freelance work you will want to read this, especially if you are new to the industry.

I made the mistake of being trustworthy. I began working for someone that had absolutely no interest in paying me for my service. As a rookie in this fast growing industry I was taken by surprise and knocked on my butt! Don't let this happen to you. Please, learn from my mistakes.

I signed a legal binding contract with a company that stated I would be paid at the close of every month. Well, that wasn't exactly true. I have not been paid for articles that I myself have written. I understand the financial obligations and hardship some people (including myself) go through. Everybody has a sob story, but the company's sob story is not paying my bills. Some may say I got duped because I was stupid and used poor judgment in making a choice to work for this company, I say I am only guilty of being trustworthy. Apparently I was the only one that took this signed contract as a commitment from both of us.

Don't allow yourself to be taken advantage of. Before signing a contract check into the company or person. If you are only doing one article for this particular company for $4.00, well maybe its not necessary for you to look into its history. But by all means, if you have intentions of working with this particular company for any length of time and payments are not going to be immediate CHECK THEM OUT. Make sure you are dealing with a legit company. I am by no means trying to make it harder for the legit companies, just hopefully harder for the ones that are fraudulent from the beginning.

In essence you almost are forced to work on some type of honor system. Why is that? The main reason for freelance work not being paid prior to its completion is because when often times when you are hired to do a project you got the project from a client that received it from one of their clients. You have to submit your work and usually you will get it back and have to do the edits. After the edits it will be submitted to the client for their review. Sometimes you will again have to edit it. So it is actually a long process. You should, however get paid within a week of sending all completed to work to your client (if it is not going to print). If you sign a contract with a company to be paid on a monthly basis, don't count on getting paid at all. If you had a job as a restaurant would you allow them to pay you once a month? Of course not. Use the same caution when doing freelance work. If you are a freelance writer check into the going rate for articles. If you are being offered $2.00 for a 500 word article, someone is taking a large portion of the rate. If indeed you do sign a contract with someone to do freelance work insist on knowing the credentials of the individual or company. Go online and check for complaints to the BBB. If it seems fishy, don't go fishing.

If you do freelance work online here are some helpful tips to keep you from being used and disposed of like a used tissue. One sign could be the multiple changes of an email address, another is no contact phone number, or poor record keeping, or my personal favorite a sob story not related to the business at all! Alright, why is it I can feel completely comfortable in using these as my red flags? Well, lets see. Probably because if you can't contact a person to get your payment odds are they are hiding from you. If in a short period of time the email address has changed a few times, they are most likely hiding from someone. When you call the contact number (if provided) it has been disconnected or better yet not valid at all. In every business the company has to keep immaculate records for tax purposes. Ok, now I find this amusing. Now when you are waiting for payment for your services, the company notifies you that you need to tell them what work you have done and how much they owe you. You on the other hand have all the records you need to get paid. If you work at any other job, your employer knows what work you have done and has record of it. You are not responsible for keeping record of how many hamburgers you sold, or how many floors you swept, that's the employers job.

Even though my initial experience with freelance writing has been an insult to me, I have not given up my love for writing. I am still struggling to get my name out there, but I will use caution in all of my future endeavors. For those of you that have been in my predicament, try not to hold future clients responsible for what previous clients have done. Learn from your mistakes, and don't fall into the same trap again. There are great people that you will come across, some may even be by mistake. Give the good, legit, paying clients a chance. You should be able to build a long and enjoyable professional relationship.