A hair-raising tale of client terrorism
Published: Tue, 05/04/21
But, it’s one of those tales that never gets old, never stops being relevant, and is “evergreen” in its usefulness to those who do any kind of freelancing, coaching, or service type business who don’t want to fall victim to fraud from vile people wanting to take advantage of you.
Here’s what happened:
She was still rather new to copywriting.
And, her business was mainly funded through referrals.
And what happened was, a client came to her who was a friend of a friend, and so she thought she could trust said client. And following are a few of the mistakes that resulted from needing the money at the time, and not being in a financial position to qualify leads:
* The client insisted on only doing business by phone, nothing in writing (emails, etc)
* The client paid Stefania $6,000 in fees — via her Stripe account
* The client continually lied about the project and kept moving the goal posts with due dates and expectations, etc
* The client then used the “you didn’t get the copy to me on time” excuse to do a chargeback
* The client got away with it all “Scot-Free.”
The result:
This client terrorist put Stefania $3k in the red.
Literally $3k overdrawn.
And, to make matters worse, she had bills due, her landlord was banging on her door for the rent, and she didn’t even have money to eat or pay for life’s necessities. Plus, she had nobody to ask for help — and would have (quite literally) been on the street in a matter of days.
Not fun at all.
And, it’s like something out of a freelancer’s nightmares.
Especially if you are low on cash, and really do need the money.
But it was useful in a way.
Like, for example:
She realized never to accept payment for high ticket services via a merchant account. She also stopped thinking like a mere freelancer or coach, and started thinking like a business owner. i.e., Someone who owns, controls, and sells her own offers so she could afford the rent and bills with or without some client’s fee.
Although for context she’s a strategist and not a tactician.
Thus, it’s easier for her than most.
Especially since most writers tend to be tacticians.
(And probably should remain freelancers.)
But if you are a strategist, put some serious thought into running your own operation, being your own client, and not relying on anyone else’s fees — or at least making it so it’s optional and pure “gravy” for you, and not something you need.
Which brings me to my 10-Minute Workday program AWAI sells.
If you hop on the waiting list you’ll get:
“The One Sentence Business Plan”
A short PDF that can help get you started whether you buy the program or not.
Here’s the link:
https://www.EmailPlayers.com/awai
Ben Settle