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THREAD: A few months ago, three publications owed me a total of $5000. Everyone was late to paying me. I tried to hold them all accountable. Here's the story of what happened.
medium.com/@wudanyan/i-wa…
medium.com/@wudanyan/i-wa…
The real take home message here is that freelancing is difficult when others don’t respect us as small businesses. It comes from both sides: if freelancers don’t think of themselves as a business, they can’t expect others to treat them as such.
But even when we try and handle matters professionally, clients don’t take us seriously.
Ultimately, it comes down to the inherent yet ironic power dynamics at play: Outlets depend on freelancers for content and story ideas but can’t seem to actually value our work and treat us professionally.
It’s exhausting to have to stand up for ourselves, but sometimes it can be worth it.
I decided to self-publish this piece because I wanted the story out there without a publication’s scrutiny, and to avoid the irony of possibly getting paid late again for a story. I’d appreciate it if you gave it a read & a share.
