The Day I Realized I Couldn’t Work for $0.05 per Word Anymore
Hey, that’s me (founder of AWS).
A writer’s story about trying really hard for low-paying clients (and breaking free).
Back when I was a new writer, I knew I would have to take on some lower-paying clients in order to gain experience. I wasn’t too upset by that. That’s how it was when I was fresh out of college, when I started bartending, etc.
In this post, I wanted to share a turning point in my freelance writing career. When I went from slaving away and people pleasing to understanding my worth and asking for it.
How It Began
I was scouring the Upwork platform when I came across a job post for a health writer. They needed someone with experience in the health field and someone with credentials. I was a new Registered Dietitian, so the job seemed like a good fit.
They also said that the work would be very consistent. They needed various blogs and product reviews for their health and fitness brand. Cool.
After talking more with this client, they told me they would need blog posts that were 3000 words in length. They also would give me a list of SEO keywords to stuff in there. At the time, keyword stuffing was how you’d get picked up by search engines.
We Agreed on $0.05 per Word
At the time, I thought that was pretty good. Although, I felt like I had to beg for $0.05 per word. $150 per 3000 word article. And don’t forget about Upwork’s service fee (between 10-20%)!
Anyway, what I really was “thankful” for about this job was that this client would keep sending me work. When I signed on with them, they inundated me with all sorts of rules and regs that the articles needed to follow. They also sent me 6 new articles to write with a pretty fast turnaround.
Turnaround Times Became Shorter
At first, this client would give me about 1 week to submit a new article. That was manageable. I was also trying to find jobs and sign on with other clients.
I’d submit my articles, and then the client would edit – or rather – nitpick the heck out of the articles. Remember: I was the health expert here!
Needless to say, each article would then take a few days to revise and resubmit – which would then eat into the next article’s work time. But I took it all in stride. I had no kids, I was young, I did have time on my hands.
I also figured it was my mistake to not account for revision time when discussing the scope of the project. I chalked it up to a learning experience.
But after several months, this client kept sending new topics at the last minute, and he’d ask for them to be turned in within a few days. The first few articles I submitted without issue. Maybe he was just behind that week.
However, when this became a regular thing, I started to get really frustrated. An “urgent” email would come in at 7PM, and it was him asking for me to write a new article and submit it the next morning.
Side note: I also hated writing these articles. They were borderline clickbait, keyword-stuffed and lacking any real substance.
The Tides Were Shifting
I finally put my foot down and said I couldn’t be expected to drop everything for him and write articles overnight. That’s when he started sending me priority lists for the week. I thought that would help tremendously.
But soon enough, he’d send me a priority list and then email me late at night telling me to switch things around. He’d add in new mega-priority topics and ask that I get them done ASAP.
Being naive, I still continued to work for him. At the time, I was making “pretty good” money from him, even though I was paid only $0.05 per word. The sheer volume of articles was keeping me in this.
The Dreadful Turning Point
It was January 2019. I had been working with this client since late 2017. But this month in particular was terribly difficult for me.
I had just gotten married in December of 2018, but my military husband left right after New Year’s to go overseas for over a year. So, you could imagine a new bride like me to be pretty distraught.
Then, the day I dropped my husband off at the airport, I came home to find out that my mom had been fired from her job. Mind you, she was nurse of the year at this national company for several years in a row, but new management came in and didn’t like how she charted. So they fired her.
A few weeks later, my mom was feeling very sick and weak. She kept resisting going to the hospital until I insisted that she go. So, we drove to the ER.
Wait times at the ER were crazy long, and other people kept getting taken back before my mom. We sat in the waiting room for several hours.
All the while, my phone kept pinging. It was this stupid client. He was begging – even almost demanding – that I get this one article done for him. It was a fresh new article that needed to be put up by tomorrow. It was a damn product review for an elliptical machine. My God.
I Was Done
It was at that moment where I looked at my life and told myself, “I can’t go on like this.”
I couldn’t have some low-paying client demanding that I write some pitifully keyword-stuffed article within hours. This guy was totally not worth it. This job experience was totally not worth it!
I realized that it was time for me to graduate from $0.05 per word, even if I didn’t find new clients right away. The consistent pay of this unfulfilling job was absolutely not worth the stress, urgency and borderline disrespect for my time and effort.
Soon after this, I ended the contract with this client. And it was one of the best decisions I ever made. My mental health and dignity were too important.
Finding Freedom
At the time, I was scared of losing such consistent (low-paying) work, especially because I was worried I’d have to support my single mom – and her 6-acre farm – in the coming months. We started selling everything we could, fearful we’d lose our beloved animals too.
But as soon as I started to demand more respect and money for myself, better clients came knocking.
It’s amazing how your cheapest clients will be the most difficult, stingy and the hardest to work with. And yet, when you get well-paying clients, they don’t bat an eye at your rates. And they’re so easy to work with.
I wanted to share this story with you in case you are stuck in the rat race of low-paying clients who don’t value your time. While I can’t tell you when to leave that situation, I just wanted to give you perspective from the “other side.” The side where you engage in projects you love, with easy clients, and awesome income.
You have to make your own decisions when to ask for better pay. And I understand that many people rely heavily on every cent they make. I also can’t guarantee that high-paying clients will come to you in 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years.
But before you accept another dead-end, low-paying writing job, ask yourself if you can find something even better for yourself. Know your worth.
