Get Paid to Write Articles - What about when it's more stinger than honey?

If you get paid to write articles, at some point you’ll get stung… but you don’t have to stand there and let it happen.

THIS IS ARTICLE 6 OF 10 IN THE “WRITE ABOUT MULCH” CHALLENGE.

Get paid to write articles – how not to get stung

Dispatching the humongo pile of mulch we ordered gave me lots of time for reflection outdoors. My dog Woody helped spark a less than lovely memory. We’ve got these pretty purple flowers you can kind of pop (no idea what they’re called), and he was hanging out in them. Strange, but then again, he’s not your average dog.

All of a sudden as he nosed around in there, he stirred up a cloud of buzzing yellow jackets. Old dog that he is, I was worried he’d just stand there and get stung by these little indestructible assailants and that he’d get really hurt. He hopped out of there fast and was on his merry way with no harm done.

Reminded me of when I was about six or seven and playing in the wilderness of the dead end at the end of an adjoining street – our neighborhood’s wooded adventureland. We were playing hide and seek, and I chose this patch of weeds to hide in… not realizing it was a yellow jacket bunker. When they rallied and started stinging, I had two thoughts:

If I scream, I’ll blow my cover and end up as “It”.
I think you’re not supposed to run or make a fuss if a bee is about to sting you (an important difference between yellow jackets and bees, it turns out).

So, there I stood. Until it got really, really bad – yellow jackets got into my clothes and stung me like there was prize money involved. Another kid’s mom saw this and came running to get me out of there.

(Yes, apparently my dog has more sense than I did at that time!)

This got me thinking about you, as you learn how to get paid to write articles, press releases, blog posts… and anything else you’ll write for clients.

I’d hate for you to get stung. So, can I give some advice?

One of the most common ways you can get stung as a freelancer: You fail to set up and follow a solid payment policy.

I recommend getting payment in advance whenever possible, or at least a hefty deposit on projects – even with ongoing clients. Nobody wants to have to chase their money. By setting your terms in advance, you minimize any potential pain associated with collection. Without exception, the times I’ve failed to collect have resulted from me ignoring the buzzing of my internal business process supervisor yelling, “USE THE SYSTEMS YOU HAVE IN PLACE!!”

Neglect this, and you may find yourself in a hive.

Hey, did you send your “writing about mulch” get paid to write articles contest entry yet? You could be the lucky winner of THIS WWHW gear!