When do you take the low-paying job?

TB4me2000 · Nov 11, 2013

Throwing this out to all of you for your thoughts...

At what point do you throw aside the ethics of writing for what your worth and taking the low-paying job? About 2/3 of me is saying take the damn job, and the other 1/3 is saying well, wait just a second.

The situation: I am an online editor at a national magazine. My boss is laying me off...but wants me to do quite a bit of my soon-to-be former duties on an hourly freelance basis. The rate is about half of what I'd like to be paid, half of what I'd ask a new client for.

The upside: I don't have any other clients at the moment and this is pretty much guaranteed steady work. The hours will probably work out to 20-ish/week.

The downside: The rate is looow. It's $2.50 more than what I made editing a start-up site in college, and even then, that rate was low. It's also about what I make hourly, gross, on salary.

Moving forward, I do intend to freelance full-time. Keeping myself fed and watered is not an immediate issue.

What would you do?

Debbie V · Nov 11, 2013

Have you tried to negotiate?

This sounds like one of those situations where the company knows it needs you but can't figure out how to justify paying you. Now you are getting less money, and they also aren't paying the overhead for you. No benefits. I'm assuming you had them before. So they save your salary and benefits.

I can't give any advice because you have personal relationships with the boss, etc. that could be factors. I wonder how much they'll recommend you to others and whether any other side benefits for you could come into play.

Just more stuff to consider.

roundtable · Nov 11, 2013

Years ago, I was offered a position that was lower than my normal rate, but it was steady work. They didn't have the budget to go higher, so I accepted. Once they'd finished building their site and it was bringing in regular revenue, they doubled what they were paying me, putting me at my usual rate. They had steady work for three years, so it paid off. By the time they'd run out of work, they'd referred me to two other website owners, so I still have regular clients from that first job.

cornflake · Nov 11, 2013

TB4me2000 said:
Throwing this out to all of you for your thoughts...

At what point do you throw aside the ethics of writing for what your worth and taking the low-paying job? About 2/3 of me is saying take the damn job, and the other 1/3 is saying well, wait just a second.

The situation: I am an online editor at a national magazine. My boss is laying me off...but wants me to do quite a bit of my soon-to-be former duties on an hourly freelance basis. The rate is about half of what I'd like to be paid, half of what I'd ask a new client for.

The upside: I don't have any other clients at the moment and this is pretty much guaranteed steady work. The hours will probably work out to 20-ish/week.

The downside: The rate is looow. It's $2.50 more than what I made editing a start-up site in college, and even then, that rate was low. It's also about what I make hourly, gross, on salary.

Moving forward, I do intend to freelance full-time. Keeping myself fed and watered is not an immediate issue.

What would you do?

This, to me, if I understand your situation correctly, seems a sticking point that sort of changes the dynamics.

This isn't someone coming in out of the blue and trying to undercut the rate you quoted them; this is your current employer asking you to keep working part time, basically at the same rate of pay you have been.

I get it's going to be freelance now - but will the work substantially change? Will your payment structure change? Like will this put you as a contractor? If that's the case, I think it's fair to ask them to make up that difference. If not, I think this isn't exactly like taking a cut on your freelance rate, it's just doing half your job for half the pay, as I understand it.

TheHungryFreelancer · Nov 11, 2013

How hungry are you?

When my husband first quit his job, my freelance gigs were very low-paying. I also knew that I'd take work that didn't pay much because it was steady work. After a few months, I got some better gigs that paid more and still provided regular work. There's no shame in taking a low-paying gig if you need the money and it's steady work and guaranteed income.

frimble3 · Nov 11, 2013

Another thing to consider is the hours: 20ish hours a week, you figure. Be careful that it doesn't creep up to so many hours that you don't have time to freelance. It would be great for your employers: get you to work full-time, without the expense of benefits, etc, but not so good for you, if your intent is to freelance at other, better paying, jobs.

Deleted member 42 · Nov 11, 2013

See if you can negotiate for perks/benefits/bonus

Will they contribute to a medical savings fund?

Send you to a conference or trade show?

But yeah, I'd probably take it. You can have some regular income while you build a client list.

Old Hack · Nov 11, 2013

When I'm really busy I get very picky about the jobs I accept.

When I'm not so busy, I find I'm not so picky.

When I have no work on at all, I will take almost anything I'm offered, so long as I don't think the rates are exploitative or the work is unethical.

I am so fond of eating.

GhostyGirl · Nov 12, 2013

I agree with most of the advice above. There are so many variables: what your other options are, how desperate you are for money, whether you need to build up your portfolio, etc.

Because you're looking at taking a job that's only part time, you may be able to supplement with other gigs, so that's a bonus. And there's nothing saying you can't quit after 6 months or a year if you're finding loads of other, higher-paying jobs (plus, like roundtable above, you can always ask for more later down the road).

I take lower paying jobs for several reasons (keep in mind all my 'jobs' have been contract work, not part or full-time jobs):

1. When I was starting, I took whatever I could get to build my portfolio.
2. Even now, I take lower paying jobs when I feel they'll expand my skill set or look good on my resume
3. When things are slow, I'll take low-paying gigs to make ends meet.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Ghosty Girl

TB4me2000 · Nov 13, 2013

Drive by-ing my thanks! Will pop back in later for in depth replies, but major thanks for all the fantastic advice and items to consider.

rbmanley · Feb 6, 2014

Use low paying jobs to your advantage

What I will accept goes up and down with my schedule and I will also do something cheap if it

doesn't take much time,
pushes me in a new direction and
has the potential to be fun.

When I started freelancing on the Internet about five years ago, I did some (not all that much) low paying work to build an online portfolio. I talk about that here in these two posts:

http://raymanley.com/testing-new-block-type/
http://raymanley.com/how-to-use-yahoo-to-find-an-audience-for-your-writing/

That's my two cents.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 6, 2014

Negotiate, if possible, but if you need money coming in, then you need money coming in. The one thing I'd make certain of is that this job doesn't consume so much time you can't find something better.

When do you take the low-paying job?

TB4me2000

scribbling in the deep south

Debbie V

Mentoring Myself and Others

roundtable

cornflake

practical experience, FTW

TheHungryFreelancer

frimble3

Heckuva good sport

Deleted member 42

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

GhostyGirl

TB4me2000

scribbling in the deep south

rbmanley

Jamesaritchie