Archives for January 2010

There’s a good chance that my older sister will leave the country to work in the Middle East, I’m very bummed about that. I just can’t imagine being separated from her, we have been doing almost all things together  ever since we were kids. Haaay. I know it’s for the greater good but I’m really against her plans. But then again, it’s her decision and I have no intention of changing her mind.

This kinda dampen the plans I have for the rest of the year. Most of them includes her.

Since being let go by the old boss, I have been entertaining online interviews from prospective clients. One is a Yankee and the other is English. While I find offline interviews nerve-wracking, it is not the case when it is conducted via instant messengers.

In fact, I’m quite amused by them.

The English guy was expecting someone to do articles, link-building and other technical stuff at more than half the price I used to earn. Good lawrd, my part-time job pays more than what he was offering. I wonder if there’s any writer who will actually agree to that kind of set-up. As for the Yankee, well the interview went great, on my end anyway. I knew that the price and my HK situation will be a problem. He was fine with the latter but I can tell he was taken aback by my asking fee. If I had been desperate enough, like maybe during the early years of my career, I would’ve gone with his fee but at this point, I refuse to take a step back. Especially since I’m way better at what I do now than I did three years ago. I know what you are thinking but on the contrary, I did not ask more than what I used to earn. I just opted with the old fee and put it under non-negotiable.

We also discussed about quota and that is always a sensitive issue for me, even more than the fees. As much as I hate to make a bad impression during an initial interview, I told him point blank that there is no way I’m going to be talked into doing ten articles in a single day. By principle, I refuse to do that at any price. Like I said, I’ve been in this business long enough to know what I can and what I can’t do. I can do ten but that means I will have to resort to eating crackers and pee in a cup and that is not cool. Not cool at all. So might as well nip it at the bud. I think he got the message.

As entertaining as these interviews were, I do not like the fact that, in general, clients are looking for writers who are willing to work overtime at bargain prices. It’s kinda frustrating. I know most of them are just doing it just to see if you will take the bait but  they need to stop thinking they could hire a whole freakin’ team for the price of one. I just don’t roll that way. This reminds of the time raket guy made the mistake of asking me do a webmaster’s job. Tsk.

I wonder if I will ever find someone as great as my previous boss? Tsk. Why does he have to quit his business? It would’ve done great had he not pressured himself too much.

The boss finally dropped the bomb I’ve been expecting since December, he is letting me go. The thing was, he was honest enough to admit way back in November that he was having financial difficulty, the reason why he let all my team mates go. It only made me wonder why it took him this long to let me go. While I had it coming, I’m still digesting the fact that I am technically jobless yet again. It just bums me out that the timing was rather bad, I’m supposed to be out of the country on February. I’m thinking if it’s a good idea to find a new gig now or just wait it out until my vacation is over.

Tsk.

But it could be worse I’m just glad it’s over and done with because the suspense was making me crazy!