I recently had the good fortune of working with a client who demonstrated the most impressive attitude and professionalism in regard to payment. I was so struck by his approach and attitude that I decided to share the experience, as I believe it will awaken a lot of individuals.
The events unfolded when the said client read an article written by me in one of the more popular international e-zines on the web. He liked what I had to say, checked out my web site and testimonials and then wrote requesting help with a bio for his web site. From what I gathered he had enough information about me to trust my expertise.
As always, I responded promptly, providing the details of the writing procedure along with what I would need and what it would cost. What happened next surprised me. I no sooner sent him my quote for the initial project, (the e-mail was barely out of my send box), when only a few seconds later, payment was already submitted to my account.
Thinking that he was just eager to get things started, I began the process of writing for him and had the first project ready within two days. He was very pleased with the end result and requested my expertise on another project. I again sent him my quote and told him I would begin that afternoon. Once more, as soon as I sent him my quote, and I mean within seconds of my submitting it, he sent me payment.
This time I had to comment, so I wrote him to thank him kindly for his quick response in regard to his compensation turnaround. I told him that I really appreciated his attitude about payment and was quite impressed and surprised at his prompt response. What he wrote me back will stay with me forever.
He wrote to say and I quote: "It is my philosophy not to put anyone under any undo stress about money so that their attention will be only on the project at hand." He further stated, "I want you to be free to express your creativity without having any worry about when you would be receiving payment."
I was speechless. I had never heard anyone put it in such a lovely manner and I was truly impressed by this very professional gentleman. His attitude definitely reflected on my work as I felt the best of myself come pouring out. More than likely he himself has had many experiences where people were hesitant to pay or paid out of obligation, which taught him an important lesson.
I want to emphasize that I always give the best of myself to those I write for, but when someone is eager to pay and appreciates the time and effort put forth, it does something to your attitude and expands upon your desire to give more than your best. I would have bent over backwards to support his efforts as I so appreciated his attitude. I think if more people paid out of appreciation for the services provided and less out of obligation, we'd have a whole lot more happy people in the business world.
So to Paul Gjenvick, of www.SEOArchivist.com I want to say thank you for teaching me an important lesson and for opening my eyes to how it feels when someone pays out of appreciation and not out of obligation.
About the Author:
Charlene Rashkow brings 15 years of experience as a Writing Stylist and Author to her creative efforts as a freelance writer/consultant. She has successfully helped companies and individuals reach their objectives by writing outstanding press releases, bios, articles of interest, business plans, resumes, web site content and all other forms of marketing material. You may contact Charlene Rashkow at www.allyourwritingneeds.com or write her at info@allyourwritingneeds.com. You can also call her directly at (310) 514-4844. This article may be reprinted providing the author's bio and contact information is included at the end of the article.
