Those in a position of power are most often able to exercise discretion as to how they will apply or exercise that power.
Most Freelance writers, when they first start out, do not believe that they are in the position of power, but you are… yes… you.
Your rating on services like Guru.com is also dependent on keeping this in mind. They say that discretion is the better part of valor, well, so is your Guru rating.
Choosing when to put in a bid, is just as important for your Acquisition Rating and your overall Quality Score-based Rank than completing the job! Why? Because you are going to be performing this task more often than you are ever going to be working on projects. You will always write more bids than you acquire jobs. Also, clients you work with today, are those who will rate you tomorrow.
Most of the clients, when you spend a bit of time going through other Freelancer’s profile page, to check them out, who are not willing to pay you a fair rate for your work, also do not spend the time rating your work — or rating it fairly.
A blank rating, is often seen as the same as a rating of 1. Trust me, I’ve been doing this for a while and several clients have told me this — what is read into the lack of a rating, is the other client was being polite, especially if the other client is not listed as a repeat customer.
How often, do you believe, is a client who is unwilling to pay fairly, going to ask for repeat business? You might be under the impression that once he has found someone who is providing him with good copy, at such a cheap rate, that repeat business is assured, or that he will offer to pay you a real rate.
No. A client like this rarely cares about his relationship with you at all. He will post his next project just as he did with this one, and look for the lowest rate.
A real question might be, why you would want him as a repeat customer, since you are not making enough to support yourself with him now?
You are the one in Power. On the Internet, Content is King. Do not be led down the path of belief that you do not diserve compensation for the skill you have worked years to acquire, and just because they need it, doesn’t mean that they get to have it for free.
If they really want to save money, let them write it themselves.