“Instant Karma’s Gonna Get Ya! Part 1

(With apologies to The Beatles)

The call came in about 3 weeks ago. “Hey, Lou. I saw your ad and was wondering…”

He explained his business, his needs, and said that he’d never worked with a copywriter before. (That should have been my first red flag.) He told me what he wanted and I offered to do a small sample to see if that was the direction he wanted to go.

Suddenly I was inundated with emails. “I need this rewritten.” “Can you write this for me?” including his lists of the top words that copywriters should use. (So, now he’s an expert?) “Easy there,” I thought and sent an email suggesting that we meet and work out the details of an agreement.

Sudden silence! Followed a day later by a curt email saying that he had to meet with his partner first.

I went on about my business, writing for existing clients and forgot all about it. Then, late, last Friday afternoon, I got another phone call from him.

“Hi, Lou. How much would you charge to write a one-page email?” (It had nothing to do with the business we had discussed before.) I quoted him my standard rate. He said that it was a rush and would double my fee if he could get it by Monday.

I wrote it and emailed the copy on Sunday. (Without a signed contract…a rookie mistake.) He emailed back saying that it was great work. Could he pay me by credit card? Then…it got interesting.

…to be continued…