Independent Contractors Need Love (and Brains) Too....

I had a "People are Dumb" moment recently that I wanted to share with you.

I adore my writers, every single person I get the chance to work with is cool and always teaches me something - I love the fact I get to interact with so many different people from so many backgrounds.

Also, I get a number of e-mails per week from people that would like to jump into the world of keyword article writing. It's not rocket science and for someone that wants to learn discipline so they can finally finish that novel they've been working on for ten years, keyword articles will definitely help build discipline because there are so many and the due dates are usually quick requiring someone to really stay on task.

Anyway, I got an email from a person that wanted to learn to write keyword articles, they had immaculate diction and grammar in their email and sent me a sample article that - as my 2 year old would say, "Had pow" - it was really good.

I had really high hopes for what this person could do writing-wise. So I wrote them back and said, "Welcome aboard!" and gave them the standard Independent Contractor Agreement and other information I give new writers.

They took a few gigs and then nothing. They never turned in one single article for what they took. And I wrote and wrote and got no response so I buckled down and did the writing myself and all was well.

So a few days after deadline I got an email - the writer said that the computer they used had been infected with a virus and they lost all of their information and could they PUH-LEEEEZE have another chance?

'Okay, I'm a glutton for punishment" I thought - "I'll bite".
"Sure" I wrote back - "One more chance".

So, I put out gigs again and they took some and again the deadline went whooshing past.
Duly finished the missing articles myself and wrote the wanna-be writer and said, "Okay what's up?"

Finally three days later I got a response she had been in the ER with a migraine for the previous three days. Either the line was really long or this writer had killer insurance to stay in the ER for three days.

I said I thought it would be a good idea if they pursued gigs elsewhere as I didn't think this arrangement was working out.

So - yesterday I got a letter in the mail that this brain surgeon had filed unemployment on me.
I detest state government anyway and DUH this person was an independent contractor. I sent a copy of their IC agreement back and told whoever the hearing person was to say, "Dee Dah Dee" Carlos Mencia-style for wasting everyone's time like this....

It truly takes all kinds doesn't it?