As a freelance writer, I deal with some weird clients from time to time.  The weirdest ones I ever dealt with was an obviously uneducated couple from England, who had evidently gotten hooked on one of these pyramid marketing schemes, also known as multi-level marketing — you know, the kind of thing where someone turns you on to a company’s products, and then you get other people to buy from the company too, so that you make a commission off of their purchases.

Anyway, this couple had gotten into a pyramid scheme for some kind of miracle-cure vitamins.  You were supposed to take it every day and it would fix what was wrong with you.  They were setting up their own website for the product, where the people they referred to it could buy it, and they hired me to write the copy for the site.

Unfortunately, these people had absolutely no clue on things like marketing and running a business.  I had a hard time explaining how they could benefit their business with search engine optimisation in London, for example.  And they seemed to have a problem identifying what they wanted me to write — that was a major problem, since I am good at writing, not mind reading.

But the real kicker was when they disappeared for weeks, or was it a couple of months?  Right around time when payment was due, of course.  I tried sending nice emails for a while, but when they ignored them time and again, I finally sent an email threatening to let the parent company know they weren’t paying their vendors.  And what do you know, I had a response the next day!  As soon as I was paid, I made sure to let them know the relationship was over — I wasn’t going to work with them again.

The experience was a lesson in avoiding weird customers, I’m afraid.  What were the weirdest clients you’ve ever worked with?  How did you handle it, and what did you learn from the experience?

Technorati Tags: freelance writer, multi-level marketing, search engine optimisation in London

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