Introducing the RantBot – for your anonymous venting pleasure

Freelancing is a marvellous lark – but the glorious highs also often come with devastating lows. In a 9-to-5 job problems are at the most frustrating inconveniences,  whereas the same problem for the self-employed can be disastrous. Having a non-paying client can mean missing your rent and eating instant noodles for a fortnight. If your laptop dies you’re suddenly unable to do any work until you can lay your hands on a new one.

Put simply, any issues which may be a minor annoyance to a full-time employee are magnified for freelancers, and stress can be a very real part of the self-employed lifestyle.

These days, common means of venting include a couple of angry tweets, or maybe a blog post featuring lots of four-letter words in capitals – however for the self-employed this often isn’t a good idea. If a client sees a frustrated missive directed towards them, you can kiss that client and all their future projects goodbye. For this reason many freelancers simply bite their tongues and soldier on.

Well, no more! Inspired by a few recent emails we’ve received that amounted to no more than an outlet for some bad-client-induced rage, we’re today introducing the RantBot. If you’ve got a torrid tale to tell about a terrible client who caused you to lose what little hair you have left, send it over to RantBot@freelanceadvisor.co.uk, and every week we’ll choose the best email and publish it – anonymity guaranteed – for all to see.

The rules:

• We will only identify you by how you sign off the email (think “Frustrated of Croydon”)
• You can include the name of the client, but we may choose to omit it from publication at our discretion (for example, a rant about a large multinational will probably be fine, but a rant about Aunt Glenda’s Soup Kitchen, which could legitimately cost Aunt Glenda business – may be edited)
• Ideally posts should be between 300 and 800 words, although we will consider everything we receive
• Try to include not just complaints, but how you went about resolving the situation – and how you would deal with it in hindsight

Our first RantBot rant will be posted next Tuesday – so get sending!

Be Sociable, Share!

•