Re: Marketing tech writers and consulting companies

["Porrello, Leonard" <lcporrel -at- ESSVOTE -dot- COM>]

Anon,

You can always ask and share your concerns especially if the market is good. Or you could negotiate a 35 hour billable week for jobs that require two or more hours on the read per day. In any case, you can be pretty sure that no one in the office is thinking "golly, poor Joe has to drive 70 miles to get to his job."

If you are really desperate, why not try to find your own work, and if you like the idea of bench time and benefits, still use the consulting firm? If you get your own work, you might also collect whatever commission sales reps usually get. Who knows? Express that you really like the firm, and ask. If the market is good, you've little to lose.

If nothing else, the company should compensate you for your time on the road. The company for which work pays for mileage beyond what it would require for an employee to get from home to the central office.

Leonard Porrello

 -----Original Message-----
From:   anonfwd [SMTP:anonfwd -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM]
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The problem is that this company is simply not marketing its writers.
They actively place and market their programmers, business
consultants, system consultants and other professionals, but they seem
to only have jobs in far-outlying areas for writers....and it's almost
as an afterthought. My first contract with them required me to drive
about 70 miles per day (all freeways, so it took about 2-4 hours
driving per day). I'm currently winding down my project and the next
possible project is even further! I'm so frustrated.

My question to you, if you work for this type of company, is how much
leverage do I have? 

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000