I believe that foremost, before any other virtue, that loyalty is the most important. Loyalty to family, friends, collegues, clients, customers is the key to happiness and success.

Another very important virtue in the business world, especially business that takes place solely on the web is trust...

I've been aware of a big problem in this industry that has been getting worse for some time now. It's trust, and it's fading away. I find a lot of my work on craigslist which is still a great place for freelancers and clients to meet.

However, as you may well know craigslist, because of it's popularity is also full of people that call themselves "professionals", people who are looking for skilled work without having to pay for it and unfortunately people that are just out right trying to scam, take advantage or harm you.

Sadly, probably more than half of the clients I've worked with have been burnt by a bad situation on craigslist previously and are very wary about venturing into any new projects with someone from craigslist or any "web professional" again.

It is certainly a two-way street, I have also experienced clients stealing my work, paying an unfair amount and completely taking advantage of how much work they could get out of me without paying more and there were those who simply refused to pay even though they stated they were happy with my work as they simply didn't intend on paying in the first place.

It's a sad scene, it truly is. Please keep in mind that as I am a professional I would never break the confidentiality or anonymity of a client no matter what, even if they did treat me unfairly and I keep this in high regard.

Specifically, the problem I'm seeing is that especially in these economical times people are not willing to work with a real professional (unknowing to them actually). I'm seeing people ask for free, mock-up/sample work or for the entire project to be completed without having to pay unless the work is to their satisfaction.

I don't know if I'll go as far as to say that this is illegal, but this is very unethical and inappropriate. If you feel the same way, that you are worried of the risk of properly paying a professional you should understand that ironically, this is very counter-productive. Finding freelancers that are willing to work under these conditions will never be professional and you will never be satisfied with the results.

Now I'm NOT saying that you should just dive in and hire someone or me for that matter without being very knowledgeable of the professional, their portfolio, their pricing and their work ethic. As I do very well understand the risk factors of working with people online personally, I've worked very hard to give potential clients the tools to make an informed decision about hiring me:

• Go over my Portfolio thoroughly to make sure my skills are on par with your project requirements, keep in mind that I have a vast amount of projects I've done that aren't in my Portfolio so please ask for examples if you don't see what you're looking for
  
  
• I've been given permission by several of my clients to place their Testimonials of my work ethic on my website, all verifiable
  
  
• I offer very reasonable and affordable pricing, $20 hourly is very fair when $35+ is the going rate
  
  
• I will make sure to discuss the project with you very thoroughly over the phone, email or IM (occasionally in-person meetings if you're local) to make sure I understand your project very well, I never make unrealistic promises and guarantees, I try to keep expectations realistic and in perspective for scale and budget
  
  
• I'm honest and loyal and hold your breath... I actually care about you and your success as this is my success as well, if you treat me right I'll treat you right and I'll never give you any "crooked mechanic" suggestions, even if you handed me $1,000 and said here do this, if I knew that it was a waste of your time and money and my effort because it was only going to hurt you or your business I would say no
  
  
• I am PayPal Verified, PayPal is a very secure way to make payment even if you don't have a PayPal account
  
  
• For most of my clients I become their go-to guy for all things web and computers, I'm here to help out whenever I can

To remain a professional, I have to keep professional standards and that means that I cannot invest any of my time and productivity until you do first by investing in your project with at least partial payment upfront. Immediately, you will see the benefits of working with a real professional. I've created a basic chart to help understand how payments should work, I'm pretty flexible of course to more custom and ongoing needs:

• $0 - $100: Paid in Full Upfront
  
  
• $101 - $1000: Half Paid Upfront / Half Upon Completion
  
  
• $1001+: Payments / Or Go to Hourly Rate (when excessive hours are involved)

I think I've provided a fair amount of information for you to make an informed decision on choosing to hire me or not.

Contact me now to discuss your project or ask any questions you may have. Thanks, Bryan

bhadaway@gmail.com | 360.243.8015 | chat live with me

FURTHER INFORM & EDUCATE YOURSELF

I've written and compiled some helpful information that may be beneficial to anyone who's interested in learning more or that would like to discuss and comment on the subject:

My Blog Post on the Subject

Working with Clients/Professionals Article

Also, I'd like to make it clear that I'm not addressing the issue of start-ups or clients that simply have no funding/budget, I've addressed that issue here:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/forums/?ID=131418651