Do these buyers understand

[cherylleisten]

that I’m not an employee. I keep getting requests, or more like demands from people, telling me to use this program or do this or I need someone to work for me at my payroll department. I’m looking for a virtual assistant. I politely tell them that I work according to the gig or project not as an employee. Some of these people don’t seem to know the difference between working WITH somebody versus working FOR somebody. Is this something that happens to newbies? I’ve only been here a few months.

[misscrystal]

Hello, I know that newbies get a lot of strange requests so they might be testing you to see how assertive or experienced you are. From reading stories from newbies here on the forum, it seems to be a trend for them to see if they can be manipulated somehow. It will get better once you have a few orders and reviews.

[humanissocial]

This sounds like the entitlement to servitude a lot of buyers have. I think the “assistant” part makes them think you’re their servant.

Do you have a very clear scope of work on your gig? I find that helps deter bad buyers.

[derynoliver]

As a newbie VO on here I started out with a $5 gig price and used to get some (in my opinion) rude buyers sending orders in with blunt, rather demanding orders for work. Sometimes I think it was the fact English was not their first language and so they perhaps used words wrongly but I did find when I upped my pricing these buyers generally went away. It’s hard on here at first (and in fact is never easy) but hopefully you will get better buyers as you go on who will appreciate you and treat you with the respect you deserve.

[cherylleisten]

Thank you, deryn. I have put down some definite boundaries. I have three different packages for them to choose from. My pricing is pretty average, so I’m thinking its the fact that I’m new.