The heartbreak of a blown deadlie is quickly forgotten in the warm glow of a red-hot new control.

I give clients two choices: You can have it on-deadline or you can have it done right. If they say the demand the copy on their arbitrary deadline, I wish them well and toddle on down the road.

Haste makes waste.

I wouldn't blow someone off just because of a miserly deadline.

I'd probably discuss it with the client first and work something out, or try to.

But about deadlines themselves, I have a really hard time NOT making them.

If I ever missed a deadline I would be so ridden with guilt! It's just not something I could accept in my own working ethics.

If anything, I submit my work a little earlier if possible, without squelching quality of course, just to be safe!

To me, deadlines are like important appointments: if you agreed to it in the first place it seems rude not to hold up your end of it.

Even more so if you're not a newbie, cos you should know better!

Just my take though.

... FOR ME!

Recently I took on a new client that had already had TWO copywriters create his piece.

His ROI were actually zero from the previous writes. He was out of pocket.

He asked me early January to write for him. I turned him down. He emailed me time and time again to the point he asked for my paypal email. Intersting I thought so... I obliged his request.

I then got an email that said ...

quote:

"Alan I have deposited $10,000 into your paypal account, let me know when you can take me on as a client please ... "

I emailed him right away to thank him for his faith in me.

I then told him that if he can wait ... I will write his letter. I offered NO deadline... just a result grabbing control (hopefully)

7 MONTHS later I sent over his letter.

His ROI was approx ... $471,000 USA! I also got my percentage of course.

Was it worth him waiting with NO DEADLINE?

My Point Is ...

Depending on YOUR status as a copywriter you may be tied down to deadlines.

In fact I would suggest most of the time deadlines are met. Deadlines are good to motivate and also they keep track of a busy schedule.

Me... I like deadlines but ... I RARELY allow a client dictate a deadline.

Hope this helps.

Alan

In the immortal words of Senator Lloyd Benson

“I knew John Kennedy, John Kennedy was a friend of mine, and you Senator, are no John Kennedy”.

You can pull Clayton's line or be a "Deutch" perfectionist when you are writing
for Boardroom, Weiss, or Phillips and have the track record to prove it.

But when you're a newbie, you come across like Dan Quayle trying to strut his huevos.

Peace.

Exactly o' king of orange!

Peace.

I like your opinion, Alan, on deadlines there.

Most of the time, my clients don't set a deadline.

For myself though, I like to set a deadline. I work better to deadlines.

Although, Alan, if you 'recently' took on this client, then in early January he started asking again and again to write for him, then 7 MONTHS later you delivered?

With this being end of April, I take it your 'recently' means 'sometime within the past couple of years'? lol

I admit to having an ongoing love/hate relationship with deadlines. I have some clients who don't set them and they get their copy in a timely manner. But I HATE when I finish something on the deadline day and don't have that extra day to let it marinate. I like that extra day so I can take a fresh look 24 hours later. I have requested that. Every client I've ever worked with has granted it when I've asked which isn't often. They know I have it done and want to polish it or make it better.

I really hate it when someone wants killer work in a time frame that is too skinny. I just avoid those projects. So many think "it's just writing". If it was "just writing" then anyone could do it. So many of us invest ourselves in our projects which requires a block of time to really focus.

Then there is the time zone issue. I always have to keep in mind WHERE the client is. The client's Tuesday afternoon might be my Tuesday morning or Monday night.

I'm with Douglas Adams of Hitchiker's Guide fame:

I was about to mention the marinating time actually! lol

Yes I do like to leave it to sit a while before actually sending it off.

My 'light bulb moments' tend to happen at the most unusual times!

ie. middle of the night, middle of dreams, in the shower!!

And funnily enough, they also happen when I think I'm finished with a piece.

Typical huh? lol

I actually like deadlines as they force me to organise myself.

There was a time when I was orgazanised, but all that went out the window in favour of an easy life.

But, the truth is, being organised makes for an easier life.