When They Crown Comes Off

I'm known as the Confetti Queen. The simplest explanation I can for why I'm named such is because I believe in positivity and spreading love and hope to others, thus why I throw my confetti.

There comes a time though, when I have to remove my crown and become the 'not-so-nice' Desiree. These times, thankfully, are few and far between but after this morning the crown is off.

I am very, VERY protective of the authors and bloggers I work with and I adore. As a general rule I don't care what people think or say about me, but when it comes to my authors and bloggers, who to me are my family, all bets are off.

So I'm here today to tell you a little bit about etiquette, and more specifically, what to do and not to do when you are being paid to do a job for an author and/or a designer.

Now recently I decided that it would be in my best interest to hire myself a PA for both my graphic design company and for author promotions. That way, I could focus more on my work than the promoting aspects of things. It was a good idea, but unfortunately ideas sometimes just don't work out.

Over the short time that I had my PA, it was DEMANDED of me that she get paid EQUALLY to me, meaning that her spending a few minutes here and there sharing posts and the like was somehow EQUAL to me spending the hours/days/months working on a project. We had a blow out about it, and for some reason she couldn't understand WHY I was upset by the fact that she wanted to be paid 50/50 to me.

HERE'S my reasons why that didn't happen.

1) While I spent anywhere from eight hours to four days on a cover, you only spend a few minutes to hit the share button or to post it on a facebook wall.

2) While I have to pay full price for a shutterstock subscription to have the stock photos on hand to design with, you don't have to be responsible for that at all.

In the end, the amount of work that I put in vs the amount that you put in does not in any way shape or form give you the right to demand a 50/50 pay grade.

So, RULE NUMBER ONE!

DO NOT ASK FOR MORE THAN WHAT YOUR TIME IS WORTH.

Yes, you should be paid for your time, and have it worthwhile. BUT you should not demand more than the weight that you carry.

Another issue I had is this: I hired her for a specific purpose, and ended up having to do the job in which I hired her for. NOT ONLY did she not even fill out the basic requirements for what I hired her for then DEMAND that I pay her more than she was worth, but she ALSO refused to give me any of the contanct information for the authors that purchased my designs, that way I could talk with them about their covers, and also keep contact with them that way they didn't feel like I was ignoring them.

So instead of assisting me, what it boiled down to was her trying to run MY business and keeping me out of the loop of vital information. That not only put my name and reputation on the line, but ALSO jeapordized the authors who had purchased covers.

RULE NUMBER TWO!

DO NOT JEAPORDIZE YOUR EMPLOYER OR THE PEOPLE THEY WORK WITH!

I could have handled rule number one being broken. Sure, its annoying and a pain in the butt to deal with, but I would have been able to brush it off and just left it as is.

What I will NOT handle nor be in any way okay with is ANYONE jeapordizing the lovely people I work with. If you want to trash talk me or try to screw me over, fine. But DO NOT bring my authors into it. DO NOT think so highly of yourself that you think you can start trash talking me and put my authors in jeopardy without paying some form of a price for it.

Thanks to this specific PA (whom had the idocrity to inform me that she had been dropped from many previous authors for the exact same issues that I've had) I now have a huge mess to clean up, and it has left me in a state where I WILL NOT work with another PA again, nor seek assistance to further my businesses from anyone else.

I could be a huge b*tch and show you guys all the screen shots (yes I screen shot and keep everything) and blast her completely on all media fronts, but I choose to be more diligent about my reputation than she has been with hers.

I hope everyone learns from this. Before you hire ANYONE, first get to know them. Create a contract in detail that explains the role that the person you're hiring will be doing, and for the love of god research said person.

I've learned my lesson, and I'm cleaning up the mess this particular lesson has made.

So *puts back on crown*

Share the love and the confetti.

With love, Always:

Your Confetti Queen.