Beware promises of great things.

Just before Easter I received several messages from an organization telling me that I had been recommended to them for inclusion in their who's who list this year. At first I thought that this might be some sort of scam, like "your long lost relative in Zimbabwe has left you a million dollars, please contact us to arrange payment." I googled their name and checked out their site. To my surprise they seemed legitimate, and since they only asked for some basic information to contact me, and because none of the information they were requesting was to personal I decided to see where it might lead.

I was contacted about a week later by a gentleman who seemed genuinely interested in my work. We spoke for a short while and he explained what his company would like to do for me. It all sounded on the up and up until he started talking about payment for this service. As I mentioned in one of my first blogs, when someone seems more interested in you ability to pay the bill rather than your work, move on!

When the man on the other end of the phone wanted to know which credit card I wanted to put the payment on I informed him that I do not, as a matter of principal, ever give out that kind of information over the phone. Suddenly the price began to drop for their services, and with each rejection the price went lower.  I finally had to say to him that he could drop his price to $1 and I still would not give him the information that he wanted. I had asked if he could send me all his information in a contract form and I would review their services and get back in touch. He was unwilling to do this. By the end of our conversation the gentleman was gone and was replaced with a slightly belligerent man.

So, just a word to the wise. I know that nothing in this world is for free but if you are willing and able to pay for something that you want make sure that you have a written contract, that you understand that agreement, and that you are comfortable with it.