FWD: Cutting a contract short

[Beth Agnew]

I think you would do more harm than good to yourself by bailing out of 
the current contract. Take it as a learning experience, and do the best 
job you can so that you can at least get referrals out of it. Sure, you 
would like to do more writing, but as long as they are paying you, what 
do you really care which tasks they ask of you? If you bring a positive 
professional attitude to the work, you can turn it into a success. Once 
you have done a good job on the current contract, you can ask for a 
higher rate next time, and it will be credible. The techcom community 
can be very small even in large cities. Word does get around. Your 
reputation is one of the most important things you have to market.

I agree that Christmas is a bad time to be job hunting. There is nothing 
that says you cannot start looking for another contract right now. 
Experienced freelancers are always marketing, always trying to land the 
next gig well before the current one ends. If people really want you, 
something can usually be worked out. You might even be able to overlap 
the contracts and make it work. If you have a new offer, you can turn 
down the extension of the current contract. Building relationships is 
the biggest part of being successful in this business. I would not harm 
any relationship by opting out of a contract too soon.
--Beth

Anonymous wondered::
> I'm currently in the middle of a 6-month contract that I'm considering 
> cutting short to look for another opportunity. There are several 
> factors involved, such as a relatively low current pay scale, the fact 
> that my current position involves very little writing (maybe a few 
> days worth out of the whole 6 months and that's pretty much done), and 
> that the contract is expected to end shortly before Christmas, a rough 
> time to be out beating the streets for a new contract. I'll mention 
> that I was told up front there is a fair chance my contract might be 
> extended, but there's certainly no guarantee of that and even then 
> most of the negatives I mentioned will still hold true.
>
> I'm concerned over how many and how badly I'll burn bridges if I do 
> leave. There's the agency I'm working through. I haven't worked with 
> them before, but I'm fairly new to this area and am worried about 
> burning relationships. And of course I'll annoy the company I'm 
> currently working with since they have another non-writing task that 
> they'd like to stick with for the next few months while they prepare 
> to roll out a product.
>
> Can anyone offer any wise words of counsel?