Wise men of OT, help me with this job offer

[Footie Mad]

Hello gentle forum dwellers, and others. I would appreciate you help with this situation I've gotten myself into. I have been writing on an internet forum about Swedish football, it is an english forum with an interest in betting on games.

This has lead me to a situation where this has come up:

"Hi as I said before I'm writing for a Turkish betting magazine (not available on internet) and don't have any knowledge about Scandinavian football. I'll use your previews to make picks on Sweden league. Below I want to give some details about what I need.

1) Match reports *Censored details*
2) Previews *Censored details*

If we can make a deal I want to take your service for all season. I'll be waiting your response if you accept this job and want to hear how much you demand. Please be sure that I'll pay the price before you start. I prefer to pay monthly. Thanks for your interest."

I have no experience in charging money for this kind of service, if I reply that I want a "standard fee" is there a risk of getting screwed?

The work involved would be about 20-30 minutes of research and writing per game, 7 games a round and there are 25 rounds left in the league. Added to this 15-20 of match summary for the same number of games.

[Pekka]

lol Turkish mafia up in Footie Mad's butt when all goes off the scale lol prepare!

[germanos]

Inform on regular 'journalist' fees in Sweden (I'll guess in Sweden it's syndicalized of some sort, try informing at a union of sorts)

It appears he want's to pay in advance?

Make an offer for your weekly contributions. Stop working for him if he misses a payment (especially the first one's )

My guesses for acceptable fees:
low end: $ 50 an hour = 200/ weekly installment
high end $100 an hour = 400/ weekly installment.

Depending on his 'betting magazine' (illegal or not) you might be able to squeeze a lot more out of it.

I would make sure you are not easily tracable. Betting can turn nasty

[Footie Mad]

Pekka, lol I was actually joking with a friend about this being some advanced scheme to trick me into a gay brothel by the black sea yesterday. Of course i'm a bit sceptic but as long as I don't take any risks what do I have to lose?

Germanos, thanks for the info, as a part of the info I'm not obliged to make my own "picks" which means I won't get people that easily pissed off at me I suppose. I have no idea about the size of this magazine but the numbers you mention seem pretty high to me, the thing I'm a bit afraid of is returning to him with a much to high offer and getting the cold shoulder on something I want to do actually.

[Dauphin]

Things to consider:

1) If you get paid what you consider fair based on your time and costs, how bothered would you be if it turned out to be 10% below standard, 20%, 40% etc.
2) Do you need/want the work/money, if not so much, then losing the work by overpricing isn't a problem. I'm sure you'd get a counter offer if you asked what they consider too much - the art of negotiation then ensues.

[-Jrabbit]

Be sure to get paid in advance, and be very specific that you offer no guarantees on outcomes.

[Pekka]

Footie Mad, I'd say becoming the numbers boy for Turkish Mafia is a bit risky in itself.

[Footie Mad]

Is it not better to throw oneself off the cliff and see if you can fly, than to cower in the nest until you die?

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Footie Mad
Is it not better to throw oneself off the cliff and see if you can fly, than to cower in the nest until you die?

That totally depends how many women you can lure into that nest


Edit : OT, why don't you go to your local pizzapusher and ask if they know this sportspaper ?

[Cort Haus]

PM Ancyram, or whatever the name is of that Turkish poster that pops up in threads about Turkey.

[DaShi]

Charge him by the word.

[Footie Mad]

Update time.

After some further talking the situation has been cleared up a little, the thing I will be doing is providing information to this guy so he can do his job as a writer for the betting magazine. This means I won't have to write finished articles that are to be published he will use the info for himself.

He has offered me 60 euros a month, which isn't a large sum perhaps but the work involved will be much less than I thought it would be at first. So I will accept. Most of all because if I can use this as a gateway to more "clients" in foreign countries, remember online betting is growing like mold on a five month old piece of ham. So if I can provide information for this magazine, which is a free extra magazine in a sports newspaper in Turkey. I have checked it out and it is real and kicking. That means it can open some doors in the future perhaps.

Thanks for giving some advice.