The River Between – tips for Employers

Article by Alfa Kimani. Allow me to use a parable like a brother of mine used to do to great effect. I want to talk about three employers and how they are fairing in this industry.

Mark

Mark has two accounts as we speak. He bought them at the start of peak season (as he always does) coz the previous one was closed after a “shitty writer” messed him up. He needs two accounts as he knows one can be closed or suspended at any time. Mark is always looking for writers – heard of “WE are looking for 248 writers …”, that’s mark. During pay-day, Mark pays about 10 writers with an average of 5K each. Sadly, he always loses his best writers as they always leave for greener pastures. No one can survive on 5K a month.

Omondi

Omondi has two accounts; one is on Mentorship after a number of cases of missed deadlines and poor quality work. He doesn’t have a writer he can call his own and is always looking for POD writers in the group. Every now and then, Omondi faces revolt in the group after not paying, as he calls them, “shitty writers” or when asking members to help trace a writer who is yet to submit a paper. Omondi believes all POD writers are fakes yet desperately looks for them when the orders start trickling in. Omondi cannot wait for payday as he is as broke as ever and doesn’t know where he will find the money to pay for the next POD. Omondi loses his mind if he gets an order at 3 in the morning as he doesn’t know who to call. If a call comes from one of the company and asks him to revise a paper, Omondi will just faint.

Ken

Ken has three accounts, he has held on to them for the last four years. Surprisingly, Ken only has 4 writers. He mentored them from the time they were newbies; now they are professionals who can work on virtually any type of order. The average pay for these writers is approximately 30K in a bad month. They will wake up at any time of day to work on a paper. In other words, they are loyal. You will never find Ken looking for writers, they look for him. Instead of scandals, Ken will always get testimonials even when he doesn’t need them. His clients always know what to expect from his work as he has consistently delivered high quality work over the years. Ken also fully understands the strengths and weaknesses of his writers and applies this when assigning them the orders for the day.

Fellow employers, be like Ken. You don’t need a hundred writers working for you to make it in this industry. It’s actually inversely proportional. Always look at what each writer is making and ask yourself whether you can survive on that. You also have a duty of nurturing these writers into better writers and even employers of tomorrow. Other than paying them well, it’s upon you to get in touch with them on the areas they need to improve on, and then we will consider you, a noble friend of the industry.

Tomorrow I will tell you about Mercy, Evans and Kamau, the three employees

Ni hayo tuu kwa sasa