Ending a Contract Early - Is This a Good Reason?

[sjayasuriya]

I'm 1 month into a 6 months + contract writing short books for a publisher - but I've been feeling quite disrespected by the client and am considering ending the contract early. 

I'm nervous about this and would not do it lightly - I'm certain to get less than 5 stars if I do and this will be the first time I get a less than perfect review. They've been very happy with my work, but ending now would be a surprise to them. I would just like an outside opinion from others in this community. Is this a good reason? What would you do in my shoes?

The client has asked me to do a lot of extra work that wasn't mentioned or even hinted at in the job description - small tasks at first that grew and grew - and now that I've done the math, it's dawned on me this extra work has taken up way too much of my time and they are only getting more demanding. When asked about compensation for this, they ignored me. 

They've sent me two extra tasks to do today, one of which requires skimming an entire book that has nothing to do with the work I've done. One of the biggest asks so far. I have no idea why I'm being asked to do this! I don't plan on doing either of these tasks for them, but I feel like I've just had enough. 

There's more too, but I'll sum this up quickly.

• In the beginning, they conveyed to me they were flexible about the length of each milestone. We agreed on a timeframe and it worked well for my schedule. Recently, however, it's become clear they are NOT that flexible and they would like me to finish much sooner. If they'd told me this in the beginning, I would not have taken this job.
• My proposal made clear what my area of specialty was. The job post mentioned there was work to be done IN this area, which is why I applied. However, since I began I've been assigned to work on a wildly different topic! I told them I was not comfortable with this, and they insisted I try. Our contract had already begun by that point so I thought... sure, I'll try. But it takes me more time and this is a fixed-price project, so the amount earned hourly has plummeted.

I've just finished a milestone for them. They have not assigned me a new one yet and this just feels like a good time to end the contract as there's no immediate work to be done. I will of course send them a message beforehand to let them know what's going on - but first I'd just like an outside opinion. Is it understandable that I'm taking this action? Would anyone do differently? And would there be more repercussions because they're a 'Plus' client?

[feed_my_eyes]

You don't need to have a good reason - or any reason - to end a contract. But it sounds like you should learn how to say no, since this is an essential skill to have and this won't be the last difficult client you ever encounter. Clients can't force you to work for free or accept tasks that are out of scope. For example, you don't ask for compensation, you tell the client how much something will cost, and if they ignore you then you simply don't do the work. I would have insisted on an hourly contract long before things got this out of hand.

[robin_hyman]

I would give them a heads up that your schedule has changed (cop-out option) or be very open and honest with them about your experience. Whatever you decide, I recommend doing it by phone and not on messenger. It might be easier to digest than reading it which can be misconstrued. 

Ending the agreement sounds like a good choice. Yes, your JSS will likely decrease, but your integrity will stay intact. 

Good luck!

[gilbert-phyllis · Accepted solution]

Could you continue happily in the contract if the client (a) agreed to increase your fee to cover specified additional work or (b) agreed to stop assigning/expecting work beyond the scope? Is your inclination to get out driven by aversion to having a difficult conversation with them? Ending the contract is one way to go. Another is to call time-out and see if a re-set can work. That would be good practice because Christine is right, this isn't the last time you'll encounter scope creep and it's essential to know how to handle it both pre-emptively and, when you've let things slip a bit sideways like this, correctively.

In any case, I wouldn't frame it as a matter of your schedule having changed. You said the initial understanding was that you'd have some latitude about deadlines and the client may think they've upheld that condition. I also would think hard before making an issue of their assigning you work outside your "area of specialty" since your profile claims you can turn out good copy on just about any topic. (If that's not really the case, then I'd rework that in the profile overview -- but it's a moot point in this instance.) Your strongest case is their assigning tasks beyond the scope of the milestone and therefore, not covered by the fee. If the milestone descriptions are specific and thorough, then simply refer to them as your starting point and make it plain that going forward, additional work will entail x more money and y more time to complete. If the milestone descriptions are too general, that is still your starting point, explaining that the current scope of the work is not consistent with your initial understanding when you quoted the fee and it's necessary to pin things down in more detail and bring the fee into line with the work they need or the assigned work into line with the fee. This doesn't need to be an adversarial conversation at all. You do need to think about what you want out of it and take charge of that. As Christine said, learn to say no, but also learn to help the client say yes when you can get your and their agendas aligned.

OTOH, if you've soured on the whole thing, then you should just get out. But know that this kind of thing goes with the territory. You'll get better nailing things down to start with, and sensing early when scope is starting to creep. But the potential is always there, even with great clients. 

Good luck!

[sjayasuriya]

Thank you for this very thorough response! I appreciate everyone's constructive feedback and agree that I must get much better at saying no. This was a slippery slope I absolutely should have seen coming with the first extra task - I was more nervous than I should have been to call it out directly because the contract had started. Engaging with other freelancers really has given me more confidence with this. Thank you!