I had to turn away freelance writing work again yesterday. Here’s what happened.

I do a lot of work for Association Vendor A. I just received a letter of inquiry from Association Vendor B, who is in absolute, head-on competition with Association Vendor A. My contact with Association Vendor A is a very busy person, and she once made an off-hand remark that I hadn’t signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) yet and she hoped that I wouldn’t do anything I shouldn’t without the legal document.

My choices:

1. Ask Association Vendor A (my client) for an NDA?

2. Tell Association Vendor A that I may be working for Association Vendor B?

3. Decline work with Association Vendor B?

4. Bring Association Vendors A&B to a Starbucks one day to see if we can all just be friends?

I posed this dilemma to a bunch of consultants in the association industry. Someone said I should consult a lawyer, but this issue came down to less a question of legal obligations and more a question of customer relationships. So I called Association Vendor A (my client) and asked what she thought, stating that I absolutely could keep the two projects separate. She said her CEO would “absolutely flip” at the idea and that she could definitely not work further with me if I engaged with Association Vendor B.

So I wrote Association Vendor B and said I couldn’t work with them. I’m relieved this was so easily settled. Association Vendor A was one who asked me last week to be on retainer for writing projects, so I’m definitely happy with my existing relationship.

The consultants I talked to did point out that my prices for Association Vendor A should now go up because I have an exclusive relationship with them, which is more valuable than me being just another vendor.  This is something I hadn’t thought of, and now it may be too late to come back with a different price. But I raised my prices from the first time they worked with me, so they are paying more for my services than they were, although it would have been what Association Vendor B would pay as well.

Ah, you live and learn.