How many people write things that violate their values or ethical beliefs?

The reason I ask:
As a business professional, I have been approached to write documents like a business plan, for example. I have not agreed to do this type of work because of my experience in business. I believe that if you want to start a business, you should have the necessary knowledge and background to create your own business plan. In other words, if you don't know enough about the industry or business you are starting, then you will likely fail regardless of having paid someone to do the writing for you.

The "flip" side:
Many people know a lot about what they are doing but lack the ability to put the words on a page in a cohesive manner. Writing is somewhat of an art or developed skill. Some business owners may just not be very good at writing, although they are excellent at their trade.

So should I sell out and make a profit off these people? Or should I refrain from doing the work for them? Or should I teach them how to do it themselves? Or what?

D

Thanks Skip,

Where are you tonight? The bar is having free drinks on Gyppo the Birthday boy tonight.

 

I think it would depend, as you say, on what they're asking. Do they want you to figure out what they should do for their business? Or do they want you to ask them the right questions, so they can communicate to you what they want, and you can make it coherent and usable? The latter seems more than reasonable.

(Or are they college students who want you to do their homework? That's one thing I won't do. But I've never been hungry.)

BUT, and it's a big but, in my own field I generally figure that the buyer knows how to spend his own money. I do a sample edit; I warn potential clients of any possible problems; and then, if they still want me to do the job, I go ahead. I think I have only once actually turned down work, and I have never turned it down because I don't think well of it. ("Sorry, Mr. Faulkner, you just can't write.")

You are right; the business will probably fail. Most businesses do. But maybe the person who approached you knows his own interest best. Maybe he knows what he needs, and you're it. Or maybe he wants to be able to say that he gave it his very best try-- and you're part of that try.

You're right about the flip side.

My father, as a child, worked with his at a sawmill.  He even quit school by the fifth grade to work at the mill.  Years later, he had a small business by the time he had his own family.  He joked that he had several PhDs: post hole diggers (he made handles that were sold throughout the southern US).  He certainly didn't know anything about writing a business plan, but had a lot of experience and knowledge about the milling industry.  And if you asked him what his plan was, he'd say, "Work."

I'm fairly certain you're not working with those lacking the formal education of my father, however, it looks like you have the expertise even the most educated individual in an industry needs.  While I don't have your experience in business, I've worked for corporations enough to know one doesn't have to know everything, but where to find the answer.

Yes, a person needs to know about the business they're getting into, but even the most powerful in business have support to close the gaps in their knowledge.  It's advised and diagramed in books I've read (attorneys, lenders, marketing, etc) on business.  Needless to say, I don't see you as selling out if you pursue the opportunity, but being an integral part.

-Maimi

P.S. I agree whole-heartedly with Bonita.

i think your ethical dilemma is on a par with not helping an old person across the road because you had a bus to catch

that didn't help much did it

Have I missed something here, or have you answered your own question?


Not so.

At times in a rather chequered career I’ve started my own business. I’d never heard of a “business plan”. I just went ahead and learnt, or not, as I went along. Sometimes I made a bit of money, then lost it all again and had to start again with nothing.

I remember flying from Mombasa to Nairobi (in an old East African Airlines post-war Dakota) to ask my bank manager for £2,000 to built bandas (palm thatched chalets) to make our property on the beach into a self-catering holiday village. I reckoned I could built ten for two hundred pounds each.

He said, “If you had asked for £20,000, I would have suggested we adjourn to the Long Bar of the New Stanley Hotel and discuss it further. If you had asked for £200,000, I would have bought you lunch. As it is, you’re wasting my time. Now bugger off.”

A business plan might have made me a rich man. Where were you?

Hugh

I write Dark fantasy so pretty much everything I write goes against the majority of peoples ethics and values. For example I had a vampire torture a child. It was a vampire child mind you, but still, it had been human once.

My advice would be write whatever you need to in order to sell. People will say 'oh I wouldn't work for so and so, I don't agree with what they stand for. At the end of the day, these people will do what they do regardless of whether you say yes or no. The only difference will be that it will either be you or someone else with a cheque for their writing.

Going back to your original post...


Four questions, four answers.

1)    Yes

2)    No

3)    Yes

4)    Use your writing skills in all sorts of ways. Try anything and everything. See what works for you. 

You will never know what you can do unless you try it.

Hugh