When I started freelancing from home, my salary was fixed$DUSK at $100 per month. 💻
The task was simple and clearly written: add content to the website and maintain it. There was nothing in the agreement stating that I would be responsible for additional tasks beyond that.
After a month, my manager bought a new domain and told me: “Build this website.”
At the time, I could barely use AI tools, but I decided to learn and complete the task. I wrote HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and managed to launch the website successfully. I was proud of what I accomplished. 🙌
And what was the compensation?
Nothing.
When I reminded her, she told me:
“This is part of your work—it doesn’t matter.”
Then the extra tasks started coming one after another:
📌 Full table of contents
📌 Anchor Links that take you directly to specific chapters
📌 Various technical updates
📌 Task after task, even though they weren’t part of my original scope
On freelancing platforms, each of these small tasks could have been priced at around $10–15.
But she got them for free, because I was being lenient—and that leniency was exploited.
💭 In the end, I realized that the main issue was incredibly simple:
My work rules existed only in words, not in anything truly binding.
That’s why it was easy for the other party to change or expand them whenever it suited them.
I kept thinking:
I wish I knew what was allowed and what was
The task was simple and clearly written: add content to the website and maintain it. There was nothing in the agreement stating that I would be responsible for additional tasks beyond that.
After a month, my manager bought a new domain and told me: “Build this website.”
At the time, I could barely use AI tools, but I decided to learn and complete the task. I wrote HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and managed to launch the website successfully. I was proud of what I accomplished. 🙌
And what was the compensation?
Nothing.
When I reminded her, she told me:
“This is part of your work—it doesn’t matter.”
Then the extra tasks started coming one after another:
📌 Full table of contents
📌 Anchor Links that take you directly to specific chapters
📌 Various technical updates
📌 Task after task, even though they weren’t part of my original scope
On freelancing platforms, each of these small tasks could have been priced at around $10–15.
But she got them for free, because I was being lenient—and that leniency was exploited.
💭 In the end, I realized that the main issue was incredibly simple:
My work rules existed only in words, not in anything truly binding.
That’s why it was easy for the other party to change or expand them whenever it suited them.
I kept thinking:
I wish I knew what was allowed and what was
