We’ve all been there. Anyone who works under the wonderful umbrella we call ‘freelancers’, anyway.
You get approached out of the blue by some seemingly nice people offering you some work. Great! That’s always welcome. Maybe you’ll be able to buy that new laptop you’ve been eyeing up.
So you get down to business. Discuss the project, the scope, the goals. And then, of course, the price.
“Well, we were hoping you’d take this job on in a voluntary capacity. It’d be a great way for you to gain exposure.”
Uh oh. ‘Exposure’. The word every freelance professional has learned to passionately despise.
I’m not exactly making a groundbreaking point here. This topic has been covered ad infinitum by a million different bloggers and writers. (“haha, they must think ‘freelancer’ means we work for ‘free’!!” etc.)
Being asked to work for no pay sucks. We get it. Everyone knows that.
I’m here to make a slightly different point, though — that working for free might not always be a terrible thing.
“What!?” I hear you exclaim. “He must be a madman! A stark raving imbecile! He must hate money!”
And you might just be right. But, hear me out.
You see, working for free has helped me quite a bit in my time. I think it can be a really great way to get your foot in the door of certain industries, pick up experience when you’re a beginner, and make lasting connections.
Working for free can work, but there’s one caveat: it has to be on your terms.
A while back, when I was a new writer trying to cut my teeth while teaching English in the freezing heart of Europe, I reached out to some companies and offered to work for free.
It was mainly startups I contacted, small operations without a real marketing budget. They needed someone to help them write their content, and I needed a platform. I needed some real projects under my belt.
So I got in touch with a few of them and wrote their websites and a few blog posts for free.
Actually — that’s a lie. I just lied to you and you should hate me for it.
Because I didn’t work for free at all. I got paid — handsomely — in experience, a bigger network, and real samples of work I could share with future prospects.
Even now if a huge company with, like, fifteen figures in front of its dollar sign came to me and asked me to work with them for no pay, you bet I’d consider it.
Sometimes, working for free can be a genuinely valuable opportunity to pick up experience, skills, and contacts that will net you far more money in the long term.
And even with existing clients, I regularly throw in freebies like extra proofreading jobs now and then. They love it, and it’s on my terms.
Still, there are a few points to remember. Don’t get stuck in free work forever — make sure you use it as a stepping stone to get paid gigs as soon as possible.
Don’t allow clients to take advantage of the extreme kindness you’ve shown by offering to work for free.
Don’t work for free AT ALL if you aren’t getting anything back for it.
And next time some tiny company pops up in your inbox asking you to write for their 54 followers in return for ‘exposure’? Just delete and get on with your day.
Louis Moran 