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Should You Ever Work For Free?
It’s always exciting to hear from customers or potential clients when you’re self-employed.
But, if you’ve been in business long enough as an artist, musician, blogger, speaker, photographer, designer, coach, or personal trainer, there’s a good chance someone’s asked you to perform quality work without budgeting money to pay you.
Freelancers from all professions get asked to work for free.
Those asking will try to convince you that more exposure will skyrocket your business. Or that the opportunity to showcase your creative work will shine in your portfolio or on your resume.
Another hook to get you to work without pay? Agreeing to this unpaid opportunity will lead to compensation in the future.
Will it really lead to money rolling in later? Sometimes. But often it won’t.
That’s why it’s important to review reasons to turn down unpaid opportunities and also look at situations when working for free might make sense.
Below, you’ll also find a list of questions to consider when someone asks you to perform without pay. Plus, examples of responses to give when you’ve no interest in working for exposure or experience only.
