The Truth About Working For Free

Katie Ferraro
Aug 9, 2017 · 4 min read

As a creative, I stand by the fact that my time and my craft is just as valuable as an engineer, a businessman, a teacher, a doctor, or any other profession. As an entrepreneur I have to stand behind that belief fiercely if I want to pay the bills. It’s no secret that one of the most common principles of entrepreneurship is creating value in order to win clients, as it is with business of any size, but without the cushion of a steady paycheck.

Photo by Sabine van Straaten on Unsplash

I would argue that being in an artistic field, brings another layer to all of this and that is essentially having to convince people that your craft is more than a “cute” hobby or a passion project, rather it’s your chosen career. The common person would never ask a doctor to do brain surgery for free, yet creatives are asked to work for free all the time.

However, it is a double edged sword. In order to create a name for yourself, it’s a requirement for the world to see your work. With the booming internet age that has become increasingly more achievable, but in creating work for yourself you are at the mercy of your following. In order to attract more eyes on your work, collaborations of some form are necessary. I would say that about 90% of the time these situations are unpaid monetarily, in which case knowing your worth can be seemingly irrelevant.

That was my thought for a long time at least. Then I started getting paid jobs because I established value while being in service.

Sometimes it was a result of asking and sometimes it was a result of opportunities coming to me, but the common denominator has always been me creating so much value for myself and my vision, that the client would have been silly not to formally work with me. They knew that they could easily lose me and my work to someone else and they weren’t willing to let that happen. Never once did I feel like I had to convince my clients that I was passionate about creating stories with words.

Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash

I wasn’t stuck behind my computer day in and day out sending countless pitches into the abyss. I was in the field, talking to people, writing and sharing stories that excited me, and had the opportunity to gain valuable feedback from thousands of people. And for that, I created value for my gift and am on track to turning it into a full time career.

Of course it is costing me time and money, just like everything else, but it is time and money well spent. Having the opportunity to write for brands that have huge audiences fills me up with joy and confidence unlike anything ever has before. Naturally I am an introvert so talking to people and sharing my life’s work is still scary to me to this day. By throwing myself into the deep end by signing on to create content for others made me break through that fear.

Oddly enough, having no money attached to the task made me subconsciously work even harder because I felt like I had so much more to prove. Obviously I did that considering the huge returns I have earned for myself and that’s something I want every creative to experience.

To be clear, I am in no way proposing you should do free work, per say. My intention is to empower you to find a way to be in service to people and companies that align to your vision for a limited amount of time. That doesn’t mean that you go into it assuming that it will eventually make you money, but that it will create a win-win situation for everyone involved.

At the end of the day, if you give it everything you have, create amazing relationships, and extreme value, there is a really good chance that monetary benefits will come. It may not be through the initial client because they may legitimately not have room in the budget for what you have to offer, but they do have the ability to pass your work onto their circles which unlocks a wealth of opportunities for you. I’m telling you, if you want it bad enough and it shows through your work and your being, it all seems to come full circle. Just don’t expect it to come without struggle.

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Freelance Content Writer & Marketer | Faves: #people #travel #fitness #actionsports

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