Why “never work for free” is crappy advice

“Oh woe is me, the whole world is against me, I’m not successful because Reasons, woe, woe, woe…”
^^ that’s pretty much what I saw on a Twitter feed this morning.
So today’s rant is twofold.
Let’s start with a wholly erroneous and damaging piece of advice shoved out at new freelancers everywhere: Never work for free! Rule 1
I have worked for free before. When I was starting out, untried, untested, and with no real clue what I was doing.
I’ve sent work on spec, and then got paying gigs from it.
Would I work for free now? No, but I have no need to do so. Telling new copywriters NEVER WORK FOR FREE OMG DOOM is idiotic and damaging.
Here’s a top tip if you’re a new creative — or a new anybody — find someone you really want to work with. Someone at the top of their game. And offer to do your absolute best work for them. If they don’t like it or want it, no harm, no foul (you now have a portfolio piece). But if it makes them money — they pay you.
You’ll be surprised how often this works. And if you do well, they will come back for more.
The bottom line is, if you’ve been running a freelance business for a good while and you’re still fighting off offers of “exposure”, that’s your fault. But that’s a good thing, because it means it’s in your power to change it.
Unless you whine like the dude above, who followed his Rule 1 with this little gem: Dude, I get that your not busy but working for free kills it for all of us
No. I cannot emphasise enough how much NO this is.
What other business owners choose to do, and how they choose to work, is none of your damn business. And if their choice to work for free somehow “kills it” for you, you have big problems.
Some tiny startups cannot afford to pay big fees, and some brand new copywriters do not have the chops to charge big fees. Put those two individuals together, and it could be a match made in heaven. A chance for them both to grow together.
As for those whiny little snowflakes who choose to blame their struggles on others — take control of your own business and life. If you’re good enough to get paid, go out and find clients who’ll pay you.
All this, by the way, applies to any business. Any business, whether it sells Things or Services or Consulting, can make a list of the people or companies they want to work with.
Then they can write letters, send samples, and generally ask for what they bloody well want.
Because nobody is going to land it in your lap out of the blue.
Go out there and get it.
And if you’d like some help doing so, my 49 Ideas email series is a damn good place for you.
Get signed up here:
TTFN,
Vicky
Copywriter. Author. Ran away with the circus.
