Should I Do It? On Working ‘for Free’
Healing-Helping-Creative folks: how often have you been asked to work ‘for free,’ ‘for an honorarium,’ ‘for a percentage of the proceeds — which could be X% of 0’ or ‘for exposure’?
(I’d like to hear your experiences, even before you read on.)
For me personally, it’s a rhetorical question. I’ve done it all, and probably asked other people to work for all of those models of ‘compensation’ at one time or another. Sometimes I feel it’s been justified, and sometimes not.
But how do you know when it’s a good idea, and when to run the other way?
If I ever did have a formula for these things, I don’t use it anymore. But after 20 years in various sectors of healing-helping-creative work, there are some questions I ask myself to guide to a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’. And really, these are the types of questions I ask myself before taking on most projects, regardless of the compensation on offer.
Start with the Basics
-Am I satisfied, do I feel good in my body with the monetary compensation for this?
If I am not satisfied with the monetary compensation:
-Can I reasonably, and while providing good value, ask for and receive more in this particular context? If not. . .
-Is there a way to reframe the situation, or leverage this to nourish myself more fully? E.g. as an opportunity to connect and share my voice, as an opportunity to practice a skill, as an opportunity to make potential contacts with other professionals who might refer, as an opportunity to simply volunteer my time for goodwill and giving back to the community? Or. . .
-Could I increase my dollar-per-time ratio if I sit down and very quickly, in an hour or two, pull this together? Could I simplify it somehow or recycle old materials or literally set the timer and get it done? Could I even ad-lib a little, make it a more interactive format where people ask their most pressing questions and I have resources to share? Or frame the whole thing as Q & A for people’s biggest questions on the topic (which you already know and could answer in your sleep)
-And also, are there any potentially hidden expenses in time, money, or energy? Like practice time for a concert, or set up/clean up time for an event, or transportation costs, or promotions on media that you haven’t been explicitly asked to do, but will be expected of you? Write them down, and add up the costs, or cost per hour of your time.
(If you haven’t figured out how to calculate your costs and how to set your rates to factor in those ‘non-compensation’ hours, this is something we teach in School of Kind Business because it is ESSENTIAL for the sustainability of your business.)
Going a little Deeper
-Do I feel honoured to be asked? If yes, is it because it is a good fit and I am being recognized and validated in the specific work I truly want to do, or because I feel flattered by the attention, or desperate for ‘any’ work?
-If I feel slightly annoyed (rather than honoured) at being asked: is it because the person asking has unwittingly stepped on a boundary or triggered something, like feeling under-valued, or unsafe? If I examine that and process it, is my answer yes or no?
-Am I afraid/anxious/uncomfortable to do this? If so, is it excited-scared and maybe an enthusiastic ‘YES’ being masked by my lizard brain working overtime? Or is it my inner guidance warning me away, with good reason?
-Do I feel light or joyful in my body when I consider doing this? Is there an area of my body that feels contracted when I consider doing this? Sit for a moment to breath and focus and notice, before answering.
-Are my reasons for wanting to do it/not wanting to do it about following my intuition and being wisely guided by experience, or are they being generated by trauma and past stories I carry? (And if the answer is trauma and stories, that doesn’t mean you should answer yes or no, it’s just good to be aware what is motivating you, for both guidance on the current decision and future learning.)
And now, Getting Ruthless about the Bottom Line
-Do I need more business, period? Is this a potential opening to be nourished by some ‘low hanging fruit’, to bring in business and quick money I may have forgotten about or ignored?
-Or, sort of the opposite: does this professional opportunity serve my chosen niche? I.e. VERY specifically who do I help, what problem do they need to solve, what result do they get, and will those people be in the audience for this service/event? Will I be reaching people I want to help, am qualified to help, and who might be willing to commit resources to my services?
-Will my business definitely suffer if I don’t do this? Will it definitely benefit if I do?
These sorts of queries are ongoing in my work, and I take each situation on a case-by-case basis. It’s usually pretty clear to me which projects I want to work on and why — regardless of the compensation on offer. Sometimes I wildly throw caution to the winds and just go for it in the spirit of experimentation, even if it’s not an ideal fit. Other times I don’t have the energy and even stuff I like the sound of is a ‘heck no.’
How do you make choices about what projects to take on in your work as a healing-helping-creative entrepreneur?
Copyright Feb 2019 by Pamela L. Alexander for School of Kind Business
