Mini Series: Practice to Professional (2 of 7): Doing Free Work Can Be Okay
Vol. 058
Doing FREE or underpaid creative work can be okay—when done strategically.
How focusing on relationships as opposed to merely transactions can lead to long term financial success.
Mini-Series Schedule:
A 7-week series dissecting the 6 main points of my keynote speech: Practice to professional: manifesting your ideal creative career. This mini series culminates with a live webinar and Q&A where I talk through actual examples of how I applied these 6 main points to grow a 6-figure + creative business. You can rewatch the webinar through the link in week 7 below.
Week 1: You are your brand
Week 2: Free and underpaid work can be okay*
Week 3: Never Stop Experimenting
Week 4: Lie More
Week 5: Your Network is your net-worth
Week 6: Chasing the fog
Week 7: Watch the Webinar and Q&A!
Continue reading below…
Alright, I know there's a lot of passion and heat in the creative industry around the topic of doing free work, so I want to first clarify a few things.
No!
Firstly, I want to clarify that I am NOT suggesting that you do work for businesses or individuals who try to undervalue your work through suggesting that the opportunity is good exposure, with the promise of “future work”, or try to convince you that “this is a great opportunity for you”. That sounds like someone taking advantage of you and your skillset, and taking on these opportunities not only undervalues you and your own work, but the creative community as a whole.
Yes!
What I am suggesting is that you take the time to look at a project for more than just the monetary opportunity, but also the potential networking and relationship building opportunity. Some projects have more value embedded in the networking opportunity than the financial payment itself.
Think of it like this: when marketing your business you can either pay for that marketing with money, or you can pay for that marketing with the investment of your time and energy. I’m here to argue the value of investing in the latter.
Think of it like this: let’s say you’re a graphic designer trying to tap into the beer industry. If a low-paying project popped up (or, maybe you have a friend is starting a little at home brew project) look at this as an opportunity to build a new portfolio piece, get some work in this industry, build some relationships instead of being steadfast project.
If a project arises and the payment isn’t what you ideally would like it to be, you have the opportunity to consider a few things:
Will this project connect me with individuals, groups or businesses that will benefit me in the future?
Even though a lower payment than my normal rate, would this paid client project be a good portfolio piece?
Will this project be a good opportunity for me to prove my capabilities and my creative worth, and ultimately lead to more/higher paying opportunities in the future?
When beginning our creative careers, it often seems that we forget about the value of human connection because we’re so focused on making money. It’s normal — it happens to us all! But, In reality, true long term success is found when we focus on the relationship and not just the transaction of an individual project. We are often so focused on making money that we forget why we are in the creative industry in the first place. We as creative individuals are in the business of connecting products, services and individuals with targeted consumer groups through intentional, approachable and strategic design thinking and execution. We can best do this through building and fostering relationships.
I’m a firm believer that all business and work opportunities should be viewed as relational not just transactional choices. We should be open to looking at opportunities with the mindset of “could this lead to a long term partnership or success?” as opposed to simply “how much money can I make right now?”
The reality is that many of us are fairly new to the creative industry, and we don’t have the clout needed for new clients to immediately trust and pay us the big bucks. In these instances, sometimes we must first prove your worth before we get the work. Sometimes we need to first prove to our clients that we’re capable and professional before we get the opportunity to land the high paying projects.
As an example: I taught my first few hand lettering workshops FOR FREE! And, they went great. (I proved my worth).
I then continued to host paid hand lettering workshops in Denver. I made $13,000 the first year teaching. (I got the work).
The creative industry is the only industry that does free work
WRONG! I feel like there is this false perception that "no other industry works underpaid, or for free”. And, I wanted to clear the tables here — because it’s simply not true.
Think of a sales professional: they spend the majority of their days on calls, taking clients to lunches, dinners, events, networking, etc. with the mere HOPE of landing a deal or contract. They put in weeks of time and energy to build relationships and trust—to prove their worth—with their clients to hopefully secure the deal—to get the work. They’re doing exactly what we sometimes must do in the creative industry. I think it goes without saying that I feel the more authentic that you are, the more likely you are to land that contract or job. Authenticity builds trust, and trust makes cash.
If your client trusts you—as an individual and your professional capabilities—they’re far less likely to argue your rates or try and negotiate with you.
A quick example of this:
I am a brand ambassador for lululemon. This is not a paid opportunity (though, there are other perks). However, I saw this ambassadorship as an opportunity to not only experience something fun and new, but also to get my foot in the door with an amazing brand! This is an opportunity for me to prove my worth, and maybe ultimately land some work.
After doing my first Instagram post for the brand, I was soon contacted by the corporate team and they asked me to paint a mural for the Cherry Creek lululemon location — A PAID opportunity.
I saw the ambassadorship as an opportunity to build trust, get visibility on my work, and prove my creative value. There was no guarantee, but I was hopeful that would ultimately lead to a larger opportunity. Because I embraced my personal brand, I let my personality come through, and I was focused on building relationships with my lululemon contacts as opposed to simply trying to make money, the opportunity very quickly came up to paint this piece. They trusted me. I proved my worth, and I got the work.
As a disclaimer: I must suggest that you be careful taking on underpaid or free opportunities. When doing this type of work, you must be sure your contract is solid and that everyone is aligned on expectations, process and deliverables for the project. When taking on these types of projects I normally mandate that because the client is unable to meet my standard rates, they don’t have nearly the creative input abilities — while yes, they have a say in what is created, they’ve relinquished much of their creative control through this project. This ensures that I’m able to steer the project in the direction that I feel is best.
Tune in next week for part 4 of this 7 part series!:
Week 1: You are your brand
Week 2: Free and underpaid work can be okay*
Week 3: Never Stop Experimenting
(Next week!) Week 4: Lie More
Week 5: Your Network is your net-worth
Week 6: Chasing the fog
Week 7: Live Webinar, Q&A (secure your spot now)
