As a professional actor I have never worked for free.
I have done jobs that didn’t give me money, but I have always been very well paid for my work.
And no, I don’t mean the satisfaction of job well done or getting paid in “exposure.”
Let me explain.
Never Work For Free
It’s common wisdom in entrepreneurial circles to “never work for free.”
I think there’s supposed to be some wisdom hidden in there about valuing your time or something, but there’s a problem with that thinking: if you’re just starting out, what you’re offering probably isn’t worth paying for.
I mostly agree with the idea of “never work for free,” but it’s important to realize that there’s other ways of getting paid than just money.
And many of those ways are often FAR more valuable than upfront cash.
Getting Paid
The first audiobook I ever did paid me $50 for a 1 hour 11 minute recording.
It took me 30 days to earn that $50.
30 days recording an unheated, underground closet in the middle of December just to get a little over an hour of usable audio and make a whopping 50 bucks.
It wasn’t much, sure. The 50 bucks about 5x less than the SAG union minimum and WAY less than many narrators charge for their freelance projects. Hell, you can’t even pay a whole bill with $50.
But it got me in the door.
It got me the start of a resume, a portfolio, a nascent body of work.
The real pay was being able to show the world that someone had trusted me to do this job and I had delivered.
It was social proof.
It was real-world experience.
The list goes on.
The point is, while it was neat watching my PayPal balance go up by $50, the non-monetary value of what I got from that first job was worth way more than a Grant.
Your First Offer
When you are first starting out, you may not have an offer or a service or a product worth paying for – yet.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get paid, and it definitely doesn’t mean that you should take any work, client, or “exposure” that comes your way.
Just because your value might not be measurable in money (yet) doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable. It means you have to measure it differently.
You may not be able to trade for money, but you can still barter.
If you are giving any value (and you’d better be providing some, even from day one), you need to be asking what you can get in return. It’s only fair.
So the question to ask is: what does a non-paying customer have to offer you that you would be willing to trade for?
- Feedback
- Referrals
- Social Proof
- Access / Foot in the door
- Access to their network
- Testimonials
- Specialized experience
The list goes on and is 100% dependent on what you and your fledgling business need to grow.
I now regularly make 5-6 times my original hourly audiobook rate for every two hours of my time (it no longer take 30 days to get 1 hour, thank God), but I will still absolutely do work for “free” if it’s a book in a genre that I want to break into or that lets me show off character, dialect, or other skills I haven’t previously had a professional avenue for.
Am I turning down a few thousand dollars and working for free for a week or two?
Yep.
But you can bet your ass I’m getting something out of it.
Usually more than one something.
If you’re not paying me in money, I’m definitely getting a testimonial and a few referrals too.
And keep in mind, nearly everything I “charge” in a situation like that costs my clients next to nothing but is highly valuable to me. I give them more in relative value than I ask for in return, but I’m still getting something valuable.
That’s bartering at its best.
So am I saying that the money doesn’t matter? That you should work for free?
No.
I’m saying:
You Shouldn’t Work For Nothing
Never do work for nothing.
Never take a client or perform a service in the hope that it will someday lead to something bigger.
You should always be getting something for your trade, even if you’re not worth money yet. Know what you want and ask for it. Write a contract for it if need be.
Want referrals? Then 5 referrals is the price they’re going to pay. Look them in the eye, tell them what it costs, and shake their hand the same way you would if it was costing them $10,000.
Want feedback so you can improve?
Want testimonials?
Want a social media shout out?
Want to be on their podcast?
Want an introduction to their boss?
Whatever it is, the same rules apply.
The bill is the bill; tell them what they owe you, make it clear, and collect your payment.
A Final Word on “Exposure”
Exposure is bullshit.
Anyone who offers to pay you in “exposure” isn’t worth your time or energy – UNLESS – they’re customers are your customers which is wildly unlikely.
This is the first big problem with exposure: a mismatch in your markets.
If you paint murals and a business offers to trade your painting for “exposure” the customers coming to that business had better be in the market for mural painters and your name and contact info better be prominently displayed at all times.
The second big problem with exposure is vagueness.
If you don’t know the value you are trading for, it’s a bad trade. Would you ever allow a custom to pay you in some amount of money, at some point in the future, maybe, possibly, we’ll see? Then don’t let someone pay you attention to you work that may happen one day, maybe, we hope.
Instead, “charge” a customer 5 referrals, a tweet with your work and contact info to their audience, a shout-out on a YouTube video, a free advertisement plug on a podcast; all of these could be valuable to your business, and they are all a damn sight more specific than “exposure.”
Know Your Worth
The point is this: know your worth.
If you aren’t valuable enough to trade for money, trade for things that will help to make you more valuable so that one day soon you can trade for cash.
Even if it’s your first day going pro, you never work for nothing.
And never be vague about what you’re getting in return. You wouldn’t be vague about the price if it was measured in cash, don’t be vague about barter either.
Being an amateur only applies in the Olympics and porn. Go pro from day one and set your prices accordingly.