{"id":3567,"date":"2020-10-04T10:36:01","date_gmt":"2020-10-04T10:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/?p=3567"},"modified":"2022-02-27T21:07:08","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T21:07:08","slug":"5-reasons-why-professional-creatives-might-do-free-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/blog\/5-reasons-why-professional-creatives-might-do-free-work\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons Why Professional Creatives Might Do \u201cFree\u201d Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether or not you do free work is a very controversial topic. Get paid what you\u2019re worth, that\u2019s what most professional creatives believe (including myself). If you earn a living as a professional creative, you put way too much time, energy, heart and soul into what you do just to give it away. And one of the biggest mistakes I see professional creatives make (especially in the pro video world), is not charging enough for their work.<\/p>\n<p>So it may seem confusing, contradictory, or even hypocritical when I tell you that giving away your work should be part of your\u00a0<a href="\&quot;https:\/\/artlist.io\/blog\/four-tactics-youtube-creators-should-use-in-their-content-marketing-strategy\/\&quot;">marketing strategy<\/a>. The question is, when, why, and how to do it in a manner that supports your brand and actually yields the results you want.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>It\u2019s Not Charity<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>For the purposes of this article, I am not going to talk about charity work. I think that is a very good way in fact to get your work out there and network with prospective clients. (Besides, I think it\u2019s important to use your gifts to give back, regardless of whether or not there is any business reward). What I want to address is when does it make sense to take on a \u201cregular\u201d gig for past, present or prospective client strictly for the purposes of helping your business.<\/p>\n<p>A friend of mine was telling me about a job they did for an influencer with a large following. They had done paid work for this person and now this influencer wanted to know if my friend would do another project for free\u2014for the exposure.<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s the thing. My friend had already done enough work for this high profile person that any benefit they would have received from that exposure would have kicked in already. Add to that the fact that many other creatives in my colleague\u2019s industry had also done a number of freebies for this influencer such that my colleague would just be one many professional filmmakers looking to get exposure. I kind of liken it to vultures or hyenas that follow a tiger or lion around to get its scraps after the kill.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74391\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-3571 size-full\" src="\&quot;https:\/\/artlist.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/casey-allen-8cg0rd8M5D0-unsplash-1300x867-1.jpg\&quot;" alt=\"filmmakers doing work for free are like vultures\" width=\"1300\" height=\"867\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/casey-allen-8cg0rd8M5D0-unsplash-1300x867-1.jpg 1300w, https:\ \ new-blog.artlist.io\ blog\ wp-content\ uploads\ 2020\ 10\ casey-allen-8cg0rd8M5D0-unsplash-1300x867-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\ \ new-blog.artlist.io\ blog\ wp-content\ uploads\ 2020\ 10\ casey-allen-8cg0rd8M5D0-unsplash-1300x867-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\ \ new-blog.artlist.io\ blog\ wp-content\ uploads\ 2020\ 10\ casey-allen-8cg0rd8M5D0-unsplash-1300x867-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\" \ /><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Filmmakers trying to do \u201cfree\u201d work for famous influencers are sometimes like vultures waiting for the scraps from a lion. Photo by\u00a0<a href="\&quot;https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@westbeach013?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\&quot;">Casey Allen<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0<a href="\&quot;https:\/\/unsplash.com\/s\/photos\/vultures?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\&quot;">Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I\u2019ve seen it happen many times. A creative professional does free work for an influencer or large brand in hopes of exposure. At some point, the creative professional wants to get paid for the work they do for that influencer\/brand. Said influencer\/brand moves on to the next creative professional willing to work for free.<\/p>\n<p>First, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. Both parties are adults and go into any kind of arrangement knowing what they will get out of it. The creative professional gets exposure; the influencer\/brand gets work. I pass no judgment on this way of doing business. Mainly because it has been a strategy of mine for years. (Where I\u2019m the creative professional, not the influencer. Just to be clear. )<\/p>\n\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"section\" data-elementor-id=\"186\" class=\"elementor elementor-186\" data-elementor-post-type=\"elementor_library\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-section-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-b6940b6 elementor-section-full_width cta-middle external elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"b6940b6\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ae3297b\" data-id=\"ae3297b\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;gradient&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap 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31.2332 7.94626C31.2409 7.70825 31.095 7.49328 30.88 7.40114C30.5038 7.23991 30.1123 7.10939 29.713 7.0019C29.26 6.87906 28.8762 6.76389 28.5614 6.64873C28.285 6.55659 28.0316 6.42607 27.7936 6.25716C27.6093 6.12664 27.4635 5.95773 27.3713 5.75044C27.2792 5.53546 27.2331 5.30513 27.2408 5.06712C27.2331 4.73698 27.3022 4.41451 27.4481 4.11508C27.5863 3.83869 27.7782 3.58532 28.0239 3.39338C28.285 3.18608 28.5767 3.03253 28.8915 2.93272C29.237 2.82523 29.6055 2.77148 29.9664 2.77148C30.4578 2.77148 30.9568 2.84058 31.4252 2.99414C31.8858 3.14769 32.3158 3.39338 32.6766 3.72352L31.9626 4.7984C31.6478 4.56039 31.3023 4.36077 30.9338 4.21489C30.619 4.09205 30.2889 4.03063 29.951 4.03063C29.69 4.02295 29.429 4.08437 29.1986 4.21489C28.999 4.33774 28.8915 4.53736 28.8915 4.81375C28.8838 4.92124 28.9145 5.02873 28.9683 5.12086C29.0297 5.213 29.1065 5.2821 29.1986 5.33584C29.3291 5.41262 29.4673 5.46636 29.6132 5.51243C29.7821 5.56617 29.9971 5.62759 30.2581 5.68901C30.7342 5.81186 31.1411 5.9347 31.4789 6.05754C31.7783 6.15735 32.0547 6.30323 32.3158 6.47982C32.5154 6.61802 32.6766 6.80996 32.7918 7.03261C32.8993 7.26294 32.953 7.52399 32.9453 7.77735C32.9453 8.45299 32.692 8.99043 32.1929 9.38199C31.6708 9.78891 30.9952 9.98085 30.1276 9.98085Z\" fill=\"#FFDA2A\"><\/path><path d=\"M38.0812 9.48966C37.7971 9.6125 37.5053 9.71999 37.2059 9.80445C36.8527 9.91193 36.4919 9.96568 36.1233 9.96568C35.8853 9.96568 35.655 9.93497 35.4323 9.87354C35.225 9.8198 35.0331 9.71231 34.8642 9.57411C34.6953 9.42824 34.5647 9.25165 34.4726 9.04435C34.3651 8.79867 34.3191 8.52995 34.3267 8.26123V4.27649H33.4131V2.91754H34.3267V0.667969H36.1003V2.91754H37.5591V4.27649H36.1003V7.66236C36.1003 7.90805 36.1617 8.08464 36.2922 8.18445C36.4228 8.29194 36.5917 8.34568 36.7606 8.338C36.9448 8.338 37.1291 8.30729 37.3057 8.24587C37.4823 8.18445 37.6205 8.1307 37.728 8.08464L38.0812 9.48966Z\" fill=\"#FFDA2A\"><\/path><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M3.43194 1.08203H5.20549L8.62975 8.48334V9.85765C7.24776 9.91907 5.80435 9.94979 4.31487 9.94979C2.8254 9.94979 1.38199 9.91907 0 9.85765V8.48334L3.43194 1.08203ZM1.90407 8.39121C2.71023 8.41424 3.51639 8.42192 4.31487 8.42192C5.12103 8.42192 5.92719 8.40657 6.72567 8.39121L4.31487 3.18572L1.90407 8.39121Z\" fill=\"#FFDA2A\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-inner-section elementor-element elementor-element-509c078 elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"509c078\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-b63c6db\" data-id=\"b63c6db\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-88ef02d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"88ef02d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Get unlimited royalty-free 4K footage<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-90a8615\" data-id=\"90a8615\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-476808b elementor-mobile-align-justify elementor-align-justify elementor-widget__width-initial external-link-event event-midpage-startfree elementor-widget-tablet__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"476808b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href="\&quot;https:\/\/artlist.io\/start-now\&quot;">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Start  Free Now<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1816319 elementor-mobile-align-justify elementor-align-justify elementor-widget__width-initial external-link-event event-midpage-pricing elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"1816319\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href="\&quot;https:\/\/artlist.io\/page\/pricing\/max\&quot;">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Pricing<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n<h2><strong>When You Should Work for \u201cFree\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>At some point, the creative professional needs to know when they have reached the point where additional free work no longer has benefits. So, here are some things I\u2019ve learned over 20 years as to when it makes sense to do work for \u201cfree.\u201d (I should note that \u201cfree\u201d just means, not getting paid in your country\u2019s currency a fair rate for the work you do. But there are other forms of \u201cpayment\u201d or value that you can earn.)<\/p>\n<h3>1. Exposure<\/h3>\n<p>As I mentioned earlier, the main reason you may do work for free is that it could give you a tremendous amount of exposure. I once did a free recap video for an international photography convention to get exposure to over 10,000 attendees and hundreds of vendors. That gig led to tens of thousands of dollars of paid work over the next 3-4 years from just that company, not to mention the tens of thousands of jobs I got from vendors and attendees.\u00a0In fact, in that first \u201cfree\u201d job I did for them, I was assigned an $8,000 gig for Adobe (keep in mind this was in 2007 dollars) to do a series for the release of Lightroom. The trick when doing work for exposure is knowing when you\u2019ve gotten all you can expect to get out of the \u201cfree\u201d work and it\u2019s time to start actually getting paid. Sometimes that high profile client will hire you for future gigs. Sometimes they won\u2019t.<\/p>\n<h3>2.To build your portfolio<\/h3>\n<p>One of the first times you may do work for free is when you\u2019re just starting out. You know you need something to show prospective clients, so you may have to do a few jobs for free (or really cheap) in order to build up a portfolio of work to show. The question you need to answer in this case is \u201cWhen am I ready to start charging?\u201d The answer to that depends on you. If you do an amazing job for free\u2014let\u2019s say a video or photoshoot that looks like it costs $50,000\u2014assuming you have good sales skills, there\u2019s no reason why on your next job you couldn\u2019t charge $50,000. If the value is there, the clients who recognize it and need it will pay it. (The hard part is finding them, but that\u2019s fodder for another blog post).<\/p>\n<h3>3. To diversify your portfolio<\/h3>\n<p>Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a seasoned commercial filmmaker and content creator with 10+ years of experience. Your pricing and branding are firmly established. You have no need for exposure. But, maybe you\u2019ve never shot a virtual reality job. It\u2019s a job that would push your creative muscles and require you to step out of your comfort zone. But it\u2019s work you want to do and market. So you may take a free VR gig for that reason.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Connections<\/h3>\n<p>You may decide to do a free job if the relationship with that client will give you connections you would never get otherwise. The caveat here is to make sure you are confident those connections will really pan out. Don\u2019t go into such a job assuming the client will connect you to whomever you want to be connected with. You either need to have a high level of trust that they will deliver on any promises to connect you. You may even want to build it into your contract. This one is kind of tricky because oftentimes the connections you think will be so great really aren\u2019t. You need to decide that for yourself.<\/p>\n<h3>5. Bragging rights<\/h3>\n<p>It may be worthwhile to do a gig for free just to have that client on your client list. To be able to say you shot a celebrity\u2019s wedding or you did a music video for a hot musician, can be a huge selling point for your business.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>When You Should NOT Work for \u201cFree\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Just as important as knowing when it makes sense to do a job for free, is knowing when you shouldn\u2019t. In fact, you could argue that\u2019s more important. Basically, if you are not absolutely sure what your business will get out of a freebie (e.g. large exposure to an audience that does not already know you, adding work to your portfolio that is unlike anything you\u2019ve ever done, etc.) then chances are, you should not do it.<\/p>\n<p>Even if you know what the\u00a0<i>business<\/i>\u00a0reward is, there may be other reasons you don\u2019t take a free job; like how that job will affect your family life; what the personality of the client is like and if that is something you can stand; what effect will it have on your health; do you get to have the right to use the work in promotions (doing work for a Hollywood celebrity could come with limitations that make doing it for free not at all worth it). All of these must be taken into consideration.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, if you decided to take on such a gig, don\u2019t skimp on the quality just because you\u2019re not getting paid in currency. Put all the heart and soul you would normally put into it had the client paid you financially. Your reputation and integrity are not worth sacrificing. So if you can\u2019t do such a job at the highest possible level, just don\u2019t do it at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether or not you do free work is a very controversial topic. Get paid what you\u2019re worth, that\u2019s what most professional creatives believe (including myself). If you earn a living as a professional creative, you put way too much time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>5 Reasons Why Creators Should Do \u201cFree\u201d Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The question is, when, why, and how to do work for free in a manner that supports your brand and actually yields the results you want.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/5-reasons-why-professional-creatives-might-do-free-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Reasons Why Creators Should Do \u201cFree\u201d Work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The question is, when, why, and how to do work for free in a manner that supports your brand and actually yields the results you want.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/5-reasons-why-professional-creatives-might-do-free-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Artlist Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-04T10:36:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-27T21:07:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/d407a6ea5f7d4b9f57388b5fff987b0dcb431301.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ron Dawson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ron Dawson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/5-reasons-why-professional-creatives-might-do-free-work\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/blog\/5-reasons-why-professional-creatives-might-do-free-work\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ron Dawson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2c7b17f9ad6cc7e9f9ec0880c378da1a\"},\"headline\":\"5 Reasons Why Professional Creatives Might Do \u201cFree\u201d Work\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-04T10:36:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-27T21:07:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/blog\/5-reasons-why-professional-creatives-might-do-free-work\/\"},\"wordCount\":1434,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Marketing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Production &amp; 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