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I was not going to was not going to post my advice until I saw how many people here were saying the opposite. Do not, under any circumstances, work for free.[1][2] When clients agree to work with you, they risk more than money. They risk their time, their peace of mind, their ability to be proactive in a changing environment. The best clients are the ones who realize that. As such, they will be uncomfortable with the thought of your working for free, since the unsustainable nature of your position endangers their peace of mind. They're happy to throw money at you to protect what really matters to them. In terms of practical advice, if you don't yet have a network, I recommend checking out oDesk, Elance, and other sites. Don't try to underbid providers working from developed countries, and don't spam every buyer with proposals. Just write personalized, specific letters containing some of the details you would be thinking about as you went about solving their problem. Before you know it, you will have more work than you can handle. [1] I don't consider wedding videos, etc. made as a gift to fall under the category of freelance work. If this is what you do for a living, it's fine to gift your services, but trying to leverage free work into a sustainable career is an awful idea. [2] The exception is support. Phone calls are free. Bids/proposals are free. Your work, the value you provide, is decidedly not. |
Totally agree with this. It ha been my experience that well paying customers are the best kind. They are more respectful of my time and less of a headache. The people that want thing low cost or for free are happy to drain your time for really no good reason.
This theory is why I also charge a certain flat fee upfront to get started on any client work. It gets the client emotionally invested in the project since some of their money is in the pot. Most of the time when I have done things without upfront payment or free work, the client is lazy to get me necessary graphics, text, authorization, etc. to do what I said I would do. Then it still reflects badly on the freelancer.