I’ve completed free freelance work in three scenarios (that I can recall):
- Guest posts that will benefit me in the short or long term.
- Favors for friends that might one day return the favor.
- Community projects that make me feel good.
With guest posts, some freelance marketers might think this is something you only write for clients to help improve their SEO. But there are tons of benefits for guest posting when you’re building an audience or raising your own profile.
I’ve included a guest post later in this book that I wrote for Superpath, a community for content marketers. I did this for free for several reasons:
- I love the community and enjoy giving back.
- I was going to repurpose it in this book so it was time well invested.
- Writing such a post would increase my potential audience for products and services.
When you think of free work as genuine marketing, the “free” element becomes okay. As long as it’s relevant to the niche, community, or industry you’re in. This does mean, however, that you should be selective with free or guest posts. For example, writing a post to get a backlink to your site from an unknown site is almost worthless. But posting in a community that regularly looks for help with sourcing freelancers puts your name front and center.
I feel that “doing friends favors” needs some clarity. I don’t endorse mates rates or free work just because someone is a friend. (Exception for small favors; but we’re going to discuss mid to long-term projects.) At the end of the day, you are a business. And if you’re doing work for free, you could be missing out on income or the opportunity to find income.
Doing friends favors does pay dividends when you stand a chance of receiving something back one day. That might be a referral, some business with them, or a case study.
One example I have is conducting an SEO audit for my friend Tom. We’d been online friends for a while after hanging around in the same industry. I did this for free when he asked for help for three reasons:
- I like Tom very much; he’s a really nice guy.
- We have this unwritten agreement where we can DM each other almost anything and we’ll help each other out.
- One day, the company he works for might need my services and he has the confidence of referring someone he’s tried and tested.
- One day, he might go independent and need my services and he has the confidence of using someone he’s tried and tested.
- One day, he might get asked by a customer, friend, or colleague and he has the confidence of referring someone he’s tried and tested.
All of these are true. Tom is really nice. We still help each other out almost every day. He did refer me to the company he was working for (resulting in over $80,000 worth of business). He did hire me when he went independent. He did refer me to another business in the same industry (resulting in $10,000 worth of work). I’d say that’s making good of doing Tom a favor.
Oh, and he bought me a case of cider too. Told you he was nice!
Side note: you need to deliver here too. Just because you’re doing a friend a favor doesn’t mean you can drop your standards. Otherwise, it becomes a favor and nothing more.
I approach any work I do with that mindset. Be it a new customer, existing customer, customer who’s given notice, a guest post on a publication that doesn’t know me, or my personal site, recognizing that everything you post online (or offline if that’s your line of work) is a potential business opportunity. How you present yourself and your work is part of what gets you hired.
This, really, is a story about the success of community. Without embedding myself into the industry I work in, I would only know Tom from afar. But our constant interactions, showing up in the same places, and having common interests made us obvious friends.
When you give to a community, you’re one step closer to receiving something back.
And that doesn’t have to be the niche you’re in or the community you hang out in. It might be something close to your heart. For example, Maheen Kanwal, a freelance writer, says it’s okay to work for free when “you’re volunteering or for writing for an organization supporting a good cause. Be their voice. Give to the community.”
Cici Asanga, another freelance writer, provided me with this nice list of when it’s okay to work for free as a freelancer. I think #6 overrides them all.
1. When you are starting out
2. When you are taking a calculated risk
3. When you want a portfolio item
4. When you are struggling to get work and that might open doors
5. When you care about the cause e.g. charities
6. When you want to
7. To build goodwill
I replied to her comment with “I think #6 overrides them all! Only do free work when you want to!
I'm a big advocate of not working for free but there are circumstances where I do—and really quite a lot of them. But only because I WANT to.”
“Working” also doesn’t have to be exactly the services you offer either. This year, I went volunteering at a game reserve in Africa because I wanted to. Endangered animals can’t protect themselves from at-distance poachers and their natural habitats are being destroyed. Me writing a blog about this would have very little impact given my audience. But volunteering in the game reserve might.
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