I recently read an article, “Four Reasons For Working For Free”,  and perhaps my desire to debate or play devil’s advocate in situations caused me to read into this differently. While I do understand the general premise and many of the reasons that drive such an article, there are many parts of the article that I take issue with.

Before I get going, perhaps it would be better to explain my foundation.  I currently have a full time position and I actually like my job.  I have a great boss who understands how to effectively communicate with a designer and a good group of co-workers.  I also own my own company (an LLC) in which I offer similar services as a freelancer.  Lately I have introduced photography and post-processing as services I offer, to compliment the usual graphic/web design capabilities I already have.  With that said, here are my thoughts, take them or leave them.

“A check is a good thing. It puts food on the table and keeps the business running. But that same check can also keep you from growing in the direction in which you want to grow.”

Many people, not just freelancers but company’s as well, see the check, not the work.  Meaning, they want and need the income in order to stay afloat, so they take on work to meet those needs.  As a freelancer, I have come to grips that my business is my business.  I would rather not conform solely to the needs to receiving money and adhere to creating the way that I want to create.  Clients see your portfolio and know the type of work you are capable of and accepting something just to accept some work puts you in an awkward position.  You should dictate the direction of your business, not your clients or potential clients.  Anything else is stupid in my opinion.

“ I want to benefit from both the photos and the experiences of meeting my subjects. That is my personal photographic compass point. Where the photos get used is secondary. As is how much — or even if — I get paid for them. For now, anyway.”

This really confuses me.  The author states he is a professional yet says how his work is used and how much he gets paid is secondary to the type of work he creates?  Yet above that the author says he accepts the work that pays.  I don’t understand that logic.

“I do not know how much “free” time I can devote to it yet, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I will devote whatever free time I can to making those kinds of photos.”

Again, this is from a professional?  At this point I have to question what the definition of professional is.  Is it someone who works completely as a photographer and is paid only for that work or someone who occasionally gets paid for some photography work?

If you own your own company or have worked as a freelancer for any amount of time, I would hope that you have some type of strategic plan in place that you evaluate at least on a yearly basis.  My wife and I spent a series of dinners recently where we talked at great lengths about where my freelance company has been, where it is going, and where we would like to take it.  I can understand not truly having a grasp on your freelancing time to an extent, but if you are a full time paid professional, I cannot understand the lack knowledge about your time.  Time is one of your most valuable assets and if not managed correctly it can cost you, and cost you dearly.  I know exactly how much time I can devote to something and it does matter.

Did I agree with anything in the article?

I do agree that offering something for free removes a lot of constraints.  It will allow you to quickly build your portfolio and extend your name and brand recognition.  But is that all you are doing?  Do you think that these people are now immediately employed as your marketing and PR agents spreading the word about your wonderful services?  Or are they posting the photos on MySpace and if asked, they say “Oh, this guy did them for free”?

If you are going to offer your work for free, you are offering more than just the time to take the photos.  You are offering expenses to and from, equipment costs, maintenance costs, hosting costs, post-processing time, and time that you could be spending on paying gigs.  You better have something more than just “oh, this is free”.  What is wrong with having some marketing materials prepared for them to give out?  There is a company here that every so often does a free shoot.  Part of the client’s responsibility in getting the shoot for free, is passing out information about the studio and a few other things, like collecting names for a mailing list.  This is at least a little better than just giving yourself away and hoping that others will contact you to pay for the work you just gave away to someone else.

For me, one of the biggest deterrent about offering too much non-paying work is that I have found those who are getting it for free, or paying next to nothing, are the most difficult to work with.  When I have cut prices and bent over backwards to land work from a client, they have been horrible to deal with.  This year I landed three new clients for my design work.  Up front I told each of my hourly rates and showed them my portfolio.  They all recognized that in order to obtain a certain look they would need to pay and have been the absolute best clients.  On the other hand, a few years ago I took on a project that involved several designs, such as branding, website, etc.  To get the work, I thought I had to undercut my own price standard and almost gave it away.  One of the worst clients in my memory.  The most demanding, most difficult to communicate with, and I eventually did no more work for them because of it.

Please understand that I am approaching this from a freelancer who has a steady job.  I do deal with my own company as any business owner would.  I have been working on a marketing/branding campaign, advertising, budgets, growth, etc.  I do free photography projects to help build my portfolio but a lot of that is also a hobby.  The majority of the freelance work that I do is paid.

It is a fine line to walk and I understand the value of offering your work for free.  In my mind it is more of a temporary answer to a bigger marketing and promotion question that you need to address.

My 2 cents.