Turning free work opportunities into strategic choices (not just freebies)

Alot of freelancers avoid working for free for very good reason; it’s very hard to get supermarkets, real estate agents and clothing stores to accept exposure in lieu of cold hard cash.

However, while there is no doubt that you cannot work for free continually on the whiff that exposure will somehow come with this generosity, I’ve personally experienced the benefit of giving it away for free (oh my!) on a strategic level.

Here’s a bit of a walk through how I’ve gotten free work to work to my advantage, and how you could potentially do the same with a little bit of creative twist.

Choose the bodies wisely

The first round of proper free work I did was as marketing and events coordinator for FBi Radio in Sydney.

I chose to work with FBi because:
a) They had a hot, established brand that people recognised
b) It gave me the ability to boost my skill base for future projects
c) It’s a place rich in connections within marketing, advertising and creative industries
d) I had autonomy
e) It was local to where I lived at the time
Why these things matter is because:
a) You want people to instantly recognise the brand to add credibility to the work you do. Nobody really cares if you work for Joe’s Plumbing for free. They do however care if you’ve helped a notable NFP, arts body or charity.
b) It helps make you seem well rounded and well versed in your field. I chose to go after a role that complimented my skills and expanded my range of experience.
c) It’s networking without the awkward cheesy drinks. There is no better networking device than ‘doing’ as part of a team.
d) You get to put your stamp on the project. There’s no point in being the girl behind the staple gun- it has to show you’ve got skills and you know how to use them.
e) You’re already giving time and skills for free, so you should not have it cost you cash, too. Screw travelling for ages, having to pay for membership to participate or buying supplies. It’s OK to not make money, but to lose it is plain silly.

Finding the right opportunity doesn’t have to be a headache.
If you want to work with a particular body, treat it like the work approaches we’ve discussed before. You don’t have to wait for the opportunity to be advertised and even if they don’t have something now, you can be on their mind when something does come up. They may even appreciate saving the money to advertise.

You can also keep your eye on opportunities via:
https://www.dosomethingnearyou.com.au/
http://www.ethicaljobs.com.au/
https://volunteer.com.au/

Exercise:
· Think about the kind of opportunity spending 6 or 12 months working as a volunteer would help your freelancing in terms of network and skills.
· Create an approach letter and see what happens!

NOTE: Be wary of the many intern placements advertised on Pedestrian TV, The Loop and via 99interns as many of these are actually illegal.

In order to work with bodies that are not certified as NFPs and arts bodies in a volunteer capacity, you either need to be paid or it needs to be tied to a university degree as part of an approved part of your course.

Many of the agency, startup and business based intern opportunities do not meet these criteria and are a breach of the rules set down by Fair Work Australia.

To find out more, check out my blog about interns in Australia.

Make it a campaign

One of the smarter things to do is turn any and all free work you do into a campaign. One of my most successful marketing campaigns when I first started out was called “Swap Creative”.

At the time, I had a client who was the bulk of my work who couldn’t pay on time if his life depended on it. With savings regularly ending up as rent payments, I had little fun money left.

I hadn’t quite perfected my hustle and the business was in the early stages of growth. So I tapped into my inner hippie and created “Swap Creative”- where I would swap my copy or marketing advice and skills for access to a business’ goods or services.

In terms of goods, I gained a free running bar tab and access to food at a pub, a case of olive oil that could be used as my own plus gourmet Christmas presents, a table and chairs, and several other miscellaneous items.

I also got on the radar of business organisations and the Lord Mayor’s office for showing ingenuity in helping small business.

From here, I also decided to go local with my efforts. So I setup a social media campaign called Redfern Rocks to bust the stigma around the area as well as to network with local business. This was extremely successful and again, got me some PR and showed I cared about local events.

Swap Creative turned my furniture donor into a paid a regular paid client. That client also turned out to be one of the best referrers I have ever had. It also got me a paid clothing client who admired my approach. Promoting it on Plan Big also helped me connect with other freelancers who still refer work to me to this day.

Redfern Rocks gave me another platform to generate good will and promote the odd business offering. Plus it gave me the ability to feel connected locally.

My main aims for the campaigns were to:
· Gain access to things I couldn’t afford at the time
· Get more work in my portfolio
· Reach out to local businesses in an inventive yet low maintenance way
· See if I could get noticed
· Extend my networks via social media through being community centric

Exercise:
· Write down some goals where free work may help you such as building your portfolio, introducing you to the right kind of contacts, obtain PR etc
· Think about how you can use your skills to help others in a capacity that is no cost/low cost
· Create a newsworthy campaign from your idea
· Execute if you see the value!

Regular old client work

I don’t give discounts but I will occasionally give free work to my clients to keep them happy. And it’s not up to them to choose the freebie, it’s me giving them something special.

It’s a matter of working out how much margin you make on a particular item and whether you can afford the good will. Plus, if you remain in control of the freebie giving, they tend to respect it more.

So how do you decide what to give for free?
· Look at your current offerings against the original job booking
· Identify the trial item based on least amount of headache
· PLUS best opportunity to upsell and convert
For example, if I write a website, I may include information about social media in my copy deck to demonstrate my knowledge. This is always useful and could be as simple as a bio in line with the new copy. Or it may be a few topic ideas for their blog.

What I know about the situation is:
· My client’s weak spot is writing (otherwise, why would they pay me to do it?), so I am offering writing assistance of a different kind
· It hasn’t been asked for or made a big deal of, so it makes me look pro-active and eager about the work
· It’s a working demonstration of an area of improvement the client may need to undertake in the future

I’m not a fan of giving something to someone that they are already willing to pay for as it sends the wrong message. You’ll never see me offer a couple of free pages on a website or a bunch of free blogs within a blogging contract. All that does is cheapens your offering and makes them wonder if you’re overpriced.

So make sure what you choose demonstrates a new set of skills they could use to improve their business.

Exercise:
· Write down what you offer as a freelancer
· Are there any companion planting ideas you could use to promote your skills to current clients in other areas?
· What level of giveaway is meaningful to the client that is relatively low cost to you by being easy to do and/or replicate?

Always assess any freebie based on these 3 criteria-

1) It’ll get you great word of mouth
2) It fills a gap in your portfolio you need filled
3) It’ll make you money
Make sure you have 2 of these criteria as a minimum before activating a freebie.

Until next time!