Free is the New Paid

Sometimes the allure of an assignment can keep us from seeing the reality of the job.  Is it really worth it to do a job for half price?  What about for free?  Would you pay someone to be allowed to do the job?

…wait, isn’t something wrong with this picture?

As professionals, we’re supposed to price ourselves for profitability.  Every job we do is supposed to contribute to the net profit of our business.  Why would we even consider accepting a job that would take us further away from our goal?

“But Betsy,” you say, “you don’t know the whole situation.  This job is going to get me a lot of publicity.  It will be worth it.”

You’re right, I don’t know the whole situation.

Maybe the job will get you a lot of publicity.  You could be right.  But, will it be the right kind of publicity?  Will you be bringing in new clients who are wanting to pay your standard rates?  Or will you be bringing in new clients who also expect you to work for free?

Maybe you do slightly better than free.  Maybe taking that one job at will get $10 more in the bank… but is that really your ideal job?  Was it worth the $10, or could you have spend those hours bringing in twenty times as much revenue? You can’t just consider your current monetary situation.

Why not start working on your business, so you don’t get stuck working in your business. Set your sights bigger; think about the big picture.

When you look at things from that wider perspective, if it still makes sense to take the job, well, I’m not stopping you.  Just make sure you’ve taken the time to thing about things from multiple perspectives.

Don’t just think about how taking that job will impact you now.

Think about how accepting it will affect your business tomorrow, next month, or three years from now.