Never Work For Free

Never Work For Free

Entrepreneur, Medium, writing

A friend of mine is also an entrepreneur. She was asked about possibly doing a whole new project for one of her clients. She wasn’t super familiar with the details but knew she could do the main part, so she said she was interested.

The client didn’t even ask her to, but she spent several hours researching information and details about parts of the project she wasn’t as familiar with — but hadn’t firmed up a price or a contract with the client yet.

I told her to stop. The biggest thing about being an entrepreneur is you only get paid for certain work. It was the client’s responsibility to take care of some of what she was researching, and even then, only if they agree to move forward.

Protect your time.

As the expert, your time is your most valuable commodity.

Time spent doing “just a quick little favor” for a client that pays by the minute or researching something for someone you don’t even work for any more than 10 minutes should absolutely be paid.

If you are wondering what this includes — literally everything. It is up to your discretion to give advice to your family or close friends for free. Anyone else should be paying.

There is a REASON you are able to make a living freelancing and that is because you are really good at what you do.

Which means you deserve to be compensated for it.

Don’t work for free.

I will occasionally give discounted pricing to people if it’s a trial blog post or something. But even then, still not free and that is my own choice.

The times when I have not charged for advice or help are when I choose to do so in a community, such as Reddit or Quora, where people are genuinely asking for help and no one is under any obligation to give it. I like helping people, and other writers are a fantastic group of people!

How To Be Inspired Today

How To Be Inspired Today

JS, Medium

Creativity begets more creativity. Inspiration can be found from anywhere, but it can be easy to get so mired in and forget or be unable to find the beauty in the world.

Stop what you’re doing. Right now. Just take a moment, put down the pen, the phone, remove your fingers from the keyboard. Just stop.

After you read this sentence, close your eyes and take a deep breath and hold it for 5 seconds. With your eyes still closed, think of the last thing that made you laugh. The last thing that made you cry. Picture yourself in your happy place. Now, open your eyes and go read.

Read the news, read blog posts, articles, a book, whatever you want. By exposing yourself to new ideas and articles, you’ll immediately start thinking of topics or be reminded of something you’d planned to write about.

Why the close your eyes exercise? 2 reasons. 1, because it’s expected and 2, because it works. By putting yourself in a positive mindset, you are more likely to be open to inspiration and new ideas and then feel positively towards them.

My happy place is a gorgeous beach on crystal clear water. I can taste my frozen strawberry margarita, hear the waves crashing into shore with that sound that is a cross between a crowd cheering me on and a tremendous crash. I can see the boat waiting for me offshore, a small sailboat that I can take out fishing or scalloping or diving. Next to me is a stack of books I’ve been wanting to read, and my phone is nowhere to be found. I can feel the sand in my toes and the wind in my face and the slight tingling of my skin starting to get pink.

If that image doesn’t inspire you, then I don’t know what will!

Inspiration comes from everywhere and anywhere. Your daily experiences and the people you interact with, the news, other blogs, and more. A picture that makes you laugh, a meal you love, experiences you enjoy.

The best way to find immediate inspiration is to read. Whenever I read through my Medium feed, I see titles and posts that remind me of things I want to write. Or that is a differing point of view than my own, and I want to discuss why. And sometimes, they are a list of topic starters and ideas which give me something to write about.

 

Where do you find your inspiration? Do you actively go looking for it?

 

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