I did a photo shoot for a friend who wanted to pay me, and he asked me how much I wanted to charge. I said I could do it as a favor to a friend for free. Since this was for a business purpose, my friend wanted to pay. So far, so good. Then we got to discuss the amount. I didn’t really care since this was my friend but suggested that he start with what he meant was an acceptable salary for a photographer and adjust that to how many hours I’d spent. Before even calculating he burst out that that was “WAY too much”. So I just asked what he wanted to pay and accepted that as fine. My friend also pointed out what a good opportunity this was for me, being “seen” in that business. He said he was doing me a favor. I thought maybe he was right. I just wanted to be open to opportunities.

My friend came back a next time and I did the job again. My friend was still very pleased and came back a third time and this time I said no.

I don’t think he meant to take advantage of me, but he had no idea how much time I spent editing and working on the images, not to mention the extra equipment I invested in to be able to do the job. And I didn’t manage to educate him into knowing. In addition to this he has used the images for far more purposes than we had agreed on.

I got to the point where I was thinking – what’s in it for me? Really. The “More business” he thought I would get never came. And to be honest I did not want it either.

So I’ve said no to photo shoots, to teaching, I’ve said no to print sales where the customer thought I was too pricey. I tried to explain that preparing an image, talking to the shop, picking it up and meeting you in a café to hand it over is two hours work time for me. I get a lot of these requests and I would not have time for photography if I accepted giving prints away for the price that the printer guy wants for the print – a price which they may already think is too expensive.

I guess what annoys me still is that these people thinks what they wanted was a good deal… for ME. And that I could be a bit more generous. Since they are doing me a favor. They think it is good for me to get the practice. They think it is good marketing for me that my prints are seen on their walls by their friends. They think it is good for me to get more practice in teaching.

The only party it is good for is them.

So my opinion is that if you spend your time and money doing “free” work, make sure that the good feeling you get from giving away your time and work minimum matches what you invest.

There are some clients I would take on for free again any time but only because that type of work makes ME feel happy.

In this day & age when we have this incredible opportunity to create lifestyle businesses, I see too many people blindly following someone else’s blueprint. “Should,” “need to” and “can’t” are red-flag words for me. If you’re being told those things, even if it’s coming from your brilliant business coach, you still need to stop and evaluate the why.

Interestingly enough, the work I’ve done for either zero or very little money has given me the most exposure, introduced me to the most amazing people, and given me the greatest satisfaction. Last week I was working on two projects. One was paid and one was not. You don’t have to guess which was more inspiring and produced the most appealing images. Now, maybe one of these days soon, the two will come together, but until then, I will keep working for free and visualizing paychecks that come from those same organizations.

Thank you.