The Value of Strategically Doing Creative Work Underpaid or For Free.
Vol. 034
What Graphic Designers Should Consider When Doing Underpaid or Free Creative Work.
They tell you it’s not “all about the money.” And they’re right — sometimes there’s value in first focusing on the relationship, and then focus on the transaction.
A quick bite:
It’s not ALL about the money. Through focusing on relationship building and networking, as opposed to just dollar signs, you can lay the groundwork for long term partnerships, trusting relationships and business growth.
Continue reading below…
This is a touchy subject. Some people in the graphic design and creative industry would literally punch me in the head for saying this.
However, in years past, I’ve turned 5hrs of underpaid creative work into $30,000 of paid work. I turned 1 free mural into a rolling 25% of Vicarel Studios’ annual revenue. I’ve turned one free workshop into years of high paid creative work.
There is immense value in strategically focusing on relationship building and not just money making. “It’s not all about the money” is an aphorism for a reason.
When you flip your mind from focusing on the money to focusing on the relationship, you build trust, prove that you’re invested in a partnership, and this can lead to more quality opportunities down the line.
As a creative (graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, etc…) we’re in the business of building relationships — building relationships between people/consumers and products/services through our creative work — and this value of humanity should sometimes take a higher priority in how we run our businesses.
HOWEVER, you gotta do it right.
There are absolutely right and wrong ways to approach this, and unfortunately, it’s a blurry line. Every person, business, situation and client is different — this is not a one size fits all tactic.
If you do this right, it can lead to long term success. If you do it wrong, you can devalue not only your own work, but that of the entire creative industry. No pressure 😛
This concept is oftentimes most relevant for graphic designers earlier on in their careers, and one key and very important point when doing free or underpaid creative work is that you have the control. You make the choice to do this, not your client. I want to stress the importance of that hierarchy.
Situations when doing free or underpaid creative work is worth considering:
Opportunity to low-risk try something new
I wanted to paint murals for years; however, I never had the opportunity. To no surprise, because prospects didn’t see in my portfolio that I had painted murals, they never considered me for mural opportunities. I wasn’t showing the work I wanted to get hired to do.
At some point, I had the opportunity to paint a mural at a friend’s school. I did the mural for free. Of course, I noted my “minimal” (read: no) experience and that it might be a bit of a bumpy road. They were fine with that, as they were more excited to receive some artwork for free!
I learned SO much on that first mural, and I applied my learnings to then paint my first paid mural 2 months later. This proved to be one of my favorite murals to date!
When the precedent is set between you and your client that “you’re getting this for free (or lower than normal rates), so your expectations / the deliverables should reflect this” it relieves some of the pressure and stress of a project.
Opportunity to get into a new industry
When I first moved to Denver, Colorado I positioned myself as a freelance graphic designer with a penchant for travel, hand lettering and the great outdoors. I wanted to be seen as a graphic designer focused on working with brands and businesses in the outdoor and lifestyle industries because that’s where my passions lie!
Through networking and intentionally positioning my graphic design business, I was able to capture the attention of Zeal Optics, and I ended up getting hired to model on a multi-day photoshoot with them — I did this 100% FOR FREE.
But why?
I saw the opportunity to connect with a local brand in the outdoor industry as being an extremely valuable connection. More valuable than money. I was more interested in building that relationship in the outdoor industry than I was trying to get paid “my normal rate”.
How did it play out?
After meeting the crew, humanizing the relationship, building trust, and proving that I’m here for more than just money, we become buds! They then hired me to design a series of illustrations and lettering for a graphics kit for the brand. Bam: a multi-thousand dollar graphic design project landed in an industry I wanted to be working in — all made possible through doing a bit of initial “free work” (read: investing in relationship building).
Position as yourself as an expert, network or grow an audience
Do NOT underestimate the value of being seen as an expert in your field or the value of a trusted relationship.
Over the years I’ve had multiple 5-figure projects pop up “out of nowhere” and I come to learn that the client had either taken a (free) workshop of mine years prior, seen me speak at a (free) event, or had seen one of my donated (free) murals.
When you prioritize the act of conveying your value/expertise (i.e., talking about it, writing about it, or teaching it), it sometimes goes further than simply showing creative work in your portfolio.
This point plays into the law of reciprocity. When you deliver value to another with no expectations of anything in return, they feel compelled or inclined to somehow return the favor. I scratch your back, you scratch mine. I guess you could say I’m a pretty itchy guy...
Additional considerations:
As I noted, there are absolutely wrong ways to do this.
Oftentimes, work such as this is presented by clients to us creatives as “a good opportunity”, “a great portfolio piece”, “the first of many” or, everyone’s favorite “this project will be great exposure.”
🤢 I just threw up in my mouth.
Remember, you have the control. You should make the suggestion or choice as to whether or not free/underpaid creative work suits you, not your client.
Show the worth
When doing discounted/free work, ensure that your client understands what “this should cost.” If you’re doing a project for free for a friend, a client, whatever, you should still send them an invoice that shows the final amount, but you can show it with the 100% discount: send that $1,000 invoice with a 100% discount so they understand the value of what they just received.
You make the choice:
Unfortunately, people are going to try to take advantage of creatives. Generally, these are the people who don’t understand or value our work. These are oftentimes the people that don’t deserve discounts or free work, and they’re unlikely the people worth building working relationships with anyways.
If a client approaches you and says “I don’t have any money, but this is a great opportunity for you” that sounds like someone trying to take advantage of you. AVOID THIS. This devalues your work and your industry all together.
On the flip side, if you’re talking with a prospect that you’re interested in working with and down the line you discover their budget is 50% of what you’d ideally charge, you then have the choice to gauge the holistic value of the project and relationship.
Remember, there’s more to the creative industry and business than simply making money. Building the right relationship with the right business or individual can a long way: industry access, portfolio piece, future work — all of these things are valuable.Correlate value and deliverables
Be sure that when you’re quoting projects you have a connection between your price and the deliverables. I’ll use a recent example to explain…
I recently connected with a prospect on a really fun packaging opportunity. They noted that “they didn’t know what their budget was.” So, I sent an estimate for the project that came in at around $25k. After they reviewed the proposal (I use this one!), they noted that their max budget was $15k. Classic 🙄. I tried to negotiate, but this $15k was all of the sudden a hard number they couldn’t go past. So, instead of simply saying “okay, I can do this project for this price”, I subtracted deliverables, revisions and process.
Instead of doing 7 initial explorations, we did 3, instead of having 3 rounds of revisions, we did 2, instead of doing X, we did ⅓ X… You get the point.When you look at “lowering your rates” in this way, you’re able to reduce the investment without reducing the value. You're simply reducing scope. When there’s a direct correlation with lowering investment and lowering deliverables your client will understand that if you want to pay less, you’ll get less.
Don’t get lost in this
You don’t need to be doing every project underpaid or for free. You SHOULDN’T be. At some point, you gotta make that cash, baby!
More than anything I wanted to acknowledge that it’s not all about the money. But, when you reduce rates and do free work, the value MUST still be conveyed.
