When should you work for free?

Following an email last week on this topic, I decide to expand on when you should work for free.

Generally, I don't agree with working for free. When someone asks to pick your brains, or grab a coffee, you are giving away your time and expertise for free and you should be looking to offer a power hour for this. If you need help with this, my Creating and Pricing your Power Hour masterclass may help.

Be careful of expressions like "it will be good exposure for you" or "it will raise your profile".

Ask yourself:

1. Is this something my paying clients would expect to pay for?

2. Is it part of my core offering that I would give away for free?

3. Is this audience one I can't get in front of normally?

4. Does this actually raise my profile and have me down as an expert?

5. Is this going to be a lot of work and no reward?

I've done this quite a lot over the last 6 months and have done podcast interviews and have been in Janet Murray's membership a lot. It has gained me new clients and it has absolutely been worth it for raising my profile as a pricing expert. I've done podcasts, which I love and don't take a huge amount of preparation. Facebook lives can be great to talk on a subject you can discuss with no preparation.

Main things to note when you are doing things for free.

1. Make sure you can promote your stuff during your slot, even if it's a freebie. Be clear that if you are not being paid, you want to be able to promote your thing.

2. Be clear about what you are getting out of the session

3. Make sure you know how your session will be promoted and ask to see how others have been promoted.

4. Pick carefully people that you know

5. Ask for payment if you think it's going to be a lot of work or of huge benefit only to the business owner

6. Be aware that some gigs will be better than others, and learn from the experience. I've done small gigs that were way better for my profile and sales than ones I would have thought would be more profitable.

Plan strategically how much time you give to podcasts and free speaking gigs. Be careful not to say yes to everyone, but that they will work for you in your business and be people that might become clients.