Comments on: Why I Recently Broke My “No Free Work” Rule

By: Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:05:22 +0000

Jerry,

In the U.S. at least you cannot claim free work for a nonprofit as a tax deduction for your time and services. The IRS doesn’t allow you to claim that your time is worth $XX per hour and then deduct that, because it would be too open to abuse. It’s very different than if you ran a product-oriented business and you donated those products. You can only deduct tangible out of pocket expenses (so if you did the printing for a project too, you might be able to deduct the supplies used and ultimately donated).

That’s why, while donating time to a nonprofit is infinitely better than donating it to a cheap-ass client that simply doesn’t want to pay, it’s not something freelancers should do constantly (or at least not if they’re going to take that time out of their otherwise billable hours).

By: Jerry Hayes

Jerry Hayes — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 04:54:34 +0000

I hear from so many people to not work for free or even on spec unless you have a monetiary agreement clause. However, I think if you do some work for a non-profit organization, who you beleive its for a great cause. Do the work and write it off at the end of the year as a deduction. In this way you can acheive three things,

* YOU HELP OUT SOMEONE WHO IS IN NEED OF YOUR EXPERTISE.
* YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW THAT WILL STRENGTHEN YOUR WRITING IN ANOTHER AREA
* AND YOU CAN CLAIM IT AS A TAX DEDUCTION AS A DONATION OF YOUR TIME AND SERVICES.

I’m not saying to write for everyone free–just those who interest you most. And its always a pleasure to learn something new.

By: Jennifer L

Jennifer L — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:30:09 +0000

I generally don’t advocate writing for free, but I break my own rule sometimes, too. In fact, I regularly write for a friend’s blog for free. It’s called Go Get Your Jacket (http://gogetyourjacket.com). It’s a fun blog that dissects what we as parents buy and why we buy it. I do it for fun. I know the proprietor isn’t making any money off it, and we’re mostly entertaining ourselves and our friends, but it gives me the chance to write about stuff that I don’t get the chance to write about professionally. And it keeps me fresh. And again, it’s fun.

By: Steven

Steven — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:08:30 +0000

There’s worse than writing for free or for a few dollars per article out there. I don’t know how many times I’ve wasted fifteen minutes or so writing an application letter only to get back that scam where they end up asking for your credit card number so you can do a trial review. They get plastered and then replastered all over the place. Or there’s the one who asks for a trial article with little if any outline as to what they’re really looking for, which takes several hours to put together, edit, check over, think over, re-edit, then email – and never hear back from the person again.

A lot of sites out there promise big bucks for becoming a freelancer, only to promote their book on how to do it at the bottom. As usual – more scams out there than you can shake a stick at and very little that’s legitimate.

In the end, I think the free stuff is less hassle. The person I’ve been writing for has been supportive, helpful, and responsive. It’s thus far been the only profitable, even if unpaid, freelance experience I’ve had. The rest of it has been profound waste of time.

By: Iris Jumbe

Iris Jumbe — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:03:41 +0000

Nice article, Jennifer. It’s always tricky sticking to a hard and fast rule about free work (spec work).
In the beginning, if you’re unsure of your footing, the temptation can be to simply give in to a client’s demands – no matter how one-sided they can be.
You really have to trust and believe that what you do is worth a fair wage and it’s ok to say no to work sometimes if it means keeping yourself open for a “fair” gig.