When is working for free a good idea?
I can probably sum this up quite quickly. It’s all about intention. If you’re deciding to work for free for a good reason, it’s fine. But if you’re doing it because you doubt the worth of what you do, or because you feel guilty about charging, it’s probably not.
Simple, right?
No, not really, because it’s often a complex soup of different emotions and motivations. And when you’re a freelance language teacher, trainer, coach or other language professional, there can be quite a lot of pressure to give your time and expertise away.
So let’s try and clarify when working for free might actually be a good idea, and when it’s probably time to say no.
The culture of ‘shoulds’ in ELT
Firstly, as I’m sure you’re aware, there’s a huge culture of ‘shoulds’ within ELT.
You should be more focused on helping other people than on doing what’s good for you. You shouldn’t expect to earn very much. You should expect to work really, really hard to make ends meet.
The messages are all around us in things like, ‘Teachers don’t teach for the income, they teach for the outcome.’
And it’s not unusual for people to come right out and say it to you.
Like the guy on LinkedIn (who I didn’t know from Adam, by the way) who asked me to proofread his MA dissertation for nothing, and then got really unpleasant and aggressive when I said no.
It’s gobsmacking.
And then there are the ‘exposure’ people. This will be great for your CV! It’ll be fantastic experience! Just think of all the people who’ll see your work!
As is often said, you can die of exposure!
Now, I’m not suggesting that every unpaid opportunity is a waste of time. Far from it. But I do think we need to recognise that there are pressures to work for free, particularly in a profession where helping people is such an important part of our identity.
And those pressures can very easily trigger feelings of guilt, fear or a lack of confidence in the value of what we do.
Which is why it’s so important to have some boundaries in place.
Setting boundaries around unpaid work
One thing that I find really helps when I want to turn down a request is to express my refusal in terms of a more general policy.
For example, ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t offer free proofreading,’ or ‘I have a policy of only taking on unpaid speaking engagements in certain circumstances.’
That way, it isn’t personal. It’s just how you run your business.
Denise Duffield-Thomas, who writes and teaches about money mindset, has talked about inventing an imaginary PA in the early days of her business, who would turn down requests on her behalf. (Interestingly, I seem to remember the imaginary PA was a man.)
You don’t necessarily need to go that far, but it can be useful to take some of the emotion out of the decision.
Because if you’ve already decided what you’re comfortable doing for free, you don’t have to wrestle with guilt or uncertainty every single time someone asks.
So, when might working for free actually be a good idea?
Because sometimes it absolutely is.
Working for free to market your business and grow your audience
You could argue that any work you do to grow your audience and market your business is working for free.
In fact, I don’t really see it that way, because marketing isn’t something I do on top of my business. It’s a core part of running it. But I suppose it depends how you look at it.
What I do think is important is making sure that any time we spend on marketing is intentional and thought through.
You obviously can’t guarantee a direct, traceable result from everything you do. In fact, quite often the results come much further down the line, when someone has been following you for a while and finally decides they’re ready to work with you.
But over time, you should start to get a sense of what does and doesn’t have an impact.
Let’s say someone invites you to speak at a conference for free. If your ideal clients are likely to be attending, and it’s an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and make useful connections, that could be a very good investment of your time.
But if you already know that the audience isn’t remotely interested in what you offer, you might want to think twice.
Unless, of course, you’re fairly new to public speaking and want the practice. Which brings me to another perfectly valid reason for working for free.
Working for free to gain experience
Getting experience can absolutely be a good reason to work for free.
When I did my coaching diploma, I had to complete a certain number of coaching hours to qualify. I wasn’t paid for them, and that was absolutely fine. I was learning, developing my skills and working towards something that mattered to me.
But I think you do have to know when to stop.
At what point have you got enough experience to start charging for what you do?
And the answer is definitely NOT when you’re perfect.
You’re allowed to keep learning on the job. In fact, I sincerely hope you do, because that’s part of being a good professional. And you’re probably never going to be perfect anyway, which is fine too.
You might also decide to offer something for free when you’re developing a new service.
Perhaps you want to run a few trial sessions with people who fit your intended niche, so you can test out your ideas and get some useful feedback. Or perhaps you’d like to offer a limited number of free sessions in exchange for an honest testimonial, assuming people genuinely find the service valuable.
I think that’s absolutely fine, as long as you’re clear about what you’re doing and why.
The danger comes when you carry on offering free sessions indefinitely because you don’t quite feel ready to start charging.
There’s always something else you could improve, some additional training you could take, or some reason why perhaps you ought to wait a little longer.
At some point, though, you have to decide that your expertise is valuable enough to charge for.
Because it probably already is.
Free consultations and ‘try before you buy’
Another situation where working for free can make sense is when you’re giving potential clients an opportunity to get to know you and decide whether your services are right for them.
For example, you might offer a short discovery call, an introductory session or a free workshop.
And these can work really well as part of your marketing and sales process.
But I’d add a fairly important caveat here: be very clear about what you’re offering for free and where the boundaries are.
A discovery call to discuss someone’s needs and explain how you could help is one thing. Spending an hour analysing their situation, developing a personalised plan and giving them detailed advice is quite another.
That’s something you could probably be charging for.
It’s also worth being careful about giving away so much that there’s very little reason for someone to pay for your help afterwards.
You want people to experience your expertise and understand the value of working with you, but you don’t need to solve all their problems before they’ve even become a client!
And please don’t feel bad about telling people about your paid offer and explaining how you could help them further. That’s part of the deal.
If someone has chosen to attend a free session because they’re considering working with you, they’re probably expecting you to explain what you offer.
You don’t need to make it into a hard sell, but you do need to give them the opportunity to take the next step.
Working for free because it’s a good cause
Most people working in ELT have a strong drive to help others, and we have skills that can make a real difference to people’s lives.
So why wouldn’t we want to use those skills to help people who perhaps couldn’t otherwise afford them?
Personally, I think this can be an excellent reason to work for free. But there are two important things I’d encourage you to consider.
Firstly, balance.
If you’re doing so much unpaid work that you never have enough time to develop your paid business properly, something’s probably gone wrong.
And I see this happening quite often.
Ideally, you want to get your paid business up and running successfully so that you can afford to give away some of your time. When you’re earning a decent income from the hours you work, you’re in a much better position to choose to support a cause you care about.
That might mean volunteering a few hours a month, taking on a limited number of pro bono clients, or supporting a particular organisation.
The important thing is that you’ve made a conscious decision about how much time and energy you’re able to give.
Secondly, how does it make you feel?
If helping someone for free genuinely makes you feel good inside, then it’s probably aligned with your values and could be a real win-win.
But if, deep down, you’re feeling resentful because someone has pushed you into it, or because you felt you ought to do it otherwise you’d be a bad person, then I’d question whether it’s really the right thing to do.
And actually, I’m not sure you’ll be doing that much good either.
Think about it. Would you want someone to help you if you knew they secretly resented doing it?
So, is working for free ever a good idea?
Absolutely. But I think the key question is whether you’re making the decision freely and intentionally.
Are you choosing to work for free because it supports your business goals, helps you develop valuable experience or allows you to contribute to something you genuinely care about?
Or are you doing it because you feel guilty, you’re worried about disappointing someone, or you’re not quite convinced that what you do is worth paying for?
Those are very different motivations, even if the work itself looks exactly the same.
And remember that every hour you spend working for free is an hour you can’t spend doing something else. That might be paid work, developing your business, spending time with family and friends, or simply getting some much-needed rest.
None of this means you have to put a price tag on every little favour or become someone who never helps anyone unless there’s something in it for you.
But it does mean recognising that your time, skills and expertise have value, and that you’re allowed to decide when, how and for whom you give them away.
So, what are your thoughts about working for free? What strategies do you use to help you decide what’s OK and what isn’t?
Want to earn more from your freelance language business?
If you’re finding it difficult to charge what you’re worth, negotiate your fees or feel confident about the value of your work, I’ve brought together a range of practical resources to help.
In my Earn more from the work I do Resource Centre, you’ll find articles and videos about pricing, money mindset, negotiating and building a more profitable freelance business.