How To Survive 2021: Know Your Value
For the next piece in our surviving series in 2021, we're putting the review of your work in the spotlight. Understanding your worth as a creative is not a new concept in the industry, especially when such a large section of the workforce is still made up of freelancers. But it can feel like a sensitive issue to deal with, and does it just have to do with getting a fair labor price, or is it tied to something deeper?
Here, our experts discuss why you should avoid working for free and what limits you can set to ensure your skills, time, and human worth are considered.
DO NOT WORK FOR FREE
In recent years there appears to have been a shift in the industry from “exposure instead of payments” which has rightly been labeled exploitative. However, there may still be an expectation that if you are young or in need of work, or if a customer just doesn't have the budget, then if you are nudged you will work for free. It's easy to see how it can happen when a lot of creatives stop receiving commissions in the past year.
However, the effects of free creation go beyond you as an individual creative. New York Times visual editor Tracy Ma says, "I think working for free is basically something I would never advise," she says. “When someone or a customer realizes that they need creative work, they can pay for it. Finding freelance work is only exploitative and lowers the bar for everyone else in your cohort. “By agreeing to work for free, it narrows the talent pool, which means that the same customers expect free work from the next subject they work with.