• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Wealth Pilgrim

No Money Worries. No Matter What.

Neal Frankle featured in
  • Home
  • Life Insurance
  • Investing
    • Build Strong Investment Building Blocks To Avoid Going Broke In Retirement
    • Systematic Mutual Fund and ETF Investing
    • Stock Market Investing Guide
    • Choosing the Right Investment Brokerage Guide
    • How Bonds Work Guide
    • How Banks Really Work Guide
    • Annuities – What You Need To Know Before You Invest
    • A Beginners Guide To Buying Individual Stocks
    • Create A Pool Of Great Mutual Funds and ETFs To Pick From To Secure Your Retirement
    • ETF and Index Fund Investment Guide
  • Earn More
  • Banking
  • Retirement Planning
    • Retirement Guide
  • Ask Neal a Question
  • Reviews
    • Upgrade Personal Loans Review
    • Lending Club Review
    • Prosper Review
    • Ally Invest TradeKing Review
    • CIT Bank Review
    • LegalZoom Review
    • Lexington Law Review
    • Airbnb Host Review
    • Should You Drive For Uber?
  • Tax
  • Courses
    • Raise Your Credit Score So You Can Buy a House – Free Video Course

When Working Without Pay Makes Sense

by Neal Frankle, CFP ®, The article represents the author's opinion. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more info.

Does working without pay ever make sense? Yes…but far less often than you might think. When I first started my business I didn’t understand this. I gave away too much of my time to too many people. I thought this might be a good way to transition into my new job.  And I told myself that this was a good business building tactic but in reality it was a costly mistake. I have since learned that in most cases, it’s far better for everyone if you charge a fair price for your time.

Guiding Principle

I believe that successful people love what they do. They don’t work for the money – the earn money so they can continue doing what they love. If you work for free, sooner or later you’ll be broke and you won’t be able to do what you love. And even if you could afford to work gratis, most people don’t value a good or service unless they pay for it. As a result, they won’t really take advantage of the value you offer. They’ll miss out and so will you. You’re not doing anyone any favors by giving your time away.

Having said that, working for free does make sense once in a while. Here are a few examples of when it works:

1. You Want To Demonstrate Value

Sometimes waiving your fee can kick start a great business relationship. If you decide to go this route just make sure the other party understands your expectations. Explain that you are not going to charge them for a specific assignment so they can see the real value you bring to the table. But also explain that you expect them to work with you at your normal rates if they like the results of the free “experiment”. The key is to be very upfront about your motivations and expectations. Don’t expect people to read your mind.

2. You Need The Experience

One of my kids was really happy when she landed a great internship recently. She knew that this unpaid position provided invaluable experience and connections and she was right. But when she found out that other kids were getting paid for the same job it really chapped her hide. I told her to walk it off. She was getting the benefits she was looking for. It didn’t matter that other people had a different deal. If you have this kind of opportunity, you can afford to work for free and it’s really going to help you big time down the road, I say go for it.

Here’s the bottom line. Unless you are retired and can afford to volunteer, only work for free if you are sure you’ll get something out of it. Be upfront about your expectations and communicate what you want.

Don’t kid yourself into thinking that every internship (code word for “hard work you do for no pay”) is a good opportunity or will look good on your resume. Prospective employers value paid gigs far more than volunteer work. Even if your paid job doesn’t provide the same experience that the unpaid job might – if the paid job offers applicable experience it has a lot of value. And it tells your would-be employer that somebody was actually willing to pay you for your time. That’s something the internship does not say.

Work for free if you get value for your time. If you can’t clearly see the benefit, my advice is to pass.

How do you stand on working for free? What has been your experience? Did you ever work for free and get a lot out of it?

Tweet
Pin
Share3

Reader Interactions

User Generated Content (UGC) Disclosure: Please note that the opinions of the commenters are not necessarily the opinions of this site.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Are You Human? * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

Primary Sidebar

Who is Neal Frankle

Neal Frankle

I'm a Certified Financial Planner™ with more than 25 years of experience. I feel very blessed and hope to share my personal financial experience and professional wisdom with readers of WealthPilgrim.
Read More »

Stay Connected

Facebook Twitter YouTube RSS

More Categories

Career Development
College Funding
Credit Cards
Credit Score Fixes
Money and Marriage
Debt Relief
Estate Protection
Property Investment Loans
Small Business Strategies
Spend Less Money

Disclaimer

Wealth Pilgrim is not responsible for and does not endorse any advertising, products or resource available from advertisements on this website. Wealth Pilgrim receives compensation from Google for advertising space on this website, but does not control the advertising selection or content. Please do the appropriate research before participating in any third party offers. The information contained in WealthPilgrim.com is for general information or entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional financial advice. Please contact an independent financial professional for advice regarding your specific situation. Wealth Pilgrim does not provide investment advisory services and is not a registered investment adviser. Neal may provide advisory services through Wealth Resources Group, a registered investment adviser. Wealth Pilgrim and Wealth Resources Group are affiliated companies. In accordance with FTC guidelines, we state that we have a financial relationship with some of the companies mentioned in this website. This may include receiving payments,access to free products and services for product and service reviews and giveaways. Any references to third party products, rates, or websites are subject to change without notice. We do our best to maintain current information, but due to the rapidly changing environment, some information may have changed since it was published. Please do the appropriate research before participating in any third party offers.


About · Contact · Disclaimer & Privacy policy

Copyright © Wealth Pilgrim 2021 All Rights Reserved