Updated: February 15 2020
Summary
If you’re starting out your career or starting in a new field, then yes, you should work for free. Free work leads to two things: (1) Bigger, better opportunities and (2) It helps you reach the unreachable. We’ll dig into both reasons below. If you’re ready to work for free and just need some help with what to say to get free work opportunities, you can read my word-for-word scripts here. They’re free and available to be repurposed. Be sure to read this full article for the full context behind these scripts.
“Can you endorse some of my skills on LinkedIn?” my friend texted me. “I’d be happy to do the same for you. Just let me know.”
LinkedIn endorsements? I wondered. Do people look at those?
“I’m having a hard time landing full-time work, so I’m trying to boost my LinkedIn profile,” he explained. “Anything else you think I can do to stand out?”
This friend is a smart, good person. Eventually, a lucky company will snatch him up, and it’ll have nothing to do with his LinkedIn endorsements.
I told him the best way to find an awesome job that pays well was to start by working for free.
Should you work for free?
Yes, working for free is a tool I’d recommend you keep in your back pocket for two reasons:
1. Working for free leads to bigger, better opportunities
Working for free is an easy way of completing a project in the hopes it leads to opportunities in the future.
You can structure your free work however you’d like: a set period of time (e.g. 1 month), a set project (e.g. research a book), or a set number of hours. The “free” part isn’t even that important (if you can get paid, get paid). What’s important is you are in control.
Free work, squeezed into the hours between my regular job, led to every major break in my career. It’s how I learned to hunt for opportunities, instead of waiting for them to come to me. There’s nothing more powerful than showing — not telling — someone what you can do.
2. Working for free helps you reach the unreachable
Free work opens doors you wouldn’t ordinarily get access too.
The best way to reach anyone is to offer them something they want and expect nothing in return. End of story. Your “work for free” deal can be formal or informal, well-defined or ambiguous (I’ll show you a bunch of different ways to structure this).
The goal is to shift all the risk to your end of the table and use that as leverage to wedge your foot in the door. Of course: You actually have to offer them something they want (which requires empathy) and you get better at making the right offer with practice.
Free work will also save you from the soul crushing work of sending your resume into the black hole that other people go through.
There’s a lot of nuance in how to approach working for free, and I’ll cover that in more detail below. Before we get into that, it’s worth pointing out that working for free is strategy dozens of other used to launch their careers.
How others used free work to launch their careers
Ramit Sethi cold emailed Seth Godin about working for him. Ramit became his first book intern and worked with Seth for an entire summer.
When he was still in college, Jeff Kuo emailed Ramit about helping him. He became Ramit’s book researcher for I Will Teach You to Be Rich, and they spent the next 10 years building products together.
Ryan Holiday used his college newspaper as a gateway to interview people he found interesting. Tucker Max was one of those people. After building a relationship, he offered to try selling available ad space on Tucker’s site, for free. That led to working for Tucker, Robert Greene, and Dov Charney (plus writing 4 New York Times best sellers).
Charlie Hoehn built his career by offering to work for free. He was a remote intern for Seth Godin. Did video work for Ramit Sethi and Tucker Max. Then went on to assist Tim Ferriss and lead marketing efforts for The 4-Hour Body.
Raghav Haran calls his free work, “pre-interview projects.” With these projects, he’s worked with Ramit, Hiten Shah, and Gary Vaynerchuk.
When Kevin Miller wanted to learn more about marketing, he emailed the founder of one his favorite startups, Doorman. He asked if there was anyone he could learn from and help out. That’s how he connected with his mentor, whom he credits turning him into a data-driven marketer.
Erika Fox helped small businesses with their social media in Kerry and Galway, Ireland, to save enough money to move to New York City. Before moving, she emailed Olivia Palermo’s team and asked if there were any work opportunities. That’s how she worked her first New York Fashion Week event. That exposure helped launch her fledgling fashion blog, Retro Flame, to the next level.
No old boy’s network.
No “someone who knew someone.”
When done right, working for free is the democratization of opportunity. It levels the playing field. Literally, anyone else could have spotted these openings in the market, and done precisely the same thing.
The people you try and help don’t need to be New York Times bestsellers or Instagram influencers. Think local. Think smaller (examples below). Basically anytime you see a situation where you think, “I could do that better,” your brain should be buzzing.
Will there be rejection? Of course. You can expect no response from 80% of the people you cold email and perhaps 1 out of 10 people will be interested in your help.
Fortunately, even in failure, you can accelerate your career progression when you’re constantly looking for opportunities to help others. I call this the “compounding effects of free work.”
“But shouldn’t I get paid what I’m worth?”
“Getting paid what you’re worth” is the major objection I hear from people who discourage others from working for free.
The people who offer this objection are typically creatives who’ve been burned on bad deals. They’ve worked for free or cheap in exchange for the promise of “more work to come if you do a good job.”
When that work never materializes, it’s natural to feel like you were taken advantage of, that your work is not valued, and that free work is a scam architected by those trying to get something for nothing.
I’m empathetic, but also think that claiming all free work is “bad” is throwing the baby out with the bath water. To protect yourself from less than scrupulous clients, I recommend two steps:
1. Be honest with yourself about the value exchanged for your work.
2. Be clear with the client about the value exchanged for your work.
By “honest with yourself,” I mean be honest about what you’re looking for after in this relationship. Are you in this for the experience? For mentorship? Or introductions once the job is done? Or a paying gig after? Any of these are fine, but be honest about what you want.
If you convince yourself to take a gig because “you want the experience” but in reality, you’re hoping it turns into a paid job, that’s not fair to yourself or the client. You’re setting yourself up for disappointment and putting yourself in the position to feel taken advantage of.
Once you’re honest about what you want, then it’s your job to be clear with the client regarding the work. Set boundaries about the work you’ll do and and clear expectations about what you’re getting in exchange.
Some examples of a clear work exchange:
- 3 email introductions to people in their network
- 1 hour mentorship a week
- 3 month trial and then a paying gig
Examples on unclear work exchange:
- “Access to my network”
- “More work at your normal rate if you do a good job”
- “Good opportunity to build your resume”
Remember, it’s your job to do the work and set these expectations.
Everyone should get paid what they’re worth. But if you don’t have a portfolio of completed work or a track record of success, unfortunately your work isn’t worth a whole lot (yet).
The advantage of free work is it’s an easy way to start demonstrating the value of your work in a competitive marketplace.
How you can work for free: The Free Work Swipe File
What opportunities should you look for in free work? How should you reach out (email, Twitter, Instagram DM, LinkedIn, Snap)? What should you say?
The truth is it depends on a ton of factors: career stage, comfort level, how “native” you are to various platforms, your personality, your talent. The best way for you to get a sense of the how is to show you as many examples as possible, and for you to adapt each script to suit your needs.
One final reminder before jumping into the scripts: only 1 out of 10 people will be interested in your help. Out of that 10%, a lot of the free work won’t lead to anything — in the short run. However, you only need a small handful to work to dramatically change the trajectory of your career, and that makes all the “failures” worth it.
If you need help with what to say to get free work opportunities, you can read my word-for-word scripts here.
Scripts to land consulting gigs
1. Marketing consulting for a restaurant
This is the email I used when a restaurant I worked at was looking to hire someone to help with marketing. In particular they were going through a rough patch of negative Yelp reviews. I got the phone number and email address of the hiring manager from a friend.
After a brief conversation on the phone (my friend asked if it was okay to call) I followed up with this note:
Hi Tess –
This is Chris from [restaurant name]. Samuel gave me this email to contact you, hope it’s okay to reach out today!
Just wanted to follow-up to our talk about Yelp pages and Yelp marketing. If you’re still looking for help with that, I’d be glad to assist.
I mentioned my family owns two Japanese restaurants in NY. Here are links to their Yelp pages (the second restaurant just opened in March, and I’m in the process of building the website. After it’s built we’ll get more reviews): LINK
In the second review, you can see a recent example of how I communicated with the customer, and she revised her review: LINK
Also, I make sure I “private message” every person who leaves a review, just thanking them for their business.
We also use TripAdvisor (which isn’t as big here in Los Angeles.) Two years ago I focused on getting people to leave reviews there, and the restaurant became the best-rated restaurant in the area: LINK
Just wanted to show you what I’ve done. You can email or call me anytime NUMBER – I’ll also be working tomorrow morning and Thursday night!
Thanks, talk soon Tess.
How you should use this script:
You’ll obviously have to adapt this script to your own situation and change out the accomplishments, but it’s worth pointing out a few of the details that make this email good:
Get to the point. The intro introduces myself, acknowledges the fact Tess wasn’t expecting this email, and then moves on with why I’m emailing (“if you’re still looking for help with marketing, I’d be happy to help.”) Don’t dawdle.
Focus on the pain. I specifically only talk about my experience with Yelp and TripAdvisor because I know those are the acute pains she’s feeling now. Email or video marketing may come up later, but for now, focus on the greatest pains.
The “meat” of the email is all results. I spend 2/3s of the email talking about results. That’s where the meat should be for any of these emails: what have you accomplished? What have you done? Too many people at the early stage of their careers talk about how they “try hard” and are “always on time.” Those are table stakes. Always be addressing the silent question in the client’s mind: “What are you going to do for me?”
Don’t talk about pay. This is still the courtship phase. Don’t bring up pay, or the fact that you’re willing to work for free, yet.
2. Marketing consultant for a career development business
In this email, I met Linda at an entertainment industry brunch. 95% of the time, nothing comes out of these networking events. You shake a lot of hands and put in face time with faces you’ll never see again. But the other 5%, you meet someone interesting.
Linda told me about her business helping actors. I looked it up, thought it sounded great, and told her so. Then I signed up for her email list and thought she might want some marketing help.
After a follow-up meet, here’s the email:
Hi Linda,
So glad we got to meet up last weekend! After studying [the market] and thinking about our conversation, here are a few suggestions I’d be happy to implement to help you continue developing the business:
1. Drafting emails for the start of your email marketing campaign.
You mentioned you’re recently purchased a new email marketing software. You have to learn the email software and all the filters, and I’d be happy to help draft emails for you. We’d use a tiered approach (introductory / educational material to start, and as a reader got further into the funnel, you could start selling services or offer special pricing).
We could brainstorm topics you’d like to cover and I’d go out on my own to write the emails for your review and approval.
2. Building the blog
In your course descriptions, you bullet point a great deal of the takeaways in your webinars and one-on-one consultations. I feel you could actually give a lot of this material away for free, in blog form.
The beauty of this is it helps you earn a potential client’s trust by giving them a gift,and word-of-mouth marketing is built right in — think about how quickly friends-tell-friends when it’s like, free pancake day at iHop.
(I don’t think you need to worry about giving *too much* away, as a webinar or one-on-one consultation would give clients a much deeper understanding of your material.)
Working off the same brainstorm, it’d be simple to design posts around similar topics that benefit potential clients.
3. More Video
I’d also suggest doing more video or video blogs, speaking to your readers and potential clients. It doesn’t need to be high quality or extravagantly produced — off a MacBook webcam is fine.
Right now I think there’s only one video of you on the website, which is crazy because you are a natural on video.
Since people are buying a webinar service, this is an important credibility trigger. It builds a higher level of trust (that would take 100 emails to create).
I could help execute any of the ideas above that resonate with you, part-time. Or other ideas if you have suggestions! In exchange, I would love to learn how you conduct your webinars and one-on-ones, and the tactical aspects of building your business. We could do a short trial period and discuss a more formal arrangement down the line.
If none of this resonates with you, no worries and no hard feelings of course.
Either way, really respect the work you’ve done already and think it would be brilliant if we found a way to collaborate down the line.
How you should use this script:
Be idea generative. In this example, it’s less clear what type of marketing help someone like Linda would want, so you want to generate ideas that would appeal to her. Follow the “rule-of-three’s” and each idea should be clearly positioned differently from each other (in the example above, I gave an email, blog, and video idea).
Stay in your lane. If you’re the marketing expert, keep your ideas around the marketing, and not the content itself. In other words, your ideas should revolve around the channels and distribution of the message, but not the message itself. You don’t want to unnecessarily trample anyone’s toes.
Give an easy out. In this context, don’t hard sell. If it’s not a fit, it’s not a fit. Make it easy for them to decline. Note the language: “if none of this resonates with you, no hard feelings.”
Be upfront about the value exchange. Why be upfront about what you’re looking for in this email versus the other? In this context, it’s unlikely this is going to be a paid consulting role to start. By setting the terms of the work, you’re acknowledging this fact, and setting clear expectations of what you expect instead.
3. Marketer for an MMA analyst
My most recent “work for free” project was working with MMA analyst Robin Black. What’s interesting about this approach was it was done via Twitter. I started with a few public tweets to get his attention:
Here’s the DM I sent that you can repurporse for your own pitches:
Hi Robin,
I know you’re busy, so I’ll get right to it.
Love ALL your YT and podcast content.
You’re amazing on these 2 mediums (video & audio) but you can continue to expand your reach, accelerate hitting your goals (whatever they are) AND elevate the conversation around MMA.
Here’s how I propose I can help:
All your video/audio content should be made available to READ as well. I can get your content transcribed and organized into different forms of content.
Rather than tell you, let me show you: Here’s a link to a sample blog post I created, based off your AskRobinBlack episode 2: LINK
(Please keep in mind, that’s a sample, we can shorten or expand as you’d like.)
There are hundreds of things you could do with this content:
- Publish on your own blog/site, link back to your videos
- Publish on a site like Medium and become the authority of MMA to a more general audience, link back to your videos
- Build an email list, link back your videos or any products you create in the future
- Publish on Reddit, link back to your videos
- Use your quotes, put it over awesome MMA pictures, post to IG, and link back to your videos
- Syndicate your written content to MMA sites (who are all hungry for amazing content) and link back to your videos
That’s just getting started.
My proposal: Let me put together 5-10 of these blog posts for you. It’ll take me about 2 weeks. You don’t have to do anything, I can take care of all the work and costs.
In 2 weeks, I’ll show you what I got done. If you want to discuss more of the options above, I’d love to do that.
If you review and think, “nah, this doesn’t excite me,” no problem. We’ll part as friends, you can keep all the posts I created and use them however you like. (It’d be just a small token of my appreciation for all your amazing work.)
A little bit about me: BG INFO
If you’re interested, I can get started on Monday and you’ll hear from me again in 2 weeks.
If you’re not, no worries either.
Appreciate you reading this far. Thanks Robin.
How you should use this script:
The message should match the medium. Why’s the cadence of this message so much more clipped and abrupt? Because it’s sent via Twitter DM, not email. If this was an email, I’d change the cadence to make it more of a conversation. Respect the medium you’re using for your cold outreach.
Do your research. Half the battle if being at the right place, right time, with the right offer. To do that, you need to do your research. In this example, I knew Robin had just gotten laid off from his previous job. He needed to build an audience and brand quickly. That meant he was receptive to hearing my pitch, especially if I told him it’d cost him no time or money.
Craft an offer they can’t ignore. The offer itself could have been 20 different things, so why did I decide on turning his podcasts into blog posts? Because I knew I could do it with complete autonomy. In other words, not only did I not need his money, I didn’t need his time. When you craft your offer, you want to make it a complete no-brainer for your potential client.
Scripts to land your dream job
4. Researcher & writer’s assistant to a NYT bestselling author
My 2-year job working as a writer’s assistant to Dennis Lehane started out as a pitch to work for free (I talk about the whole experience here). Here’s the email I sent, I strongly recommend bookmarking this one for your own pitches:
Hi Dennis,
Amy S. said she mentioned her and my discussion to you, and that you said I should feel free to shoot you a note. After spending the last two years reading most of your work (and scripts/treatments based on your books) and observing your transition to Los Angeles, I thought of a few suggestions that could make the process an easier one…
1) A temporary west coast assistant. RIght now, you’re entering the very lucrative re-write market with publishing deadlines in the horizon. You’ve just moved your whole family across coasts. You need someone onsite to help coordinate your LA schedule, get your affairs in order, and get your office running.
What it would take: A short-term West Coast assistant. To get all the trains running back on schedule.
How I could help: I’d work with T. (whom I’ve coordinated with in the past) to manage your schedule, acting as a stop-gap until you were settled. This was part of my regular duties here at IPG: coordinating Amy’s schedule while simultaneously coordinating for J. (agent for James E. and Michael C.).
Benefits to you: With someone on the ground in LA to deal with the minutiae, you could focus on the two most important things in your life: your family and your writing.
2) A research / writer’s assistant. Currently you’re juggling a wide breadth of projects, e.g.,Travis McGee rewrite, Three Month Trilogy, your own imprint, book tour of WORLD GONE BY, LOVE / HATE remake, etc. A researcher / writer’s assistant would sift through any and all material, organize it for you, so you can focus on creating your worlds.
What it would take: A dedicated West Coast researcher / writer’s assistant.
How I could help: I imagine you’ve worked with a stable of excellent researchers and assistants. They are/were likely organized, voracious readers and thoughtful writers (prerequisites for this role). What makes me different is my network. In addition to those traits, I’ve fostered relationships so I can get many books and scripts in the unpublished, unproduced market. For example, last week Paul H. requested an unpublished book represented by a rival agency. Within hours, Amy and I were able to get a copy to him because of my relationships.
What the benefits are to you: You’re a thorough reader, taking on material both wide (across a spectrum of genres) and deep (tracing a genre down its roots, e.g., for literary crime fiction, James Ellroy, James Lee Burke, James Crumley). But you face more projects and stricter time restraints. I can not only process, filter and organize information for you to write more efficiently, but get access to resources that you may want.
Given the above, I hope you can see I’d provide immense value to your work, and you’d consider taking me on as an assistant. I understand there are reasons why you’d be hesitant, which is why I’d suggest several options to make this very low-risk for you: I could start remotely or onsite, whichever is more comfortable for you. We could do a one-month, uncompensated “trial” period. If you didn’t feel the fit was right right, we’d part ways, no hard feelings.
That being said, I have a great deal of respect for you and the work you’ve done. I think it’d be brilliant to work for you in some way. Thanks for your time, I hope to talk with you again soon.
How you should use this script:
Use the “Pain / Painkiller” structure. This script uses what you can call the pain / painkiller approach. Clearly state the pain the client is going through. Then, talk about the painkiller, or the solution that would make that problem go away. Finally, you talk about how (coincidentally!) you just happen to be the right person to implement that solution.
The structure is a bit formal but can work. It’s all about the context – how well do you know the person? How cold is your outreach? What’s the medium?
All of the other tips mentioned above also apply to this script: crafting an offer they can’t ignore, doing your research, being idea generative, etc.
Scripts to land internship-to-job opportunities
5. Intern & script reader at a literary agency
If you’re applying for an internship and hoping it turns into a future paid position, then by definition you have less direct experience to talk about and have less leverage in your outreach.
Also, for many of these positions, you have very little context about what you’re applying to. For example, many of these postings won’t even publish the name of the company looking for interns.
Here’s the script:
To the Hiring Manager / Internship Coordinator,
I’m emailing to apply for the internship posted on The Job List. My goal is to learn about the entertainment industry and development, and I believe I’d fit in well with company that deals with production and management.
I am available two or three days a week.
I interned with Maxim Magazine, was an editor for a university entertainment magazine and founded one newspaper. At the same time, I developed the marketing plan for a tattoo enhancement product, and was a resident assistant.
My responsibilities included directing various staff meetings, editing three articles a week, and constantly communicating, verbally and in writing.
Attached please find my resume.
I work hard. I work fast. I believe honesty and open communication are the most valuable assets to accomplish one’s objectives.
Feel free to contact me at this e-mail, or by phone: 518.894.0901. I realize this industry moves fast, and I’d love to come in to speak to you as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
How you should use this script:
Work with what you got. With so little context, you just have to shake what yo mama gave you. Share your availability and any relevant experience as quickly as possible, and make sure to follow all the directions set forth in the job posting.
Add a sprinkle of personality. If possible, give a small personal touch to your email. Whoever is doing the hiring is going to sift through a hundred emails and spending an average of 10 seconds on each. It’s your job to give your email just enough color so it’s remembered (in this example, mentioning Maxim Magazine and the closing line (“I realize this industry moves fast…”) help it stand out.
6. Business Development Intern at a Media Company
Here’s another script for when you’re applying for an internship in the hopes of a future role. In this case, there’s a lot more context about the role and company, and you can see you’re able to build a more compelling narrative with the background information:
Dear Ezra —
I saw the posting for a business development intern at [company] and am thrilled to apply. My guess is that building YouTube content networks is your number one priority, and here are three reasons why I’m perfect for this role:
First, I’m fascinated with entertainment and the digital space. I read Nikke Finke and Mashable daily. I was blown away by the second edition of the YouTube playbook, and while I think THE BOOTH AT THE END (distributed by Hulu) is some of the best programming on the web, the fact is it never leveraged the benefits of the web (real-time communication, moving online content to an offline interaction.)
Second, I have direct experience in many aspects of entertainment and with managing marketing campaigns. I assisted the co-president of Intellectual Property Group, a literary management company. I most recently assisted an Emmy-award winning casting director schedule 250 auditions to cast 16 roles. In the past, I was a viral marketing intern for Maxim Digital. In month two of the project, I generated 29,000 click-throughs – the rest of the team struggled to hit the 10,000 click-through mark. In addition, I worked as a marketing manager in the restaurant industry, and focused on digital: blog outreach, social media, and generating online reviews – these efforts helped lead to a Y2 profit increase of 104 percent.
Third – and most importantly – are the intangibles that make someone an asset in any office. Timeliness and immediate turn-arounds when communicating. Discretion. Honesty. And initiative – there is no lack of information, only the drive to find, distill, and utilize it. These traits are difficult to quantify, so I’d be happy to supply references to qualify them.
What makes me unique? I have the entertainment background and experience in the digital space that would be an asset to [company name]. Attached is my resume; I would love to know if you agree.
Best,
Chris
How you should use this script:
Give quantitative results (when possible). Talking about your experiences and responsibilities is a good first step. Even better is being able to quantify results that you drove in past roles. Depending on your career stage, this might not always be possible but it’s something you should always strive for.
Even if it’s not necessarily results-oriented, including specific numbers makes your outreach feel more concrete (for example, “250 auditions to cast 16 roles”).
Scripts to land volunteer gigs
7. Volunteer festival script reader
Volunteering is the best way to build experience in arenas you know you’re weak or know nothing about. You don’t have to make it this massive commitment — a lot of people and organizations are looking for just a week’s worth of work, or even just a day.
In exchange, you get a taste of a role or industry you previously had no experience with. For me, I started volunteering in 2011 when I realized I didn’t have a holistic view of the entertainment industry. I decided to spend time “tasting” as many aspects of film and TV as I could.
This first example is my outreach email to volunteer for a large entertainment festival:
Hi Cullen —
My name is Chris, and Vellisa said I should contact you directly about my interest in helping to read for the [organization].
I’m currently reading for [production company], covering six scripts a week, mostly low-budget horror/low-budget action scripts. I’m also signed on as a reader for another independent screenplay contest.
In the past, I was a part-time reader for [literary management company] where I covered material with strong cross-media potential (book to film.) While at IPG, I also was a floating assistant to [executive].
I would love a chance to be involved with the [organization], and am attaching a resume and cover letter. Feel free to contact me at this e-mail address or by phone [number] anytime.
Thanks so much.
Best,
Chris
8. Volunteer PA for an independent feature
As mentioned above, there’s always a need for volunteers. Sometimes, you have to reach out cold and offer to help. Other times, there will be an open call. In those instances, a short, simple email is the best way to start getting more experience.
This script is one I used to volunteer when I was listening to a podcast and heard an independent movie director mention he was looking for volunteers:
Hi Joe,
I heard about MOVIE you’re shooting on Pilar’s podcast, and that you were looking for volunteers.
My name is Christopher Ming, I’m a reader with a horror production company. I have no money to donate (young, struggling artist, you know the drill) but if you’re doing a shoot in June and are looking for extra hands, just shoot me an e-mail and let me know how I can be of help.
Good luck and hope to hear from you.
Chris
The compounding effects of free work
When you offer to work for free, only 1 out of 10 people will be interested. You’re going to feel like you’re losing a lot of the time.
But the magic of free work is that even when you lose, you win. Free work is a flywheel that spins faster and faster the more you work it. You get better at:
- Spotting holes in the marketplace
- Analyzing how you can serve others
- Selling the benefits of what you can offer
- Executing on your offer
The more skills you develop, the more ways you can help others, and the more opportunities you’ll spot in the marketplace, which leads to selling more benefits you can offer… you get the idea.
Whether one person (or a dozen people) responds to your cold email or not… whether you do a project for them or not… whether it leads to a new opportunity or not… in success or failure, you’re always getting better.
That’s the compounding effect of working for free.
If you need help with what to say to get free work opportunities, you can read my word-for-word scripts here.
1 Comment
Loved it!