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Thinking Of Working For Free?

Use this handy chart to make your decision:

workforfree
[click to enlarge]
via, original here.

Make It Rain, Bitches.

by A Photo Editor on January 12, 2011 · 51 comments

{ 38 comments }

1 Steven Noreyko January 12, 2011 at 10:52 pm

Wow. Not much to say except that this is awesome. Needs to get framed, or at least stuck on the studio fridge.

2 coy koehler January 12, 2011 at 11:06 pm

beautiful..haa ha.

3 Adriana Mullen January 12, 2011 at 11:08 pm

This was early on this morning on Tweeter. Just brilliant!

4 marco patino January 12, 2011 at 11:17 pm

Just posted it on my Facebook pages, oh yeah!

5 Julie McMillan January 13, 2011 at 12:18 am

What a fabulous reality check, love it!

6 Ed January 13, 2011 at 12:31 am

I really needed this so I can post it on FB, Twitter and my forehead.

7 Ben Hoste January 13, 2011 at 12:40 am

THIS IS AWESOME!

8 Carlos Thomas January 13, 2011 at 1:29 am

We need to educate all photographers/freelancers with this knowledge, and this condensed jpg will do the job.

9 Neil van Niekerk January 13, 2011 at 1:30 am

this is timeless!

10 greg January 13, 2011 at 3:02 am

I need a soda!

11 Fenne January 13, 2011 at 6:30 am

brilliant!

12 Jan January 13, 2011 at 9:28 am

I don’t agree with the charity part though, they should pay you too.
So I would change the ‘vehemently oppose’ part into ‘a worthy cause that you like and really want to support’ (and change some yes/ no’s of course). But still, even then they most likely have a budget to pay you if it’s any decent size operation.
The charity business (it may be non profit, but it often still has a lot of employees who get paid handsomely) can’t exist without attention from the public, so they have to make sure they send a good image out, and for that they need professionals (photographers, writers, designers etc.)

13 Jess January 13, 2011 at 2:55 pm

@Jan, I totally agree. Also, people generally don’t value work that they do not pay for. I did hundreds of hours of work for an organization that I was involved with. When it was time for them to have new brochures made, they hired someone less qualified and frankly less capable than me. Why? Because they were a “professional.” Funny, since I was working as a graphic designer. But I wasn’t charging them, so when it was time to have “professional” work done, they naturally thought of the person who charged them for their services.

14 Chris Schultz January 13, 2011 at 9:36 am

My personal favorite is: “Just because a business isn’t profitable, that doesn’t make them a non-profit.”

15 Taylor Davidson January 13, 2011 at 10:09 am

Chris: I saw the same thing :)

16 Luke Copping January 14, 2011 at 11:21 am

@Chris Schultz, I loved that line

17 Mike January 13, 2011 at 10:35 am

Holy poop! Now I understand why I’m not rich!

18 Heather January 13, 2011 at 12:05 pm

do you think she got paid to make this?

19 Super Zimmer January 13, 2011 at 12:22 pm

NICE!!!!!!

20 dude January 13, 2011 at 1:07 pm

Totally agree with @Jan here.

The term “nonprofit” means the corporation can’t operate with a profit motive (example: McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Disney) but it doesn’t mean they are broke (ie: American Lung Association), aren’t able to pay for your services, or are even necessarily altruistic (ie: liberty central PAC)

Besides, does the corporation ask the same from their other suppliers? (ie: Their utility companies? Their landlord? The venues where they are buying media to publish the photos you are shooting?)

Also, research the salaries of the CEOs of many large nonprofits and you will find that the nonprofit business can be very, very profitable.

21 Scott Hargis January 13, 2011 at 7:23 pm

@dude,
“…does the corporation ask the same from their other suppliers? (ie: Their utility companies? Their landlord? The venues where they are buying media to publish the photos you are shooting?”

In the case of the two non-profits I’ve been involved with, the answer is YES, absolutely. We were getting free rent and subsidized electricity and phone in the last non-profit I worked for.

I agree that non-profit doesn’t mean they can’t or shouldn’t pay for services, but the notion that ONLY artists are asked for in-kind donations is incorrect.

22 HB January 14, 2011 at 1:43 am

@Scott Hargis,
Though, artists are Frequently the ones asked to work without compensation by for- and non-profits alike. It seldom occurs to companies other than the truly on-a-shoestring startups or non-profits to bargain with their landlords or utility companies. Coupled with a cultural devaluation of art, by giving work away without even a nominal fee, we shoot ourselves in our proverbial (or literal?) feet.

23 jason grow January 14, 2011 at 11:12 am

@dude, I think non-profits need to be handled with careful scrutiny — I have absolutely no problem with folks donating their work, time, creativity et al to a cause/charity etc. that they believe worthy of the donation – I do it willingly… but as you rightly point out, not all non-profits are created equal!

There is a great resource called Guidestar (http://www2.guidestar.org/) that allows you to examine the financials of a non-profit a bit more closely. Some of the folks working the non-profits are earning a tidy paycheck — not a problem, everyone has to eat, but keep it in mind when the plea for free work comes in…

24 Paul Conrad January 13, 2011 at 1:46 pm

This is just awesome.

I love the one “Is it for your Mom?” Only one answer: Yes.

“22 hours of labor and you can’t do ONE goddamn garage sale flyer? COME ON!”

That just cracks me up.

Thanks for sharing this.

25 sally fenn January 14, 2011 at 5:27 am

@Paul Conrad,
shouldn’t that be 22 years?

26 Paul Conrad January 15, 2011 at 12:05 pm

@sally fenn,

Naw, I was quoting the response when asked if you should work for free if your mom asks.

Funny stuff.

27 Nicolle Clemetson January 13, 2011 at 2:14 pm

I absolutely love how creative people are these days! This chart is so fantastic (and true)- I think I might even let my brain take a break this year and reference this graph more often!

Thanks like always for sharing!

n

28 brad wenner January 13, 2011 at 4:32 pm

“Is it a non profit? -> You mean a band?”

Made me laugh, thank you.

29 Kevin Michael Reed January 13, 2011 at 6:57 pm

Awesome!

30 KLO Studio January 13, 2011 at 8:01 pm

This is great! I am so organized but I am trying to imagine sitting there designing this, LOL!! Good work ;)

31 Dubai-photographer January 14, 2011 at 8:08 am

Hhahah, brilliant! Gonna keep a copy of that close by

32 ELiz_Blog January 14, 2011 at 10:08 am

Brilliant – sadly true!

33 Andres Paolantonio January 18, 2011 at 9:08 am

Great post! Thanks for the chart. I’m not a photographer nor a journalist but I love taking pictures of my city and investigating it’s history. I invite you to visit my blog with photos of buildings and historical monuments of Buenos Aires.

http://detallesdebuenosaires.blogspot.com

Best regards, Andres

34 Tampa Web Design Blog January 23, 2012 at 11:06 pm

Took a look at your blog. I like the photos of the very colorful buildings you took.

35 Gu January 18, 2011 at 4:06 pm

Clear and thoughtful, it could be a good reference for new comers :)

36 Michael Blea January 18, 2011 at 11:57 pm

Oh how very true and smart this poster is!

37 jason dewey January 19, 2011 at 3:06 am

and for a REALLY good time, go to the original (thank you for the HTML, Jess) and change the language to Turkish – just say YOK, or Italian, where “make it rain, bitches!” apparently has no translation. Jess, you are my hero!

38 aepoc January 19, 2011 at 7:34 am

Hahaha, perfection!

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