How To Use FREE Work To Get PAYING Clients As A Creative (Step by Step Guide)

Hello, creative folks. Artists, photographers, musicians, whatever it is that you are. I'm so glad that you are here with me again today for another podcast episode. I'm filming these live currently on Wednesdays at about 5pm Central on the YouTube channel. So you can come join me here if you like. Today we're talking about when should creatives work for free? And if there's one thing I know, I'm trying to bring myself back to this place where I was some time ago, where.

You'Re in that zone where you want to start making money. And the problem is that you feel like nobody really knows who you are yet. How do you get past that?

You feel obligated that you need to work for free in order to either build your portfolio or just get your work out there, just to test the waters. And this is a very normal situation, right? And some of you might already be doing a lot of work for free, but you're just not sure how to get away from that and start to get actual work that pays you. I want to talk about really the right work that you can do for free that's going to be the most helpful to you and your business as you move forward as a creative. So, you know, this doesn't matter if you do photography. If you're like. But this is. I will be specific here. This isn't for somebody that's just trying to sell their artwork. This is more for the folks that are out there. You're trying to like, build something here where you're selling your creative skills in some way. And so, you know, we'll be looking at it from that lens. But if you're struggling with getting people to pay for your work, whether that's your art or your creative skills, I do have a free audiobook that's available and it's also available in PDF form. So when you go and you download it, you can get this. It takes about 20 minutes to go through the audio format. And what this does is it helps you to understand what's the difference between work that is good and work that is valuable, work that somebody may appreciate and work that somebody's willing to pay for. I think this is really great stuff. Absolutely for free. It's called the Hidden Truth About Selling youg How to Make a Livable Income in the New Creative World. There is a link to that ebook in the description below, or you can go to www.thehiddentruthaboutart.com Again, www.thehiddentruthaboutart.com if you have questions and you are here live at all, then I would love to hear them, but please post those in the chat. It'd be cool to hear from you guys. I'm always down to be able to answer any questions that you guys have as we move through it. I'm gonna run through some content here and then I'll take some questions at the end if anybody has them. So don't be afraid to jump in there and ask questions. Just participate however you'd like to do it. Alright, let's get started. So I got five different points. This is really the journey. This is kind of the roadmap of what it is to start doing the right creative work and how to understand.

That it is the right creative work to do for free and then how to start transitioning that into actually getting paid. Because ultimately I believe, and my mission here is to help creatives change the way they see their worth. Because nine times out of ten, you as a creative person are undervaluing yourself. You feel like either A, you're not ready to get paid or B, nobody's actually going to pay for it, or C, you need to undervalue yourself so much that you undercut everybody else and you don't make the money that you need to actually support yourself. It's not about money as the end game. I. What I'm all about is it's the Mother Teresa quote, like, it takes a checkbook to change the world. We have to make money in order to be able to make a difference in the people's lives that we love, in our own lives, in our own family's lives. We have to be able to make money to support the things that we want to do and to do the creative things that we want to make. And so stop being afraid of that. There is nothing wrong with making money. There's nothing wrong with asking somebody to pay you for the work that you do. We don't question when we call the plumber because we know that there is value in that person's work in that moment. So stop believing that. Just because your friends may not be willing to pay for the stuff that you do doesn't mean that somebody else is not willing to pay for it, because they absolutely are. You just need to go out and find them. And that's why I picked up these five steps of being able to talk about, you know, what's the right creative work that you should do. So it starts with number one, and that is understand what you want to do and don't get distracted. Understand what you want to do and don't get distracted. So when people talk about consistency, this is really what they should be talking about. It's not about posting every day on social media. It's about being consistent in what you do. This is honestly the hardest part because you have to start with, what is it that I want to do that I can sell? Honestly, the ebook is a great thing to turn back to to understand what you might be able to start to create. But when you understand that, let's say that you're like, I want to be a photographer and I want to do band photos. That's what you want to do. Well, you need to understand that and you need to not get distracted by somebody else. You know, go for your thing, understand what you want. I actually had a consult today where they were saying.

They just wanted me to give them the answers, honestly. They said, hey, this is what we're trying to do. We're trying to build our brand kind of around this, but we're not really sure what should we do? And I said, I can't tell you that. I can't tell you what to do because you have to first know what you want. Because if I just tell you what the right thing is to do, then you're not going to be fully aligned with that thing, and then you're going to end up frustrated, you're going to end up burned out because you just don't like doing what you're doing. You feel like you're trying to fit into a box. I want to tell you that you have unique skills and talents that are really valuable. You just may not know what they are yet. But get clear on this. Get clear on what you do and don't get distracted. Okay. Number two, I want you to think about then, once you understand what you do, think about who needs that service. So if you are, then let's go back to this idea of a photographer who wants to do band photos. Right. Who needs that service? Well, musicians do, obviously. Right. And yeah, there are other ways to kind of open this up that may align with the brand. Maybe it's like, okay, I can also photograph other artists or instruments or things like, within this world that, like product photography and things like that, that also align with this, that allow me to kind of stay in that world, but not.

Sorry, kind of lean outside of the world a little bit, but still stay centered around this basic thing. And so when you understand then who needs that service, you can then start to think of what to do next. And that's number three. That is, start making work for the person that you want to buy your stuff. Start making work for the person that you hope will buy your stuff. And then I want you to publish that work. This is the best step when it comes to free work, is creating content and things around the stuff that you want to do and that you do really well and, and putting it out there for the world to see. So if we go back to that idea of, you know, that photographer, then, yeah, posting a bunch of photos that are of bands that are of instruments that are fitting in that world. Right. Showcase that as the skill set that you offer. Showcase that as the product that you have. And when you do that, you're allowing somebody to see themselves in that position. And, and I'm gonna go a little deeper here. This isn't the topic at hand, but it's also really important that in addition to showcasing your work, you're also showcasing your process. Because most people, the work is not enough. They also want to know more about you. They want to know more about how it works. You need to let them know, like, hey, if you're a band and you want to do this, all you gotta do is DM me. Let's chat. No pressure to buy. You've got to, like, when you're publishing this work, just publishing the work isn't enough. You do have to go a step deeper. Talk about your process, talk about why you do what you do, talk about what drives you, talk about.

Your favorite parts of working with certain clients, things like that. But what I want you to remember is that there are ways to do this in multiple scenarios. I used to want to do, and I ended up doing some of this work, but I wanted to do more commercial music work where I was like working literally writing the music for commercials. So what did I do? I made content for the person that would hire me. I started rescoring commercials. I would download commercials off YouTube and rescore them. Just put out new stuff, you know, like my versions of these same things. You'll see brand, like people in the branding world doing like, logo redesigns, things like that. That's a great way to, to put yourself out there a little more. Photographers, they may do photography of friends. If you're trying to get yourself out there as a videographer, you can create films, right? But you can do any kind of work in that realm. And just putting yourself out there and letting people see what it is you do is so, so important. And then number four, when you start doing this consistently.

People are going to start to Approach, you people are going to start to say, like. Like, you'll probably have. This happened to me. You'll probably have your mom be like, oh, okay, like, you should do this thing for your Uncle Jake. Like, he could really. He could really use your help right now. I think this is gonna be great experience for you. Okay, well, what's Uncle Jake want me to do? Well, he's got these, like, he wants to go take a bunch of photographs of his cows. And I think that, like, that's gonna be a great opportunity for you to just get out and get some work.

Remind yourself here. Like, does this align with the kind of work that you want to do? It's one thing to just be like, okay, it's Uncle Jake. Like, I want to do that. But you're also going to have your friends come up to you and be like, hey, I got this project I'm working on. I see that you're doing this stuff now. Would you want to help me out? So I want to give you some guidelines here that will help you kind of make that decision.

Of whether or not you should do that free work. First of all, it really should align with the work. If you don't really have a lot of time, it should align with the work that you actually want to do. I'll say that again. If you don't have enough time, it should align with the work that you actually want to do. So doing free work for somebody else that does not align with your ideal client when you could be creating stuff for that person, it's probably not the best idea because now you're going to be spending all these extra hours for this other person that you may not enjoy that work as much. You may feel like, okay, this isn't really what I want to do. And then you're going to get more of that kind of work. So you have to be cautious about that. So I have this, like, two of three rule that I use a lot of. And so the first one is, is it fun? Are you gonna have a really good time doing this thing? Okay, so number one, is it fun? Number two, does it pay enough to make it worth it? And you may be in a situation where like, yeah, any pay, like 50 bucks right now is gonna, like, help me. We're in some dire straits times. I get that. So maybe it is that kind of thing. So number two, does it pay enough to make it worth it? And number three, will it directly connect you with someone that you'd like to work with? Will it directly connect you with Someone you would like to work with. Now, some people use that third rule as, like, is it going to give me exposure? I narrowed it down to this because exposure to me feels a little too.

It's not specific enough. I want to know, like, okay, this gig is going to put me in direct contact with somebody that I would want to work with. And now here's the trick. You don't pick just one. It has to hit two of those. So to do the gig, you have to have two of those three met. And then all three is like a big, big bonus. So you can either have a great time and connect with somebody that you know you need to connect with, or you can have a great time and get paid, or you're not going to have fun at all, and you could get paid really well and also connect with somebody. But you need to have two of those three things. And this is a really good indicator of, is this worth me putting time in? And you're going to have people and friends that come to you and say, well, man, work's work. You just got to do what you got to do. Yes, maybe so. But again, I'm putting all this into the bucket of, do you have enough time to spend on this? And if not, then continue making things for the person that you want to make. That will lead us then to point number five. Once you have a body of work that is published, by published, I mean up on the Internet, somewhere where people can see it, you've been consistent in your style, in your approach, in who it's for. You've also. It should look fairly impressive, to be honest. Before we get to this fifth stage, there should be enough there that somebody's like, whoa, that's pretty cool. And there's different levels to this. So depending on the entry point that you're trying to get to, you may need to have more or less. And so we're getting into that world here. Once you have that body of work that's published and it aligns with your ideal person, I want you to start reaching out to that ideal person. So if you're doing photography stuff for bands, start reaching out to bands now and saying, like, hey, here's what I do.

Just letting you know. Even better, to be honest is to not even tell people what you do, but find people that you really respect.

That align with the people that you. Those ideal clients find people that you really respect and just message them and say, listen, I just want to tell you how much I love what you do. I just want to show my Admiration and appreciation for your talents and skills. There's something about just opening that door. And just like.

Even in the four hour workweek, Tim Ferriss says, you know, if you want to get somebody's attention, just ask them who their biggest influences are or like touch base with them about, you know, like what was the biggest milestone for you. Like, ask them a meaningful and important question that's going to get them interested in you and what you have to offer, you know, because what's going to happen, they're going to go and stock your stuff. That's why you've built this portfolio. So they're going to go look at your stuff and, and then it's a different ball game. Because now what most people say, oh well, we let the work speak for itself. It's not really what's happening here. What's happening is you have now introduced somebody to the opportunity to see the work. Right. I believe that most people think that letting the work speak for themselves means just putting it up and hoping people show up. That's not the way this works. What you're doing is you're, you've spoke up, you've gotten somebody's attention and now they're going to look, they're going to stalk you and see what's going on. Then the work is going to speak and they're going to say, how loud is that work speaking? It depends on how clear it is that it's for them and that it can benefit and bring value to them and what they do. So I want you to be diligent about this. Like, look, you know, look to do work that aligns with your ideal person and see how you can help them out as well. So what I mean here to bring a little more clarity is like, if you're a photographer that wants to do stuff for bands.

Who'S somebody that's around bands all the time that you can team up with. Do you know a recording engineer that you could get in touch with and be like, hey, can I just come down to the studio and like shoot some bands sometime and just like get in there and make some stuff? If you're trying to make films, like, who do you know? If you're a videographer trying to make films, rather, who do you know that might be in that world that you can start to be like, hey, could I come down and just offer something? Like, be a piece of the puzzle. Don't try to overstep the boundaries, but just be a piece of the puzzle. Allow yourself to come in and offer Something that feels good to that person, that it's going to serve them well. Right. And if you just come at it from that perspective of like, how can I serve this person? It's not about you trying to get work at this stage. It's just like, how do I serve this person? That's going to be a game changer, Right? So try to partner with and collaborate with others that live in that space that you're trying to be in. And again, I'll say it again, be diligent. Contacting people that you want to work with, showing your admiration and respect, asking questions that get them excited to respond. Many of them will never respond. Some will. Some may not want to work with you. Some. Some may. And what's going to happen, though, is that stuff starts to compound on itself over and over and over to where when they see that you're not asking, you're just becoming a part of the conversation, they start to look at you more, they start to notice you more. If they're making stuff and putting it online, get in there and comment. Be a part of that conversation. Right. Gary Vee talks about it where it's like, go in and DM people and be like, hey, here's what I do. I'd love to work with you. I just don't think that really works for most people. I think if they're a level down. So when I talked about these kind of tiers, I think if they're sort of just emerging, that can be a great place to partner. Where it's like, you're not looking for the biggest fish. You're looking for somebody that's maybe a couple steps ahead of you and may just now be starting to need somebody like you. That's where you start to build some relationships that really matter. When you're operating at the same level and below, you're dealing with the danger of somebody taking advantage of your work. When you're trying to step up into something, then you can offer something of value for free and it's worth it because they may then see that value or, you know, okay, this is now worth putting in my portfolio because it aligns with what I do really well. It showcases some of this work, and then you can start to transition that over into paid stuff. You get a few of these clients that have done some things like, this is sort of what happened to me. I put my work out there and ended up doing some things.

That led me to tie up with a guy by the name of Kayfla who's a awesome hip hop pop artist and I reached out to her through a mutual friend and we ended up collaborating and doing a co write together and she's a flipping Grammy nominee now. And it was all from this same process of have the work out there, develop the relationships, reach out from a place of honesty and respect and admiration, and then it starts to culminate, Something starts to happen. And it doesn't always work that way, but.

If you're diligent about it, it'll start to work to your favor over time, especially if the work is good. Right? So I'm going to go back, give you a recap. Number one, understand what you want to do and don't get distracted. Understand what you want to do and don't get distracted. Think about who needs your service. Start making work for that person, even if you've never met them. Publish that work and put it out there for the world to see. Don't be afraid, okay? Put it out there. You show progress even in that work. That's a good sign as well. If somebody can come in and see holy cow, like in the last six months, this person has gone from like average to holy cow. That's really good. That speaks to your favor as well. When you start to do this consistently, people will start to approach you. These will likely not be your ideal clients, so be ready for that. Is it worth your time? Right. Do you have enough time to work with this person? If not, ask yourself these three questions. Does it pay well enough? Is it going to be fun? And is it going to connect me with somebody that I want to connect with? And if you're not getting two of those three things, you probably should let it go, even if it is your Uncle Frank. And then once you have a body of work that's published and that aligns with your ideal customer, then make sure they can see that. Right? Then start to reach out to those people. And then while you're reaching out, also reach out to people in your industry that might be getting in front of those people. How do they pair with you really well and, and look at them and see how you can use your services to align with what they already offer and just give that up as opportunity. This is the best free work that you could do, in my opinion. Work that aligns with what you want to do because you're going to have fun making it and you're going to put it out there and it's going to attract the right person. If your branding's good, if you understand what makes something valuable, if you understand how to really use great.

Language that aligns with that person. And if you're showing yourself and your own personality and what you're all about, you can really do a lot with this.

So if you have any questions, I'll take them in the chat. Just let me know. I'd love to answer any if you have them. And I just want to say thanks so much for being here and listening and being a part of this, especially at the infant stages of this podcast. Like, this is a really fun thing for me to do. And I wasn't able to get a video out this week on YouTube. And so just because I'm working on some of my own things. And so this was like a nice. I was like, I'm still going to do the live thing. I really want to do that. And so I was excited to get in here today and be able to chat and talk about this stuff. So those of you guys that are watching this in the replay, let me know in the comments, you know, what do you. Or if you're hearing this online, let me know what you think about this. Let me know if this is helpful because I want to make sure that I'm providing you guys with stuff that is really helpful. And if you want, you can go follow me on Instagram stopthestarvingartist. So Instagram is opthestarvingartist. Or you can go to www.stopthestarvingartist.com if you'd like to book a consultation with me to get a strategy session to start to put something in place for you to be able to build out something that you can sell, to be able to put out something that you know is going to be meaningful work for you. Or if you're just trying to, if you got something that you want to sell already, but you don't know how to grow that audience yet. The right audience. Like, I'm all about the thousand true fans. How do we get those thousand people that'll pay you 100 bucks? That's $100,000, right? If you're trying to grow that audience and you need some help, this is what I do. And I would love to be there to serve you. So www.stopthestarvingartist. com. Appreciate you guys so much for being here and I'll see you all next.