Gig workers and artists need knowledge about their worth and market rates to demand fair fees. Tony Robbins practiced public speaking constantly, even to empty rooms, to master his craft. Regular free work builds the experience and confidence that lets you charge more later.
I know a lot of the time in the gig world or the arts world, it's hard to monetize what you're doing, but the more information you have, the more experience you have, the more informed you are. So it's easier for you to demand a certain fee because you know what you're worth. You know what other people are paying, you know what other people are charging, especially given your own background. Whether you're an African, you're a woman, you are an artist, sometimes people try to lower your rate or to cheat you or to exploit you. So it's up to you to be informed and to know your value, but you can't do that if you never do it. If you don't have enough gigs, you don't have enough exposure. I remember Tony Robbins Tony Robbins said he learned from Jim Rohn, and he went to a Jim Rohn seminar, and Jim Rohn advised him, if you want to become a public speaker, you need to do it more often. You can't do it once a month and think you're gonna get good. Try and do it at least once a week or once every 2 weeks. Find a place you can do it, even if it's for free at first, so that you get practice, you get comfortable. You get comfortable on the stage, you get comfortable with your material, you know what you're doing, you build better connection with the audience. What did Tony Robbins do? He started doing it 3 times a day. He would teach his seminar. Sometimes only one person shows up, sometimes the room is full, but he would do it every day, and he did it for months until he became better at it.
