Nicolas Cole warns service providers against doing free work hoping for future payment. He uses an ice-cream shop owner being asked to mow lawns to show how absurd it is when service providers abandon their core offering for uncertain compensation.
A pattern I notice a lot is people bring to the table a question, some version of, I'm talking to someone who I'd like to work with them. I think I could help them, but they don't have any money, but they might have the money if I help them do this other thing. And the problem with that is you are now, aside from the fact that you're taking on risk, aside from the fact that they're not paying you, the subtle mistake that everyone misses is that, and in the process, you are relinquishing your productized service. You're going to inevitably help this person with things that are slightly outside of that productized service. To put it in an analogy, it's like saying you run an ice cream shop, you have a customer that comes in and they would really like ice cream, but they go, "I can't buy your ice cream, but I could if I could get my lawn mower business working in the summer. And not only do I need help getting my lawn mower business going, but I also need you to grab a lawn mower and to help me mow some lawns." So when I say it like that, I think everyone here goes, "That is completely ridiculous. I would never do that." But this is what people do every single day with services.
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