Hi there Funday Sunday community!

When you hear the phrase “free work”, I’m sure you have a shiver down your spine.

Nobody wants to get taken advantage of; nobody has the time to work for “nothing.”

These sentences are true, and I would never let those things happen to you. But people nowadays suffer from “main character” syndrome and think that good things should happen to them because they deserve it.

This is the biggest lie of our society.

I heard time and time again in my career that I’m lucky

• Lucky, that so many brides recommended me when I worked as a makeup artist to stay afloat during university

• Lucky, that I became the leader of the social media in my agency at 24 years old

• Lucky, that I had the opportunity to travel the world

• Lucky, that I got a job after six months of coding

In reality, all of these were results of working for FREE.

Let me explain:

⚠️ Warning: The next piece is a truth bomb you may not be ready to hear.

1. Nepotism and why people don’t choose you.

Nepotism is a widely despised practice.

Now, let’s talk about what nepotism actually means in 90% of real life. Nepotism is when somebody gets hired or chosen for an opportunity because they have some kind of connection.

Yes, there are mind-boggling versions of this. But in most cases, this happens because of trust.

Who would you trust more to hire for your team?

1. A person who has a decent CV, but you don’t know much about them

2. A person who has a similar CV and has a recommendation from one of your team members you trust.

Almost everybody would hire the second person. This is what nepotism is in the real world.

People don’t have time to test you and give you a chance because “ you deserve it”. A lot of people would deserve a lot of things. Sadly, our world is not this utopia.

Now let’s go back to the example above:
How do you show who you are if you don’t have connections or a fantastic portfolio?

2. Show your work to introduce yourself

You must introduce yourself through work if you don’t swim in social proof of your excellent skills and work ethic.

In his podcast, Ali Abdaal said this:

In reality, people are selfish with their time and don’t care about what you have to say if it doesn’t benefit them.

Everybody has better things to do than answering sales emails and people begging for a job without having proof of their knowledge and experience.

If you want people to care about you, you must give value.

3. How I achieved this time and time again

When I was a makeup artist, every bride of mine got exceptional service.

• They received a free ebook the moment they reached out to me for a skincare routine, so they could be even more beautiful on their big day

• They always have a small container of powder, lipstick, and blotting sheets for quick and easy touch-ups.

• After every makeup trial, I created a face chart to show them the exact products and techniques I used on them.

No wonder whole friend groups hired me for their weddings.

When I was looking for a job as a social media strategist, I reached out to all respectable marketing agencies in my area, and I promised to work for free on marketing strategies to show my worth to them.

I got hired in the middle of the pandemic in less than two weeks.

When my current workplace reached out, I worked several all-nighters to show that paying for my visa and moving me to Canada was worth it for them. I was griding until 5-6 am in the morning for nothing but a slight chance for it working out.

In every scenario, I gave away hours and hours of my valuable time for free…

… and won a much bigger prize in the end.

Free work has the best ROI. This is just a fact.

Important!

Working for free has to be a conscious decision. Don’t fall from scams; don’t fall for horrible clients. I don’t mean to work for free for weeks and months.

But you must realize that your time is only as valuable as much people would pay. Sometimes, you start at $0 and not only have to climb out of this hole but also have to build the ladder for it.

This is it for our second Funday Sunday issue. It is a complicated topic, but it needs to be talked about more.

💌 So if you have any thoughts about please hit reply and share it with me!

Fanni
@fanni_sophia