It’s raining, it’s pouring and this old man is (hopefully) scoring.
Off to have a meeting with a young editor of a new, local online magazine. One of those ‘grand ambition, no budget’ type organisations.
They had a post on Gumtree (or Craig’slist – I always get them mixed up) which was looking for young writers looking to take over the world. I fit neither category, but saw an opportunity and dropped them a line.
I doubt they have any money, so why even consider? Ah, Grasshopper, good question! The answer is that sometimes there are things more important than money.
Like what?
Like access to people with money!
Aha! You see it goes like this: I write for local mag for free as an opportunity to get close to local business owners to sell my services as a writer. Clever, huh?
Interviewing them for the (free) local mag let’s me meet them, learn about their business and figure out if I can pitch my (paid for) writing services their way. Plus it’s fun meeting people and expanding my local network.
If you are asked to work for free, look at it from all opportunities and see if something more valuable than money can squeezed from it.
Do you think this is Machiavellian? Hit comment below and tell me your own experiences if leveraging.
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