No, I will not work for Free, and Neither Should You

This post is for all of you who are self-employed and may have friends or colleagues asking you to work for free.  It is also for those of you who think that I may want to work for free.  It happens.

I actually have people who email me when they have an opportunity or a challenge in their life and they want to run it by me to get a feeling for the energy of the situation or the people involved.  AND THEY PAY ME ACCORDINGLY.

Their emails are something like this:  “I have this going on…. (and they tell me about the situation), then they will say, thank you, I appreciate your time, let me know what I owe you, AND THEY PAY ME.  (Sometimes I just reply via email and sometimes they would prefer to talk on the phone ~ I have no preference, I leave it up to them).  I connect for them and their situation, and I answer their specific question/issue.

They have usually had a reading with me and we have established a relationship.  They trust me and they respect my insights.  They also respect me as a person and a human that has a mortgage and a business and who likes to have heat and light and food.  They respect my time.  They know I am busy and that I do a lot of appointments and I talk to a lot of people, and that these people pay me for my time.

I came across this FANTASTIC post that I would LOVE to share with you.  It is for all of you that are self-employed, and it is especially for those of you that think professionals have not invested any time and money in themselves, and that they do not have any bills, or need to eat.

The following article was written by Adrienne Graham and posted on Forbes, March 28, 2011.  I am sharing it because I couldn’t possibly say this any better myself…

No, You Can’t Pick My Brain. It Costs Too Much

I love giving advice. I write blogs, articles and a newsletter. I host a radio show. I tweet, Facebook and share nuggets of advice almost daily. So what is it in all of that, that would make anyone think they can still have the right to “pick my brain”?

I can’t tell you how flattering it is to be approached by representatives from major companies seeking my wisdom and advice. It shows they are listening, and like what I have to say.

But often I find the road ends when they are just on a fact finding mission. That mission is to pick my brain to gather as much free intel and knowledge they need to make their jobs easier.

Not gonna happen, sorry. My brain costs money to maintain. There’s training, classes to attend, reading (I have to buy books), gaining certifications, costs of memberships so I can network, attending conferences and mastering my skills that all cost me money.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE

You will need to click through this link to read the rest of this article on “Forbes” because I don’t steal or recycle content from other people, but I will share it if I think it is good.