Michael Di Lauro

There’s a bit of buzz on twitter.

It’s about Free.

No, not freedom. But free—as in whether we, the self-employed, should even think about taking a non-paying gig.

On her blog, Susan Murphy tackles The Culture of Free and offers up compelling thoughts about what needs to change (and why it needs to). Susan makes especially insightful comments, too, about entitlement and about managing time—and your clients’ expectations.

All of which brought me to a post by Nancy Kenny called The Value of Me.

With thought-provoking references to money, self-worth and the courage it takes to ask for compensation, Nancy struck a chord that should resonate with all freelancers.

But what hit home was the clear, unequivocal stand that Nancy took vis-a-vis her perception of money and the role it played in her life. It’s not often that someone speaks so plainly, so concisely, about this kind of stuff. And it left me wondering; how many of us have done that, addressed our beliefs about money?

Meanwhile, getting back to the question, the business theorists—the number-loving analysts—might quickly suggest we all consult some sort of bell-curve chart with a formal-sounding title like; Earning Expectations for Self-employed Entrepreneurs…

However, I know (believe me, I really know) that the problem with such an analysis is it assumes that business people all—and always—act with clear-thinking logic and analytical decisiveness.

But as Nancy so evocatively demonstrated, for most of us, there’s an internal debate that gets played out, day-in, day-out. A debate about self-worth, about doubt, about what will people think.

And, let’s face it, as much as business theory likes to assume we’re all robotic automatons—modern-day Mr. Spocks forever making decisions based on analysis and reason, the truth is we’re a walking, talking sack of neurons, emotions, feelings and perceptions, and it’s from that pile of primal goo  that many of our decisions originate.

So should we work for free?

To arrive at an answer, maybe we should start by addressing our individual sense of self-worth and our own personal relationship with money. I’m guessing if we do that, and do it successfully, we’ll find that the answer is, quite often, fuhgeddaboutdit.

Whether you you agree, disagree, or think this whole “free” thing is no big deal, I’d love hearing from you. Please let me know what you think by clicking the Comment link to the right of this post’s title.

Thanks.

• • Comments [5]
  • Tags [It's not about the money]
  • Categories [About the NPV of Life, Uncategorized]