The whole 'never work for exposure' thing - is it always true or are there legit exceptions?

I used to be 100% on team 'exposure is trash pay' until I took a $50 gig for a local nonprofit last month. They had 200 followers and no budget, but the project let me use a new video editing tool I'd been wanting to learn. Plus the client gave me a real testimonial and tagged me in a post that got me 3 actual paying gigs since then. On the other hand, I've also done the classic 'exposure' job for a startup that promised 'lots of future work' and got ghosted after 40 hours of edits. What's your cutoff point - is there a dollar amount or situation where you'd consider it, or do you walk away every time?

3 comments

3 Comments

henryr4512d ago

I feel you on that startup ghosting, that's brutal. It's like "exposure" is a gamble where sometimes you hit the jackpot and sometimes you just lose 40 hours of your life.

iris_barnes8712d ago

Oh come on, it's not that deep lol. People act like they got scammed by a mafia boss. You took a chance on a freebie and it didn't work out, that's life.

the_felix12d ago

The exposure doesn't pay the bills, but sometimes the real value is in the skill you can't afford to learn any other way. How do you weigh a learning opportunity against your time?