Freelancers and Volunteering: Waste of Time or Valuable Marketing Strategy?
Posted October 11, 2010 in Marketing
Some freelancers swear by volunteering as a way to start getting paying clients. On the other hand, some freelancers say volunteering has been a huge waste of time, that they felt taken advantage of, and had nothing to show for it.
As with most things, volunteering can be good or bad. It depends on how you do it.
Advantages of Volunteering
Here are some ways volunteering can help new freelancers to get started and established freelancers to expand.
- Apply skills in the real world. Freelancing will let you take the skills you learned in school or through training programs and apply them in the real world. In fact, even established freelancers can use volunteering to get into a new niche or expand to other services.
- Beef up your portfolio. By volunteering, you can populate your portfolio and clients list, even if you’ve never had a paying client before.
- Prove you can get results. Aside from having work samples, you’ll also have documented results based on your volunteer work. For example, let’s say you designed a fund-raising direct mail letter for a charity. How much money did that mailer raise? You can use that in your resume and look like a superstar.
- Get testimonials or references. Assuming you keep your clients happy, whether paying or not, then volunteering is great for getting testimonials or references.
- Get referrals. If you do good volunteer work, then the people you volunteer for would only be too happy to pass the word around to people they know.
- Build your network. Freelancers who are just starting out usually have very limited networks. Volunteering will help you build that network, which will continue to be valuable throughout your freelancing career.
- Do good. Volunteering is valuable and rewarding in and of itself. It feels good to help others and know you’re contributing to the community. You’ll also reap plenty of goodwill along the way.
How to Make Volunteering Work for You
How can you make sure you reap as many of the rewards of volunteering as you can? Here are some tips to make the most of volunteering:
- Be picky about what you do as a volunteer. Not every volunteering activity is going to contribute to your freelancing career. Choose those that allow you to use the skills you’re promoting as a freelancer.
- Make expectations clear. Ask the organization to put clearly, in writing, what the organization expects from you: what your deliverables are, what quality is expected, and by when. That said, your own expectations should also be clear. In your application letter, be forthright that you expect a testimonial or feedback in writing, after your work is completed, and if they are happy with it. After your volunteering stint, thank the organization for the opportunity and say something like, “I would appreciate it if you could refer me to business owners you know who could use my services.” Read this post for more advice on how to ask for referrals.
- Document your volunteer work. Get permission to keep samples of your work for your portfolio and to use the organization’s name in your resume. If applicable, ask for information that will demonstrate what results the organization got from your work. Results could include lead generation and sales. However, don’t forget the amount of money they saved by not hiring somebody to do the work, or the time they saved by not doing the work themselves.
In Your Words
Volunteering can be a valuable tool for freelancers to develop their skills and promote their services.
What are your experiences in volunteering? Did it help your freelancing business in any way? Or was it a waste of time and effort?
Please share in the comments below.
Image by San Jose Library
Related posts:
- Open Thread: How Much Time Do You Spend on Marketing?
- Solve the Common Marketing Problems that Bug Most Freelancers
- Online Business Marketing Is Much Like Marketing Offline
- Online Marketing Is Great – But What About Traditional Marketing?
- Open Thread: What Makes You Valuable?
About the author: Lexi Rodrigo is the creator of The Savvy Freelancer, a blog that's all about achieving creative and financial freedom through freelancing. Check out Lexi's free guide, 31 Days to Start Your Freelancing Business (or Make Yours A Better One).
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20 Comments
Peter Burgin
October 11th, 2010 at 9:39 amI’ve done volunteer work, but it’s been mostly in the form of workshops/presentations at the local libraries. I do it because it’s fun and it lets me meet new people, but have yet to really get any clients off of it.
John Soares
October 11th, 2010 at 10:03 amLots of great advice here. What really sticks out for me is being very choosy about what you volunteer to do. When you start helping one group, other groups will find out about you and ask you to help them. If you’re not careful, you can easily over-commit and wind up with insufficient time to get your work done and live your life.
I’m currently on the board of directors of a local hiking trail group. I’m the main writer/editor guy and also the de facto web guy. It’s a good intersection of one of my freelance writing specialties and one of my main hobbies/activities. And right now it’s my only steady volunteer activity.
Bryant
October 11th, 2010 at 10:34 amI recently helped put on an even in Chicago where we found a small business in need of some creative work and over the course of 2 days we executed a bunch of creative work that we presented to the client.
We had about 20 creatives with varying skill sets and we broke into three groups and presented three possible marketing directions. The process was completely organic and there were not set deliverables before we started. It was basically meet with the client, figure out what we wanted to make and then execute. No expectations or pre-conditions.
The purpose of the event was to bring together creatives from the Chicago-land area who love doing what they do, and to network and work on a fun project. We did not receive any money from the client and charged participants $25 to cover food costs that we ended up spending to feed everyone. We were also sponsored by Old Style beer and Rhoida notepads, so I feel like people go their $25 worth.
The feed back was generally good, but we did get some that said they felt like they were being taken advantage of. I can understand that some people don’t want to work for free, but personally I can take 12 hours out of my life to meet awesome people in my industry and to help a company that would otherwise not be able to get creative direction. Giving back to a community that you work in is rewarding and in most cases will come back to benefit you down the road. I would highly recommend.
Oh and if your interested in the event, or want to sign up for the next one, check out: http://www.thetwonightstand.com
Joanne Mason
October 11th, 2010 at 3:13 pmI’ve found volunteering to be a wonderful, organic way to network. While it hasn’t brought me business directly, it helps me keep up to date on the issues facing potential clients, helps me stay in contact with folks in the field, and brings me valuable experience that would have been harder to develop otherwise. Plus, it’s fun and rewarding! Win-win all the way around.
Randy
October 11th, 2010 at 3:47 pmI’ve also found volunteering to be fantastic, I started volunteering at the YMCA association office as a graphic designer. My goal was to obtain work for my portfolio & to gain experience while giving back to my community supporting a good cause.
Long story short it blossomed into a paying job & I’m still there today!
IT was the best thing I ever did as a freelancer to this date
Laura Spencer
October 11th, 2010 at 5:21 pmGreat post Lexi!
Don’t forget, you can also make great contacts by volunteering in a professional society related to your field of specialization.
Best Website Company
October 12th, 2010 at 5:13 amNice post. Freelancers will be valuable if you are a start-up else it will be waste of everything surely.
Ameet
October 12th, 2010 at 7:46 ami guess volunteering increases the business manifolds especially when u r in the process of client building
Shumyla Jan
October 13th, 2010 at 8:38 amThe biggest challenge with volunteering is time management. As a freelancer, know your priorities, be organized, and make time for volunteering. And if you’re going to volunteer, make the most out of it — network!
Allena
October 13th, 2010 at 10:04 amI did an unpaid internship- similar to volunteering- for a statewide non-profit association in which I wrote grants for them. It did garner me all those benefits you stated- great client, great samples. I highly recommend volunteering for new freelance writers who have the “how can I get a clip if every job I want wants me to show a clip?” problem.
Lautaro B.
October 13th, 2010 at 11:25 amI’ve been a volunteer for the last 13-14 years at a children ngo, the work is huge and sometimes it gets a little bigger than what i expect, but just to know that we work for 800 homeless parentless kids monthly is a tremendous plus for me.
Not to mention that by doing this we help them to live free of drugs, potencial street dangers, violence, ignorance and others.
There is nothing wrong with being a volunteer at least for me…
BR
John W. Rivard
October 21st, 2010 at 10:01 pmI have done a few carefully selected volunteer gigs as a photographer and as a writer. I met interesting people who gave me good references, got a few paying jobs directly from the folks I worked with and received the satisfaction of giving something back to the community. It has always been a worthwhile endeavor for me, but I only volunteer where I will be useful and I also believe in the cause.
John
October 29th, 2011 at 5:11 pmIf you already have a portfolio and experience, no volunteering necessary. Just don’t do it!
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