Why work for whuffie?

* Your name isn’t widely known and you need to build your reputation. By speaking or doing pro bono work, you will start to build up that valuable whuffie that is needed to get the paid work you need to cover your bills at the end of each month.
* Your name is widely known in one vertical, but the conference or cause that has approached you can give you exposure in another vertical you are highly interested in building a name for yourself.
* You really, really believe in the cause or the conference. It’s something you are crazy passionate about.
* In the case of a conference, you were 100% going to be there anyway (like SXSW Interactive).
* You are good friends and you know that friend will have your back anytime you ask in the future.
* Doing this could land you a gazillion more paid gigs (like speaking at TED or PopTech).
* You are pretty much guaranteed of being compensated another way – selling books, CDs, seminars, etc. (but this one is tough – I’ve asked the conference to pony up for a minimum number of books to give away in lieu of a fee).
[…]
After you have built a name for yourself, you should be charging. And even if it’s a friend’s conference, they need to pay to get you there and put you up for it. Your friend should also buy you a beer or two and recommend you to other conference organizers (who will pay you). Really good friends will actually pay you. Money coming out of your pocket to help someone else’s event (or business in the case of consulting or a workshop) rock is not sustainable. If you continue to do this after you’ve built a name for yourself, you have completely squandered the reason for you building your reputation in the first place! Really. If you will continue to work for free, why not just spend nothing and go nowhere? It’s more sustainable.

Why? (and here is obvious part)

Because your landlord/bank won’t let you pay your rent/mortgage with whuffie. The grocery store won’t take whuffie either. Neither will your utility companies, clothing stores, universities for your kids, bookstores for your reading materials or the many other realities of day to day bill collections. At some point, you need to cash in on some of that whuffie and put some money in the bank.

So, the bottom line for me is: I will work for whuffie if I really believe in something, but I will work for cash if it is for your benefit. And I will do the same for others. I pride myself on making sure that people get paid when I benefit more from their labor than they do. And I won’t ask if I don’t think I can pay them.