Putting the Free in Freelancer

Even with all of Los Angeles on Shelter in Place and dutifully standing 6 feet apart from each other, the truth is you can't sneeze these days without hitting a freelance copywriter.

They're all over the place.

And they're all available.

And they're all racing to the bottom to lower their day rates.

So, I'm beating them all to the punch with a price that can't be beat -- Free.

A longwinded way of saying I've been doing quite a bit of pro bono work.

I just started a new project to help at risk kids. It's a great organization. I can't share the name of it with you until I get clearance from its Executive Director, who seems genuinely excited to be working with me. That never happens.

All things being equal, would I like to be getting paid?

You're damn right I'd like to be getting paid. These new quartz countertops on my uncle's rental house did not pay for themselves. (Please dm me if you are interested in renting the joint, or know someone who does.)

But, and here comes the obligatory triteness, the more of these projects I do, the more I realize the tzuris  in my life is nothing.

Moreover, there's something genuinely more rewarding about applying whatever skills I do have to the cause of helping people as opposed to the sale of sugary brown carbonated water, overpriced Japanese cars or even convenient portable catheters.

There's also something liberating.

You see, all that phony forced client deference that one must muster up for a paying gig is suddenly meaningless in a transaction where no money is exchanged.

So when a client says, as they often do, "That headline seems negative or I'm not comfortable with the wording of this paragraph." 

I can turn around and say, "who's the professional unpaid writer here?"

That hasn't happened yet, but it could.