if you're stuck in the awful in-between area of your career where you need #DataViz experience......but you can't find a client to pay you for it.....but you also don't want to work for free....
i like the idea of doing a personal project instead....but there are a lot of skills that you learn by working with an actual client....
a great middle ground that i learned from @evergreendata last year is to set aside time in your schedule to do two free things a year that are meaningful to you....
you can work toward getting more experience and also help a cause that's meaningful to you and set boundaries between free/paid work....
for example, this year i did two small probono data viz projects for charities that support Parkinson's and PSP research, which are very important to me....
here is a portion of my convo w/@evergreendata bc she's so full of gold:
ME: what would you say if someone said, “I would give you the shot, but I'm not prepared to pay for it”? And you're thinking, “Well, it would be great to get some experience.” What's your take on that?
ME: what would you say if someone said, “I would give you the shot, but I'm not prepared to pay for it”? And you're thinking, “Well, it would be great to get some experience.” What's your take on that?
STEPHANIE: God, no, no, no, no, no. So, look, I definitely do free work, but I'm choosy about who I do it with. And this would actually be a great place to make a cold call to a local nonprofit that desperately needs the work and has zero budget for it....
STEPHANIE: That's a place to go do some pro bono work and turn that into a use case that you can put on your website. That's somebody who really needs it. Some big Adobe, Google, Microsoft who’s just not sure about you, they've got the pockets to try you out....
STEPHANIE: So, no, they don't get any kind of free work. If you need fodder for your portfolio or for your use cases, go find the people who could actually use your services and truly cannot afford it. I will just say one more thing on this....
STEPHANIE: I limit myself to two free things a year; maybe like two free webinars or maybe like a pro bono design project for somebody. And that way you can say, “Oh, I do take on free work. But this year, my free work dance card is full. Maybe next year.”....
STEPHANIE: And don't be afraid to walk away. You don't need to waste your time chasing down people who don't think you're worth anything....
i hope that helps you navigate that hellish grey area...here's my full convo w/Stephanie🙌😍
dataviztoday.com/shownotes/55
dataviztoday.com/shownotes/55
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