Why Getting Paid with Stuff (Instead of Money) is Like Having a One-Night Stand

Bloggers: Don’t trick yourselves into thinking companies value you if they’re paying you in merch

Photo by Yuris Alhumaydy on Unsplash

I have a friend who makes stuff happen. She’s been interviewed on TV at least a gajillion times in the three years that I’ve known her. One of her pieces for Huffington Post has been on shared on Facebook 58,933 times. (When I said “gajillion” I was exxagerating. When I said that last number I was not.) She also has a regular blog column with a major, big-time national publication, founded a non-profit, and published two books.

But this friend (let’s call her “Sarah” because that’s her name) has a problem. While Sarah is awesome at getting exposure for her writing, she’s not awesome at getting money for it. Most of that stuff up there? Unpaid.

Freelance Shouldn’t Be Free — Take the PAYlance Pledge

While she has managed to nab a couple sweet paid gigs this year, my girl is still struggling to make the rent. That’s super unfortunate because she happens to be a born-and-raised Brooklynite, and…