There’s a coffee shop and streetwear brand here in Nashville, Tennessee called No Free Coffee. As you’ve probably gathered from their name, they don’t hand out too many free coffees.

“No free coffee” is a solid mantra for creative work. It’s an on-going reminder to oneself to never work for “free”.

The reason so many influencers don’t have a pot to piss in (but portray a lavish lifestyle of jet-setting their plastic asses all over the world) is because they work for perks and favors.

Perks and favors are sexy. But, perks and favors don’t pay the bills. When you do creative work for an enterprise, you should be compensated in one of the following ways:

First and foremost, you should ask for money.

If the enterprise can’t pay you, then you should ask for equity (assuming you believe they possess some serious upside). Nine out of ten times, your equity won’t ever amount to jack shit. But, in some rare instances it will.

When the artist David Choe was asked to paint Facebook’s headquarters, he quoted them $60,000. Facebook countered with $60,000 in equity. Choe took it. Facebook went public. Choe’s equity was worth $200 million.

Now, if the brand can’t do cash or equity, you should ask for notoriety. In some rare instances, it makes sense to work with an enterprise for “free” if they’re willing to introduce you to heavy hitters in their industry or shout you out on social, email, etc. This only makes sense if the enterprise is well-connected and heavily followed.

Lastly, assuming the enterprise doesn’t have cash, equity or notoriety, they’ve got to offer you invaluable experience. Let’s say you have ambitions of one day starting a sushi restaurant and Jiro Ono (the dude from Jiro Dreams of Sushi) offers to teach you a few tricks if you take out the fucking garbage.

You’d be a goddamn idiot if you didn’t take out the garbage.

Compensation for your creative work doesn’t have to come in the form of cold, hard cash; compensation can look like equity, notoriety or experience.

But, it just can’t be free.

By Cole Schafer.

P.S. If this newsletter left you feeling inspired, do me a huge favor and tell one person to subscribe.