I was watching some funny video today where some people were doing it as an exercise where they were asking people to do various favors where, for the most part, people would normally say no. For example, if you just go up to a stranger asking for a hundred dollars, they would most likely say no. And it was just an exercise to see whether or not eventually somebody would say yes, to show that you just need to put yourself out there in many ways. You might get a lot of rejections, but you only need one person to say yes.
And what it got me to think is, I recently agreed, or potentially agreed, to volunteer for this student production where they needed help, and although normally professionals would be way out of their budget, I was willing to do it for free, potentially. And I’m thinking, why would I do it? Because you could argue no one should do it for free. You should always ask for money, correct? Or if you are doing it for free, then maybe you’re someone that’s just starting and you want experience. In this case, it just came down to convenience, funny enough, because I was reading that they were potentially going to conduct their project and the operation, and it was actually an area that I was thinking of visiting, just to capture some stuff for a completely different project.
And so I figured, if I am in that area and it’s not going to take that long and it’s pretty easy for me, why not potentially volunteer my time? I’m not expecting any pay or anything like that. And it just goes to show you that you can probably try all you want in terms of trying to bring in professionals or help in that way with some fancy advertisement, the promise of some type of reward, for example. But many times it just comes down to whether or not it’s an inconvenience or if it takes too long for the person to actually help you.
In this case, because I was going to go to the area anyway, I said, why not? So that’s something to think about, especially when you’re trying to look for professional help. It’s just about trying to make it as convenient as possible for them to assist you versus trying to focus on rewarding them with a high figure, for example, because people understand if you’re new or starting out, you don’t have the budget. And especially if you’re like, say, a student, people love to help out.
So keep that in mind next time when you’re trying to find somebody to support your project. Just try to make it as convenient for them as possible.