In the last two emails I've touted the benefits of working for free to get started as a working professional.

However, it's a thing you need to be very careful about. If you don't manage expectations, the band will take advantage of free and treat it more like unlimited.

• Unlimited revisions
• Unlimited editing time
• Unlimited takes
• Unlimited days in the studio

Another downside of working for free is the whole lack of "food on the table" thing. You can’t exactly take the goodwill you earn from the local bands in your community and cash it at the bank to buy groceries.

And finally, the most annoying part of working for free is that you’ll usually get lower caliber artists. The freebie seekers are the most opportunistic and most likely to take advantage of you. 

The musicians that can’t afford even the cheapest of sessions, or refuse to pay for them in any way, won't be your best clients.

Musicians who’ve been around the block a couple of times know that money is a great way to communicate the exchange of value. They want to get paid for their gigs, and if they're mature about it, they understand that if they deserve to get paid, other music industry professionals deserve to get paid as well. 

It's just the economy stupid.

They know that by paying for a session, they’re also setting specific expectations for the engineer to do their job well.

And it doesn't hurt that they will usually be rehearsed and ready to efficiently use the studio’s time, especially if they’re paying by the hour.

So, maybe you shouldn't work for free because....

Offering to work for free and only finding shitty artists to record is a catch-22 because it’s tough to build up a portfolio of work if all the songs you’ve worked on suck.

So, if you want to charge from the start and get high-quality clients right out of the gate, maybe you need another plan of action?

That's where Brian Hood's Masterclass on making money from your audio skills comes in. Inside he'll teach you the three pillars to a successful career in audio:

1. A consistent source of artists - Clients that are a great fit for your current passions and skill level. He'll share five separate methods for generating leads for these clients. But what do you do when you have leads?
2. You get consistent conversions - If you have a list of leads, that's basically just a worthless bunch of names unless you can convert those strangers into customers, without feeling like you're a sleazy salesman. A high conversion rate might be great, but not if you're selling yourself at minimum wage. Which leads me to the last pillar Brian will teach you:
3. Consistent rates - How do you demand top dollar prices? That's the key right there. Higher rates means higher quality clients (usually...). But more importantly, higher rates means less stress. If you charge premium rates, maybe you don't need a chock-full calendar of crappy bands. Maybe you only need two or three per month to live the life you want.