Do Work For Free

I’m delighted to feature a guest post from a really special friend. Mo Bunnell, Author of Give to Grow, is an exceptional business mentor and thought partner. When he told me about his new book, I was eager to devour it myself. I’m even more thrilled he was willing to let me share an excerpt with all of you. This one resonated with me not only because he took a page out of Steve Jobs’ playbook, but also because it contains such counter-intuitive wisdom. I challenge you to consider — as I have been, myself — how you might leverage Mo’s suggestion of giving “gifts” in your own endeavors. Please enjoy, and do let me know what you think!

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A lot of people ask where they should draw the line between unpaid and paid work.

I always start by telling a story from the early days of my business. When I was codifying my first GrowBIG training, both the price and the opportunity cost were a big bet. It was beginning to pay off, but then I ran into a wall. And this wall was thick. 

Like most professionals, I was relying on my success stories, client lists, and testimonials to try to interest prospective clients in the training. But just talking didn’t differentiate me enough. In fact, it all sounded the same.

The result was not enough people were buying. And even though my original investment was paid back, I didn’t have a big financial buffer, so I needed to make this work. 

Around that same time, my wife Becky and I were out for a dinner celebration. The sommelier was talking about how great a particular wine was, but we weren’t biting. As I said, money was tight, and the bottle was more expensive than we wanted to spend.

Everything changed when he brought us each a surprise taste. It was small, but we swirled, sniffed, and savored every drop. He could’ve talked for another twenty minutes, but it wasn’t as persuasive as that twenty-second taste. We bought the bottle and loved it.

That’s when it hit me—just like with the wine, a taste is more powerful than a talk. What makes a difference is showing, not telling. It was like hearing the sommelier describe the expensive wine. Instead, I need to give them a taste of working with me. 

I began applying this principle to all my business development relationships and even internal collaborations; centering it around offering a valuable service or a "gift." 

I saw that the goal wasn’t immediate compensation but to build a relationship. Offering something of value like a small project can demonstrate your expertise and pave the way for future paid engagements.

Working for Free Is Actually Strategic Giving

Here’s the thing: you’re not working for free. You’re making a strategic investment.

Another way to think of it: that investment shows just enough that they see they need you and it’s a safe, simple next step to hire you. You’re in control of how much you invest, so draw the line at “just enough” to get things going.

The question is now, how do you turn this approach into action? When it comes to making this a reality, I coined my favorite approach: Give to Get.

It’s called Give to Get because you give them something for free, and each person gets the experience of working with you. Think of it as a discrete offer of help, like a small project performed at no charge, which creates a long term investment in the relationship.

All great Give to Gets have three things in common:

1. They have immense value, so it’s easy to say yes.

2. They’re worth the effort for you.

3. They lead to a significant next step.

Then while you’re working together, you naturally weave in your expertise of how things get done, what strategies could work, the order of priorities, and of course, your content knowledge and how they might benefit from working with you.

You’ll want to invest in a way the client is excited about and says yes—making it work for everyone is where the magic is. 

Pro-Level Give to Gets

To choose the best Give to Get, start by thinking backwards. What Big Win do you want to create more of? Then identify a smaller, strategic Give to Get that will move them closer to that goal.

A good Give to Get could be co-creating a proposal that saves dozens of hours in just a two-hour session. Or packaging up a benchmarking database, evaluation process, whiteboarding session, or executive interview series that you can dial in efficiently.

With this in mind, let’s look at some great Give to Gets. Not all of these will apply to you and your world, but having a long list will give you an idea of what’s possible. Here are some examples:

• Strategy Sessions, where you lead the client through developing a strategy for something important to them. 

• Benchmarking, where you share database insights you have or go deeper and actually show how a client compares against the database.

• Proposal Co-Creation, where you work with the client to create the perfect project plan.

• Technical Analysis, where you analyze something specific for the client, showcasing your expertise.

• Business Case Development, where you model the economic and broader case for change that aligns with you getting hired.

It’s also a good idea to have one go-to Give to Get to offer immense value per unit of time invested. Then, when you need to deviate from your go-to Give to Get, go for it. No worries. If a huge opportunity arises that requires a bigger investment or something more bespoke, it’s perfectly fine to put in extra time.

And remember, it’s not always linear. While you can get a higher success rate with lower risk by offering an investment in their success, sometimes you’ll have to offer multiple Give to Gets to get a single yes. 

Sometimes, you’ll perform multiple Give to Gets to get even one small win. It doesn’t matter what it looks like, because the goal is to deepen the relationship and create momentum.

From Transactional to a Relationship-Focused Mindset

Now, let’s take a second and think about what would happen after the one-hour Give to Get meeting: immense goodwill, tons of interest in what you do, mutual understanding of how you can help each other, lots of follow-ups on precise actions, and deep relationship-building queued for months and years to come!

You can add value in lots of ways, like focusing on engagement and aligning with their problem. But giving them a wonderful experience of what it’s like to work with you will magnetically attract them to wanting to keep working with you. They feel your attention. They know you understand.

So, here’s the question you can keep in mind during every interaction, regardless of if it’s a client, co-worker, or your boss:

How can I let this person experience what I’m talking about and what it’s like to work with me?

Choose a way and then lean into it. Do it for free. Design and systematize the experience.

You’ll get leverage. They’ll get value. And you’ll both win big.

Related: Steve Jobs, Inspiration Junkie

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