A Flashback Friday presentation
Pro Bono work, work you do for free or at a significantly reduced fee, can be rewarding; or not. It can depend on how entitled or grateful the recipient is. I once did a set of quarter boards for a venerable museum ship. The cost was sixty dollars for the mahogany and a ride. I never got the sixty and never got the ride.
On the other hand, I knew a woman who had a lovely relief carved mermaid. She wanted a sign but lacked funds. It was relatively short work to carve some three-inch letters and attach the mermaid to the backing. The lovely thank you note and the small gift were sufficient thanks.
It’s hard to tell in advance how appreciated your application of skill will be. Sometimes a job calls to you because it would be interesting to do. Take plenty of notes and photos, and make sure to sign the work prominently. If you don’t receive your fee or get ghosted, write a letter to the organization’s Board pointing out how much they did not pay for a professional job. And, then ask, where is your paltry Pro Bono?
In case of genuine hardship, smile, consider the good you’ve just done, and move on.
Being a carver is more than just removing wood till you have an eagle.
Discover more from Louis N. Carreras, Woodcarver
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The museum didn’t pay, but the woman paid in the best way she could. Good for her, but what was the museum’s problem?!
The agreement had been made with the skipper, and the executive director claimed it was not a valid contract. For a lousy sixty dollars I just told them to stick it. BTW I always get full payment up front from most surgeons, and I’ve never had any difficulty with dentists. I have suspicions about why that works out; I think it’s an ego thing. Deadbeats are a regular item of discussion among those who do boat shows. For a hobby that attracts people with large amounts of spendable cash there are a very large number of no pays or slow pays.
Yes, prepayment is a great idea for eliminating work for those with proclivities to not pay once they have the work in hand! You save your skills for those who appreciate that art comes with a price tag. I’m pissed just reading how you got used, Lou! Sixty dollars is a very low price for what you did, and the person wanting your work shouldn’t have asked for it if the damn museum was cash poor or if she couldn’t pay for it herself!
PRO BONO is always low, you are trying to help a worthy cause. So that makes getting stiffed even worse. One other thing I’ve learned though about this business – change orders are always in writing. There is no denying that they asked for the change when you show them the written change order.
Yes, sad but necessary that things be documented! The days of a handshake are past.
That is a really sorry excuse from the Executive Director and is a damn shame about the other deadbeats. Makes me look at people a little differently.
I returned to America with Nikon cameras and gear. It didn’t take long for people to ask me to take photos for anniversaries, weddings, company picnics, and industrial work. I guarantee I expected little more than payment for my film and developing and any prints requested. It never happened. It didn’t take me long to decide that if these ungrateful lugs wanted profession al results, they should pay the price. I stopped doing this work, but it took me too long to realized I was being used. Nothing pleased me more than to tell people wanting my photo services that I got screwed one time too many, so pay a professional.
Absolutely true. As a videographer I always avoided weddings. If you weren’t careful you could wind up working for minimum wage. Corporate, and some event work was pretty lucrative. I aged out of contract event work though – heavy work.