Sometimes, and the test is whether you chose it or folded. Small unasked extras cost almost nothing and are why somebody mentions you to a neighbor. Giving away the whole job because saying the price felt rude is a flinch, and it teaches that customer your real price is nothing. Free work is also fine as a trade for a review, a referral, or a standing arrangement.
Sometimes, and the difference between free work that helps and free work that costs is whether you chose it.
Free work that helps is small, unasked, and unmentioned. Taking the bin in on the way past. Sweeping the path you were not hired to sweep. Doing the edges properly on a job priced without them. These cost you almost nothing and they are the reason somebody mentions you to a neighbor. In a market of twenty houses, that is worth more than the four dollars.
Free work that costs is the whole job, given away because saying the price felt rude. That is not generosity. It is a flinch, and it teaches that customer that your real price is nothing. Everything you say to them afterward starts from there.
The test is simple enough to apply in the moment. Did I decide this, or did I fold?
Doing a neighbor's yard for free because they are having a hard year is a decision. Mumbling a lower number because the real one felt like too much to ask is not, and the second one will follow you into every negotiation you ever have.
Two other times free work is genuinely worth it.
The first one, to prove you can. One free job to somebody who then tells people is a reasonable trade when nobody knows your work yet. One. Not a habit.
A trade. Free this time in exchange for a review, a referral, or a standing arrangement. That is not free work, it is a deal, and deals are fine.
The thing to watch for is the customer who has worked out that you will not say no. Generosity that has become an expectation is not generosity anymore, and it is worth noticing before it has been going on for six months.
Five questions about age, budget, time, and what they actually like doing. Four matched ideas at the end, free, with no email needed to see them.
Take the quizA kid who cuts, edges, and cleans up usually starts between $25 and $40. Professionals charge about $30 to $85 a visit, and a young founder starting below that is being paid less for being unproven, not for being young.
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What should a kid charge to mow a lawn?Ten people who already know them, one prepared sentence, and an easy way for each of them to say no.
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How does a kid find their first customer?Less than almost anyone expects, and for a lot of these ideas the honest answer is nothing until somebody has already said yes to a price.
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How much money does a kid need to start a business?Earlier than most people think, as long as the business matches what the kid can actually handle. The limit is rarely age itself.
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What age can a kid start a business?A program from Founder's Best Friend. Built for kids 8 to 18 who want something of their own.