When I started freelancing, I said yes to everything - 500 words for pennies, "exposure," projects with no brief. I thought I was building a portfolio. Really, I was building resentment. Anyone else go through this?

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Yes, I did! No idea what I was thinking at first. I did learn some valuable lessons in it. Red flags to look out for in projects, what questions to ask, and how nobody expects the same thing either. What would be 10/10 perfect for one client was atrocious for another. Definitely appreciate it for the learning, but glad to have gotten out of that mindset of “I need to accept everything and pass on nothing!”

I was fortunate as I started out before everything turned to trash in the clickbait and SEO era. But I've worked with people who have really been abused by having to take ridiculously low paying assignments. It's bad for the writers, and it's bad for the industry, but that's life in a post-literate society, I suppose.

Yes! I do think those smaller unpaid jobs helped me build a style, know what I enjoyed covering and I used it to hone my craft.

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