Your New Year Resolution: NO Free Tests

Free tests? They’re not doing anyone any favors.

There are no benefits to free tests. Not for you and not for the freelancers who come after you and have to fight an established practice that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Let’s say you decide to do a little free test to impress a potential “client.” Seems innocent enough? After all, it’s your time you’re trading, so no one should feel entitled to have an opinion.

Wrong.

It’s not just about you. When you fall into the free-test trap, you’re paving the way for many freelancers to get caught in the same mess.

Scammers and shady “clients” love this game. They see one freelancer willing to work for free and assume it’s open season for everyone.

Imagine you’re the next freelancer in line after someone decided free tests were a good idea. You’re now faced with the same ridiculous expectations, making it much harder to break this cycle of exploitation — because, yes, that’s a better name for it than “free test.”

“But, Teodora, if you are a freelancer desperately looking for work, you will do most of what a client asks.”

Spoiler alert: they’re not really your clients, and chances are, they never will be. You’re…