Hey friends!
Something that took me ages to learn is that nothing in life is free.
I learned that the hard way in a lot of ways, but nothing was more profound than when I turned that realization on myself, to learn that I am not free either.
My time means something, my time is money. Nothing has ever meant more to me than time. Therefore, as I got older, I realized that my time was worth something and that I should be compensated for my time.
I stopped doing the big ole "f" word.
FAVORS.
If you are doing favors for people, especially people who do not return said favors. Stop it. Stop it right now.
The other thing I have learned in life is that people will use you. I have been used SO MANY TIMES. I can't even count. I have done recordings for friends, performed in their shows pro bono, put on their plays, produced their work, recorded them for free, all in the sake of being nice and being a good friend, and ya know where it got me?
Nowhere, yo. Nowhere.
Now am I telling you to be a giant dick? No. No one likes that. And if you have a symbiotic relationship with someone who can continually return the big "f" word, then fabulous! (More often than not that's not the case though.)
So...
Don't perform for nothing at a restaurant. You aren't asking them to service your needs with free food at a party for the "exposure", they shouldn't be feeding you that line than either. If they want entertainment at dinner time, they can pay for the license to play music, or they can dish out the money for a live musician, aka, you!
Don't make art for free. Don't fill friend's requests for you to make a design/logo for them, without being compensated. My best friend does awesome design work and whenever I need something, I PAY HER. That is part of being a bestie, I think.
I think you get the picture, but seriously, start practicing these habits today, and you will find that people take you a lot more seriously.
