09/10/2026
love this trend! Hereโs ours โก๏ธ
Itโs been offered repeatedly - โIโd love the experience, even if itโs unpaidโ - but Iโm vocally anti- it.
Itโs valuable experience, ofc it is. I did unpaid placements and loved them. But itโs irresponsible - discriminatory even - for employers to offer them. It means only people in the right location, with the right safety net and zero real world responsibilities can consider them. That creates a disadvantage in the market extremely early.
We have paid interns from day one, even when it was financially painful to do so. That is not their problem.
One for fellow freelancers and business owners. Youโll get this all the time โ
โI want all of that, and I have (insert number significantly lower than what you quoted. Possibly with suggestion that someone else is willing to do it for that much).โ
My job is to protect the resource we need to deliver the kind of content weโre known for. If the budgetโs not there, either the scope of work is getting reduced or itโs not happening.
Donโt waste your time creating competition from nothing. Make friends and be nice to each other. Thereโs enough room for everybody.
I am lucky to have several (very similarly placed) founders to me who are in my corner regardless, readily offering advice or referring work, and vice versa.
Nope. Didnโt work this hard to build our level of reputation and portfolio only to say yes to anyone and anything. If itโs not brand-aligned and values- aligned, weโre not doing it.
Used to, as a freelancer. Eventually learned you cannot scale a business that way (and nobody is expecting you to).
Oh I LOVE the culture Iโve built. I gym when I want, I flex to see family, I work from home or office or cafe, I travel off-peakโฆ and so can everybody else.
Learn to listen to your gut bc itโs never wrong on this ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ