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All The Work You’ve Ever Done For Free

I thank you, I see you, and I won’t tell you that you’re “doing the right thing”

Marta Brzosko
3 min readOct 9, 2024
The work fantasy of a modern human. Photo by Chris Spiegl on Unsplash

People like me — freelancers, designers, content creators, workshop facilitators— can sit all day and think about ideas. And, we call it work. What a life!

Today, my main task is to design a workshop I’m running next week. (that’s why I’m writing this first, ha!) On the one hand it is, of course, an amazing day of work. I get to go to my favourite coffee shop, order a long black, open my notebook and laptop and… make things up!

Sometimes it seems to me that all I do at work is play. I invent. I think up ideas. My partner laughs that I’m an idea-making machine and he never knows when’s the next one popping out.

It’s great to have so many creative ideas until… I need to see them through. That’s when I start asking myself questions like:

  • Does anyone need this?
  • Is this self-indulgence?
  • Is this the best use of my time?
  • Are all my “inspiring ideas” going to earn me any money?

I worked more hours for free — or for pennies — than I could ever count.

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Marta Brzosko
Marta Brzosko

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