Of great importance is the monetary value that one decides upon for one’s work. Often we are blinded by our privilege in accepting low paying projects. While the project itself generates great value - monetarily or in creating presence for the client, it seldom meaningfully adds to anything more than spare change in our pockets.
We might be tempted to do these projects for the prestige they bring, a passion that aligns to ours or worst of all, speculated future work. As our real world needs are taken care off by a stability that we have worked over for years (or simply have been handed down in inheritance) we might think it harmless to pick up a no profit no loss gig.
But for this action that we mindlessly do, there is a very real cost. The cost is not paid by us but by the people belonging to the lower social and economic stratas of our field. The ones who are talented but constantly exploited and underpaid because of our actions. The ones who can more than serve the value requirement of the client but are forced to accept lower and lower fees as we childishly mess around with the value - demand - cost trinity of the economics of our fields.
By accepting such projects, we use our privilege foolishly to add gallons of value into an already large pool and throttle the meagre flow of the one’s dying of thirst. We shove them out of our fields before they can blossom and then wonder why there is a dearth of talent in our community.