the startups.com platform about startups.comCheck out the new Startups.com - A Comprehensive Startup University
Education
Planning
Mentors
Funding
Customers
Assistants
Clarity
Categories
Business
Sales & Marketing
Funding
Product & Design
Technology
Skills & Management
Industries
Other
Business
Career Advice
Branding
Financial Consulting
Customer Engagement
Strategy
Sectors
Getting Started
Human Resources
Business Development
Legal
Other
Sales & Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Public Relations
Branding
Publishing
Inbound Marketing
Email Marketing
Copywriting
Growth Strategy
Search Engine Marketing
Sales & Lead Generation
Advertising
Other
Funding
Crowdfunding
Kickstarter
Venture Capital
Finance
Bootstrapping
Nonprofit
Other
Product & Design
Identity
User Experience
Lean Startup
Product Management
Metrics & Analytics
Other
Technology
WordPress
Software Development
Mobile
Ruby
CRM
Innovation
Cloud
Other
Skills & Management
Productivity
Entrepreneurship
Public Speaking
Leadership
Coaching
Other
Industries
SaaS
E-commerce
Education
Real Estate
Restaurant & Retail
Marketplaces
Nonprofit
Other
Dashboard
Browse Search
Answers
Calls
Inbox
Sign Up Log In

Loading...

Share Answer

Menu
Career Advising: Is moving to a big city, getting a part-time job at night while offering my services for free in a full time job a good idea? Is there a better way?
RD
RD
Robert Dearmon, Director of Business Development at Covintus answered:

Good day!

In my 20 years as a labor economist and business consultant, the one thing that is most crucial in these major decisions is (pardon the pun) "clarity."

Perhaps you could give me more detaisl on what services you would be offering for free, and why you feel you need to offer them for free? What EXACTLY would be your ultimate best outcome where your specific purpose, passions, and perfect skills would all align? Not to be trite, but my experience has shown that, "exact outcome goals make for exact outcomes."

The more details you share regarding what you REALLY want to do, the more the road to get there (specific opportunities, ideas, people that can help, the costs, the rewards, etc.) will illuminate and become clear.

Also, unless you are called to a life of charitable full-time purpose - which is very nobel, personally I am not a fan of offering "free" services that have value of any kind. Experience has shown that the recipient of "free" services rarely converts to paid opportunity because they don't have much investment/"skin in the game" to care enough if you succeed. An example of this in the early days of my own business are when I offered 2 month "trials" of our annual services (annuals that we're normally priced around $50,000 - $500,000/yr.) to larger companies as a way to "get in the door." What I learned after 3 years was that the "free" trials converted to annual customers at a measly rate of 6%!

However, even offering those same types of customers the same trial but with a heavily discounted price of even as little as $2,000 for 2 months to try us, the conversion rate when to 82% with an average annual contract of $104,000! After that, those annual contracts would renew each year at around 98%!

Hope this helps. Feel free to call me if you have any follow up questions.

Cheers!
-Rob

Talk to Robert Upvote • Share
•••
Share Report

Answer URL

Share Question

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Google+
  • Share by email
About
  • How it Works
  • Success Stories
Experts
  • Become an Expert
  • Find an Expert
Answers
  • Ask a Question
  • Recent Answers
Support
  • Help
  • Terms of Service
Follow

the startups.com platform

Startups Education
Startup Planning
Access Mentors
Secure Funding
Reach Customers
Virtual Assistants

Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.