Day 54: Pro Bono (Freelance Hits) + My Nonprofit Project From Hell

pro bo·no · adjective: when a business convinces a freelancer to work for free under the guise of being a nonprofit and providing lots of “referrals”

Back in 2017, when I was struggling to find freelance web design clients (haha…who am I kidding, I’m a freelancer — I’m ALWAYS struggling to find clients) I got offered an “opportunity” to create a website for a well-connected women’s organization.

There was no budget, but being hungry for work, I agreed to do it on the promise that I would receive lots of tasty referrals.

“Oh boy,” I thought. This will be EASY.

Since I’m doing it for free, my client will be super-thankful and give me lots of creative freedom….right?

Warning: This blog post is rated R for Graphic Design and Poor Communication.

Proceed with caution.

Part 1: Honeymoons Are Deadly

At the time, my process wasn’t perfect, but I was at least going through a discovery checklist, creating wireframes, and setting milestones.

Unfortunately, I threw all this out the window for the pro bono project, because I figured it was casual and what could go wrong?