Overheard a client say 'we'll get you exposure' and realized it was over

Last month I was in a coworking space in Austin and heard a freelancer on a call with a potential client. The client said 'we're a small startup but we can offer exposure and portfolio work' before even discussing payment terms. That line is a universal signal they see you as free labor. I've taken two of those deals in my first 3 years and both ended with 30+ email threads and zero invoices paid. Now I ask about budget before I even open a proposal doc. Has anyone else had a 'payment in exposure' offer that actually led to real work or was it always a dead end?

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mason_murray812d ago

Austin has a whole ecosystem of those deals, so I believe you. But I'm curious, did either of those two clients ever send you a testimonial or a referral after the work was done, or was it just silence once the invoices went unpaid? Because that's the only way "exposure" could ever pay off, and I've never seen it happen.