Why I am Offering my Services as a Highly Skilled Unpaid Intern

Summary

The author is offering unpaid consulting services as a highly skilled professional to provide value and give back to others, while also exploring the idea that interns, despite not being paid, can be highly valuable employees due to their eagerness to learn and innovate.

Abstract

The author has recently launched a single-person consulting firm and decided not to charge for services to avoid the complexities of payment collections. Reflecting on the concept of internships, the author argues that interns, despite their early career stage, are extremely valuable assets to a company because of their drive to learn and their fresh perspectives, which can lead to innovation. The author emphasizes that financial security enables better learning and performance, suggesting that paying interns and employees well can lead to a more successful business. The author's consulting business is a means to give back, based on the belief that the value provided will either be reciprocated or paid forward. The value of knowledge and its impact over time is a central theme, with the author aspiring to help others grow through shared expertise.

Opinions

Interns are undervalued and can be some of the most valuable employees due to their eagerness to learn and potential for innovation.
Financial security, achieved by paying interns and employees well, is crucial for maximizing their potential and performance.
The traditional process of tracking down payments from clients can be a significant deterrent to starting a business.
The internet has revolutionized the potential value a single person can contribute, making it easier to learn and share knowledge.
The author's approach to consulting is rooted in the philosophy of providing value without immediate financial return, trusting that value will be either reciprocated or paid forward.
True value of knowledge and services is often only apparent over time, not at the moment of giving.
The author's consulting journey is motivated by a desire to help others solve problems and grow, rather than immediate financial gain.

Interns can be the Most Valuable Employees

To some extent, I was going to offer myself as a highly trained intern.

I started thinking today about the idea of internships. One of the things I have started to explore in my life is running my own business. I just launched it last week and am operating it as a single person consulting firm.

One of the things that has stopped me from doing this sooner is the need to track down payments from clients. I have read so many horror stories about that whole process. That’s why I decided to simply not charge for my services. To some extent, I was going to offer myself as a highly trained intern.

Interns

Then I started to think deeper about it. Interns are usually early on in their careers, just getting started. Why don’t we pay them, and well? I would argue that interns are some of the highest value employees you will ever have. The reason?

They are there to learn.

When somebody wants to learn something, they do. The internet has given us the ability to connect anyone to a number of teachers in any subject. At least one is likely to connect to any given person for any given subject. Therefore, we need to facilitate the learning as much as possible. Interns, being there a short time, will have a short time to work with. Therefore, they will try to absorb as much information as possible in a short amount of time. Combining this with their fresh perspective is a formula for innovation.

Obstacles to Learning

Know what doesn’t facilitate learning? Worrying about how to pay the bills. If you want to maximize the potential for your interns, pay them. Pay them well. They will generate a ton of value for you. That goes for your employees as well. They will perform much better if they don’t need to worry about how they are going to pay their bills. The internet has changed the amount of value a single person can provide. If you figure out how to maximize the potential of your employees, you will run a very successful business.

The internet has changed the amount of value a single person can provide.

Future Considerations

Now we can start doing something pretty cool. If we start having people be financially secure in their jobs, as they gain more experience, they gain more time in their lives. This time can be used to give back. That is what my consulting business is. I am starting a business in order to give back. I don’t necessarily want to do it this way, but due to the current economic climate and legal structures, it felt like the safest way to proceed. I am keeping my regular job to continue paying the bills. That gives me some freedom to offer my skills and knowledge to others.

The assumption I am basing everything on is that people will appreciate value when it is given them. I want to provide as much value as possible in whatever time I have to work on a given problem. Value is very hard to measure at the time it is given. True value is only seen over time. This is why I offer my knowledge freely. If I provide value, that value will either be paid back to me in some way at some point in the future, or it will be paid forward into the universe. Either one works for me, honestly.

Value is very hard to measure at the time it is given. True value is only seen over time.

This allows me to help people figure out solutions to their problems. That is why I started writing software. Now I can see that software is only part of the solution. The true value is in sharing your knowledge to help others grow.