I own my own business and I’ve been self employed for over two years now, but technically, I’m a 1099 employee at a multitude of different places. I do print work, web work, copy work, copywriting, etc, and most of those places give me a 1099 tax form at the end of the year so that I can pay my taxes on my own. I knew this would be the case when I started my business, because that’s how it was for the previous 10 years.

But not everyone is aware of the difference between being a 1099 employee and a W-2′d one. As a 1099, I have no rights. I am, essentially, a hired gun chosen to do a job. I’m not entitled to health care, unemployment or any of the other benefits one would get with a W-2, and if I’m told that the office is closed on a particular day, I only get paid if it’s a part of my contract — assuming there is one.

My wife worked a 1099 job for a bit, and I have several friends who are working 1099 gigs right now. They’re asked to work overtime, push the limits and get things done, but there’s no upside for them. The only perk is getting a paycheck, and sometimes that doesn’t even come.

More and more businesses are choosing to go the 1099 route instead of hiring people full time because it saves them money. Healthcare costs are ridiculous in this country, and just by cutting that requirement, they’re saving a ton of cash. And in a cash-strapped economy, every bit helps.

On a similar note, there are many people nowadays who are asking (or expecting) me to work for free. Sometimes it’s implied, sometimes there’s a wink and a nod, and others it’s just right there in the paperwork. I’m promised exposure, pride, a place of honor among their company, or a golden statue of a basset hound, but they can’t pay me money. “You’ll get a lot of experience working here,” they say, and I translate that to, “We’re broke but we need this done.”

Now don’t get me wrong, there are things I will do for free. I’ll do a consultation with a client so I can understand what I need to do to meet their needs. I’ll do some extra work on a document just to make my life and theirs easier. There are a lot of things I’ll do for free, but there’s a reason: It’s not really free.

Let’s say I come in and do a consultation with a client, and I do it for free. If I get the job, I’m not going to bill the person for that consultation, because that’s not the way I operate. But I could gain a client out of it, so spending a few hours working for free to gain a potentially long term customer is well worth it. I could either bill them for my time at the beginning and risk pissing them off, or I can not bill them and make thousands over the course of our working relationship. I think that’s the right call.

Or, let’s say I put in some extra work to make my client happy, knowing that I won’t get paid. Well, by making the client happy, I’m ensuring that my work with them is secure, something which no freelancer can have enough of. If an extra 15 minutes of my time keeps them happy, then it’s worth it.

But what I won’t do for free is just work. No, I won’t write an article for free just because you’re a startup. And no, I won’t take pictures of your car so you can put it online, because that’s not what I do. And frankly, when someone asks me, I find it incredibly insulting. I think, “Would YOU work for free?” Of course not. So why should I?

Sometimes I’m corralled into working with someone who is working for free, and that’s the worst case scenario, because it’s never really free.

A long time ago, I worked at a magazine where money was a problem (as it tends to be with any print publication nowadays), and so they often solicited contributors to write for free. It was a popular enough book that people would do that, because they did want the exposure to further their career. When I would get the document, I would spend, on average, twice the amount of time to edit that piece to the correct specifications, because the person was working for free and was usually not very good. But my job was to make it good, so I had to put in the effort to tweak everything they did and make it publishable.

Another time at another publication, I assigned a writer an article. When they turned it in, not only was it not what I asked for, but I was told that it would take “at least three weeks” for them to fix it and make it what I had asked for in the first place. Instead of that, I put in four hours of my own time to make it work, and got it published.

In both scenarios, the person doing the work was free, but the cost to the company as a whole was not. I put in more time working on the “free” person’s articles just to make them work — time that I could’ve spent working on other things for the company. As a result, I’d often have to work late to make up time, thus costing them more money. Had they just paid the person to begin with, it would’ve cost less overall.

I love my job, and there are many days that I would work for free just because it makes me so happy. But I don’t, just like you don’t, because I have bills to pay, a family to feed and a roof to keep over our heads. So please, don’t ask me to work for you unless you intend on paying me, because it’s just downright insulting.