If you are a freelancer, a design business owner, or someone that relies on getting paid on design projects to survive, everything in this article would not apply to you.
Because the first insight I can give you is that I am always paid way below market rate for my work. It is not sustainable to rely on this method to make any sort of income. You will starve.
So if we’re clear on that, we can get into the story-telling aspects of why I do what I do, why it’s smart, and why it’s also very stupid.