If you’re not devoting a small percentage of your time to working for free, you’re making a big mistake.

If you don’t devote a small percentage of your time to working for free, you’re making a mistake.

Whoa, wait, hold on a second. Sheathe your sword of value. Don’t go all cold-blooded capitalist on me. Hear me out.

Most entrepreneurs don’t do pro bono work. (By pro bono I don’t mean for charity, I mean for another entrepreneur.)

A friend swears “pro bono” is Latin for “no way.” He says, “I’m against the idea of anyone working for free. As a more colorful person said, there are two kinds of articles on Huffington Post: Those that shouldn’t be written at all, and those that are too good to give away. I don’t think anyone should give away their profession.”

You probably agree. You invested significant time and money into your business or profession. You provide value.

You should receive value in return.

But sometimes free is valuable.

Aside from simply doing something nice for the sake of doing something nice (which has a value all its own) here are other reasons why occasionally working for free—or for a big discount—can…