ZAMBO.

Direct answer

Proof is fair to ask for. A free project is not proof.

A client who asks you to work free first is asking for two different things without knowing it: evidence that you can do the work, and the work itself, unpaid. The evidence is a fair ask, and there are ways to give it that cost you an hour, not a project. Here is the sort, the counter-offer that serious clients accept, and the lines that keep a small sample from quietly becoming the whole job.

See the instrument first: the live demo runs one real call and hands you its verifiable receipt, no signup.

Updated October 24, 2026. The two delivery records quoted below are real and public, with their client decision states read back from the live service on publication day.

Step 1. Sort the ask: sample, trial, or free project

Three requests hide inside the same sentence. A sample: a small, bounded piece that shows your standard, like one page, one screen, one short section. A trial: a real first stage of the actual job, small enough to judge, with a decision at the end. A free project: the whole deliverable, unpaid, justified by future work. The first can be reasonable on strict terms. The second should be paid, and usually can be. The third is not a proof mechanism at all; a client who needs a finished project to judge you can judge the trial instead. Name which one is being asked before you answer any of them.

Step 2. Let checkable proof do the proving before any new work

The cheapest proof is work already done, presented so the client can check it rather than admire it. The record format is AER-1, published as an IETF Internet-Draft (draft-zambo-aer1-26), and each step carries a verifiable receipt: a receipt proves the saved result was not changed since it was saved. The two public records below are the shape of that proof:

Accepted: the decision is on the record

Pending: checked, and still waiting on a decision

An accepted record, 4 of 4 steps checked, decided_by client, release_hint ok_to_release, tells a new client more than a portfolio screenshot: a real client received step by step work, checked it, and accepted it, and the prospective client can open the same link and check the same steps. A pending record, 5 of 5 checked and awaiting a decision, shows the other honest state. Send one or two links like these before discussing free work at all. A surprising share of free first asks are really I cannot tell if you are real asks, and a checkable record answers them in minutes.

Step 3. Counter with a small paid first stage, with a success test

If they still need to see you on their actual job, sell the first stage, small and fixed: one defined piece, a fixed price that is real but low, a delivery date, and a written success test, the two or three things the stage must do to count as passed. State what happens on a pass: the main job starts at the quoted price, with the stage fee credited or not credited, your choice, stated now. State what happens on a fail: they keep the stage, you keep the fee, and nobody owes anybody a project. A serious client recognizes this as the professional version of what they asked for. A client who refuses any payment at any size has told you the free part was the point.

Step 4. If any piece is free, keep it tiny, dated, and in preview

Sometimes a sample is genuinely the norm in a niche, or the relationship is worth one small courtesy. Then bound it like a contract: one small piece, named in writing, delivered once, as a preview a client can judge but not use, never the final files, never the editable sources, with a decision date attached. Deliver it on a record, so what was sent, in what state, and when, is a fact and not a retelling. Free work with no boundary does not stay free work; it expands to fill the job, because nothing in it ever says stop.

Step 5. Put a decision date on it, and hold it

Every trial, paid or not, ends in a decision: accept and start the main job, or flag what failed the success test, by a named date. Without that date a trial becomes free consulting on an installment plan, with follow-up questions arriving as unpaid stage two. When the date passes with no decision, one short message closes it: the trial delivered on this date against this test, I will take no decision as a no, and the quoted price holds until this date if you return. Then stop. The work you do after an undecided trial is the free project arriving through the back door.

Step 6. Build the proof shelf so the next ask answers itself

Each finished job should leave behind a checkable entry on a proof shelf: the delivery record, what the client accepted, and the result in one plain sentence. Two or three of those end most free first conversations before they start, because the client is no longer guessing. That shelf is also the honest answer to being new: if you have no client record yet, one small paid stage for a friendly first client builds the first entry, and it builds it at a price. Proof compounds. Free work does not; it just repeats.

What a record does not settle

A verifiable receipt proves the saved result was not changed since it was saved; it does not prove a prospective client will hire you, does not set the market norm in your niche, and cannot stop a client from using an unprotected sample you sent outside any record. What you send, in what form, and under what written terms is what protects the sample. This page is general information, not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

My client wants me to work for free first to prove myself. Should I do a free trial?

Do not do the project free. Sort the ask first: a tiny bounded sample can be reasonable on strict terms, a trial first stage should be a small paid stage, and the whole deliverable unpaid is not proof, it is the job. Start by sending checkable proof instead: delivery records from finished work that the client can open and inspect, with the acceptance state visible. If they still need to see you on their job, counter with a small fixed price first stage, a written success test, and a decision date, stating what happens on a pass and on a fail. A serious client accepts that shape. A client who refuses any payment at any size has told you the free part was the point, and that answer is worth having before the work, not after.

What if I am new and have no past work to show as proof?

Then build the first proof at a small price, not at no price. Offer one friendly first client a deliberately small paid stage: a fixed fee you can afford to keep low, a tight scope, and a delivery record they accept. What you are buying with the modest fee is the first checkable entry on your proof shelf, and it is worth more than a free project because a paying client's acceptance reads as evidence, while free work reads as a favor. One recorded, accepted, paid stage ends the no proof problem for good. A free project leaves you proving yourself again for the next client, from zero.

How small should a paid first stage be?

Small enough that the client can say yes in one message, and real enough that passing it actually predicts the main job. One defined piece of the real work, not a toy exercise: the first page, the first screen, the opening section, the setup stage. Fixed price, one delivery date, two or three pass conditions written down. Price it as a genuine fraction of the job, commonly a tenth to a fifth, and state whether it is credited against the main job if the trial passes. If the stage cannot fail any test the client can name, it is not a trial; it is a discount wearing one as a costume.

Should free sample work ever include the final files?

No. Anything free travels as a preview the client can judge but not use: a flattened file, a watermarked version, a hosted view, never the editable sources or the print ready or production files. Final files are the deliverable, and handing them over unpaid converts every later conversation into a collection effort for work the client already has. Deliver the sample on a record, so what was sent and in what state is settled if the preview quietly becomes the product. If the client passes the success test and pays, the finals follow as the first delivery of the paid job, on the same record.

How do I make my proof checkable instead of asking clients to trust screenshots?

Run the work so every step is saved as it happens and the client checks and accepts it on the record, then keep the link as the portfolio entry. A prospective client opening that link sees the steps, the saved results, and that a real client accepted them, which no screenshot can show. When the work runs through Zambo, that is the default shape: a verifiable receipt for every call under AER-1, published as IETF Internet-Draft draft-zambo-aer1-26, and a handover the client accepts step by step. For $0.99, run one paid first stage that way and keep the link as the proof that answers the next free first ask: get the Day Pass. A Day Pass covers 24 hours, no subscription. Ongoing use is the Zambo Pass at $29 for 30 days (one payment) or $290 for 365 days, and $19 for 30 days for $ZAMBO holders, which adds private handover links, your branding, and the approval record as PDF and JSON files.

Related

Proof works best when it travels with the work itself. The AER-1 badge kit turns verifiable receipts into an embeddable badge for project pages, docs, and profiles, so anyone who sees the claim can reach the check in one click.