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There are certain pieces of advice that are sacred to the freelance writing community. One is: fiercely protect your rate. That is, you should always ask for no less than you are worth, and you should avoid assignments that try to offer anything less.

In theory, this is really good advice. No one wants to spend their entire freelance writing career working for the kind of paltry pay that would be barely acceptable at your nearest content mill. At the same time, though, there are a handful of occasions where it’s worth it to take that lower paying job.

Yes, you read that correctly. The world of freelancing is full of paradoxes, and one of the biggest is that taking a lower paying gig can help you actually make more money. Think we’re crazy? Here are a few examples of when this is the best move you can make as a writer.

Breaking Into a Niche

Another tried and true piece of freelance writing advice is to find a niche. This is very good advice: once you find a specialty that doesn’t have a lot of skilled writers, then you can be the metaphorical big fish in the small pond and demand the rates you deserve.

However, you still have to find your way from one writing pond to another. If you see an opportunity to work in a new niche, and the only thing holding you back is the pay, you should go for it. This will give you the experience and possibly the connections necessary to really establish yourself and break into this field as a regular niche writer.

Learning a New Skill

Being a freelance writer means committing yourself to a lifetime of learning. This is especially true when it comes to mastering the various writing technologies and platforms that come and go. The bottom line is that the more of these platforms you are familiar with, the more opportunities you will have.

Therefore, it’s appropriate to take a lower paying gig if it will help you learn a new skill. Someone with no experience in WordPress, for instance, should take such a job if it helps give them a crash course in how to use the platform. You will then have the skills and experience necessary to take better paying blogging positions down the line that publish via WordPress.

Becoming an Investment

This next one is more of a long shot. But let’s be honest: if you didn’t like making creative gambles, you wouldn’t have started freelancing in the first place! Another scenario where it’s okay to accept a lower paying gig from a client is if you feel like you can get better paying work from them later on.

This, of course, is the upshot of the whole contract hiring system: you are contracted for a certain rate and for a particular project. Even if the pay is only so-so, look at this as your chance to really knock the assignment out of the park and impress the client. This makes them likelier to ask for more work later on, opening the door for you to negotiate a better rate. Best of all, your negotiation will be that much easier because you now have a history of quality work with the client!

Building Up Your Portfolio

Yeah, we get it: writing “for exposure” is the silliest idea in freelancing. And it’s true that you should never do work for free under any circumstances. However, it is acceptable to take on lower paying gigs in order to build up your portfolio.

As good as it is to find a writing niche, most of us have a “shotgun” approach where we do many kinds of work. The more experience you have in a multitude of fields, the more writing opportunities you will be qualified for. This is why it’s okay to selectively take on assignments in fields that are new to you for lower than your standard rate. After all, you’re getting a crash course in entirely new disciplines while also making the kind of portfolio that makes prospective clients extremely excited to hire you.