Had an interview with the athletics director for a very small college prep basketball team. They want me for the job, badly, for about a four month contract, to do all digital content for them.

Short testimonial/docu-style interviews with athletes and family. About 3-5 a month. Attend five games a month to get video footage for highlight reels or b-roll. Possibly attend multi-day events like tournaments happening in other states. Social media graphics to highlight players post game.

All this for a stipend of…. $625 per month. With a cap of $2,500. If I signed tomorrow (which the director wants me to), I’m locked in and won’t get out of contract til March or April.

Doing the math, assuming they won’t pay for my transportation to and from their home court, I lose near $300 a month, bringing the monthly earning to around $325.

I’m incredibly frugal, and I don’t pay for any subscriptions, but finally seeing the calendar of what they expect and calling it “fair” has made my stomach turn. I’m fresh out of college and I’ve never expected to get crazy amounts of money out the gates, but yeeeesh. The professional photographers who freelance for my church campus every Sunday (with attendance of maybe 25 people in total) get paid at least $250 for TWO HOURS of work (my dad works at the church, has access to the numbers).

This opportunity came in and was a great lift to my spirits because I’ve been looking for this kind of work like crazy, but I worry that locking down a contract might force me to say no to other opportunities that could come my way. Let alone, a lot of time away from developing my own works for a lot of sleepless nights and barely any return.

The director was tryna make it sweet-sounding by saying I’d get to attend conferences with other athletic programs and possible networking opportunities…. But he also said he turned away people who were more qualified for the job because I “stood out.”

I’m leaning towards saying no right now, but I’ve got til tomorrow afternoon to give an answer. I’m trying to make it but trying not to fall into traps. If anyone’s got any advice on this one, I’d love to hear it.