There has been only one time I was willing to work for free, to establish some credibility as a freelancer when reaching out wasn't working that well and I didn

There has been only one time I was willing to work for free, to establish some credibility as a freelancer when reaching out wasn't working that well and I didn't had anything to show in my portfolio, plus I didn't want to go on bidding wars on Odesk, Elance. I think that (desperation) might be one of the major reasons why someone might want to work for free.