Virtual free work enables you to work as much, or as little, as you want. You can mitigate your risk by doing virtual free work for several people, instead of just one or two. And trust me: you'll want to work with more people than less -- one of them may not work out, but most of them will pay off if you stick with it long enough.

Like I said, the people you're working for will have low expectations. If you realize that the work isn't a good fit, you can walk away. No contracts broken, no money lost, and you're right back where you started.

Just be careful when you think about virtual free work in terms of how easy it is to walk away.

In my experience, most people flare out after one task or a single week's worth of free work. They lose interest, fail to see the long-term benefits, or would rather have any job that pays.