Free Without Exploitation
As most people who read this blog know, giving away information is what I do. I write, answer emails, give away ebooks, give talks.
Thankfully I also pay the bills. The way I do that is by charging for information. Specific, bespoke advice, workshops, consulting calls, teaching classes.
So many times people have queried the strategy, they do not understand that I get to charge because of all the stuff I give away. As Chris Anderson says though in this interview, it is a model that works:
“The internet has enabled lots of businesses and business models to go digital. And one of the economic advantages of digital is that the marginal costs of manufacturing and distribution are zero, or close to it. This means that you can now experiment with giving away one thing to sell something else.
“It’s no surprise that virtually all businesses on the internet are based on ‘free’ in one way or another.
“It can be just advertising-supported - where you give away one product to sell attention to advertisers. Or it can be an inversion of the traditional sample model. Rather than giving away 1% of the products as samples to sell 99%, you give away 99% of the product as free samples to sell 1%. This is what’s called the ‘freemium’ model.”
The challenge comes when people get so used to seeing you as a free source of information that they get odd about having to pay.
Thankfully my friend Liz Strauss has rescued me from this trap with a simple model to follow (check out the full article):
Now that I see I already have a working system, it’s easy to decide who gets how much for free. When people I hardly know asks me to do their homework now, I simply say, “I can tell you where you’ll find what you need.
If they push for me to help them, I say, “If you’d like me to do that for you, we’ll need a more formal arrangement to cover my time. I charge $XXX/hour for that sort of work.”
While your business model might depend on and benefit from giving away free information and ideas, it should never be free at the expense of your business. Your advice has value but only to the level you allow it.
Posted on January 07th, 2008 by Chris Garrett in Business
Hi Chris!
The model has been in place now for a while and it works beautifully. I’m so much more comfortable talking to folks about what I do and so much more certain when I do give something for free that the person who receives it understands its value.
Thank you for noticing.
You just have to be straight with people as Liz Strauss suggests. We get the same thing with open source software…
@Liz - Comfort is a big part of it. I think if you come across uncomfortable then it sets the wrong tone from the start. Knowing where to draw the line adds a degree of confidence and makes all parties happier
@Jack - Yes, being straight with people is what it is about, but how to approach it is the part I have always found challenging. I am still not entirely comfortable talking about money, and can seem hypocritical when I answer one persons every question and another person I talk about fees. Liz has done the thinking on all of our behalf that I should have done a while ago
I read that article from Liz, too. Wasn’t that great? Obviously you thought so or you wouldn’t have written about it here
I like what was said in the comments over there that giving stuff away like this, especially materials written by the owner or someone else heavily involved in the business, builds trust on the consumer’s end. That’s so true! My husband always chides me for being willing to pay 10 times the amount for service (like at a mechanic) just because I trust the business owner. It seems a new way to think about it is that trust is something that is not bought, but rather, given away for free!
Have you though about monetizing your blog? I see you have no advertising at all other than promoting yourselves. It is interesting to see a blog without one advertisement or adsense ads anywhere and from what I have experienced, many visitors do not mind the occasional ad as long as it does not look spammy. I am a new subscriber and like the articles I see so far, but maybe your should not associate yourself to much with FREE as your bound to be taken advantage of and miss out on great income opportunities.
A similar thing happens with freelance work. People, often friends but sometimes strangers or other bloggers, will ask us to do graphic design work for free since they somehow seem to think the work is not really work. I’m very open to giving away advice but there certainly must be a limit. We’ve learned to be quite firm in quoting our rates.
I think people do get “odd” (not used to that expression, but I think I get it) when they have to pay, if I am feeling in any way “odd” about asking for payment. What I mean is, I find that clients mirror my internal state. Here’s how I got around to tweaking my own internal state and becoming more comfortable with asking for payment. Bear with me for a round-about way to explain:
Back in “the day” when I used to do executive outplacement counseling, I taught people interview techniques. A tricky area for some people was how to answer when asked what they expected for a salary. I used to tell them, “ask as if you are asking for someone to pass the salt — matter-of-factly, no apology, fully expecting you’ll get what you ask for.”
Now I heed the same advice for myself when engaging in client work. Matter-of-fact, no apology, full expectation I’ll get what I ask for (or else that’s not the right client for me:) I call it the “pass the salt” internal strategy. It’s the hard-wiring necessary for implementing Liz’s great model:)
btw Chris, I love that you say that you CAN charge because you DO give so much for free. Yes! This is why I’ll be glad to belly up to the payment bar for your services when it’s time to hire you!
Liz has such a gift for blending tact and efficacy! The simplest strategy is often the best; and straight-talking might seem simple enough, but it’s difficult for most of us to do so with grace. It helps a great deal to have a concrete model (the “right words”) for setting boundaries on the amount of time that one can invest pro bono.
One thing that will never change, people want things for free. Just because you know how to do something, doesn’t mean you’ll do it for nothing. My husband gets that a lot because he can fix pcs. He will fix minor stuff for gratus of course.