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- pieoncar, on 11/28/2007, -2/+19Here's a copy of the article... took like 5 minutes to load for me.
Why Giving Away Your Services For Free Will Get You Business
Leo Babauta
Something you hear as common advice for new freelancers is “Don’t work for free.”
That’s true, for the most part, but there’s an exception. And it’s a big one. Give away your advice for free, and you can grow your business and make much more money in the long run.
I don’t recommend that you take on jobs for no money - that’s just devaluing your services and your profession. Your work is worth money, and you need to be sure to get paid. Giving away services is a bad idea in general.
But if you can give away your advice … which is really a service … and not charge a dime, that’s a great strategy. If your advice is good, giving it away can result in amazing growth and lots of new business.
Take myself, for example. I have a blog (Zen Habits) where I give away advice for free. Now, when I first started the blog, I was not considered an expert at anything. But the advice I give away on my blog has been very well received by readers, and my readership has grown phenomenally over the last 10 months.
Take a look at what giving away my advice for free has done for me, professionally:
1.
I have become an expert at productivity and organization.
I certainly wasn’t an expert a year ago, but now I have people who ask for my advice, who pay for it (in the form of an ebook I recently published), who interview me about these topics, who want to have me in their books or blogs or radio shows or podcasts. In fact, I can’t keep up with all the requests.
2.
I have also become an expert at blogging and writing.
Again, I wasn’t an expert a year ago, but partly because of my writing here at FreelanceSwitch, and my freelance writing elsewhere, I am viewed by many as an expert of sorts. And in the field of blogging, where I consider myself a relative novice (as compared to some of the true veterans and experts), many new bloggers come to me for advice. I’ve even had people willing to pay me to consult on their blog (I didn’t take them up on that, as I don’t have the time) or ask me to be a mentor.
3.
The demand for my work is incredible.
I’m not trying to brag, but just to demonstrate the power of giving away very useful advice. I could have charged for this advice, but again, a year ago no one would have paid for it. Now they would, if I charged. But there are many people who are asking me to write for their publications or blogs, who want to hire me as a speaker or a consultant, who would like my expertise. Frankly, the demand is too great - I cannot possibly do all this work.
4.
I can now sell my advice.
After giving my advice away for free for so long, I’ve proven its worth. And while I would never start charging for my blog’s content, when I sold some of my advice in an ebook recently (Zen To Done - The Ultimate Productivity System), it did phenomenally well (well over a thousand copies sold in two weeks). And I have a print book that’s being auctioned up to publishers as we speak.
All of this wasn’t said in order to brag. It’s just one example of how giving away my expertise for free has done so much for one freelancer - it’s done just as much for many others as well.
Let’s take a look some suggestions for how you can grow your business by giving away your services:
1.
Blog, ebook or newsletter.
These three formats are great ways to give away advice. My blog has worked really well for me, but be warned that it takes a LOT of time commitment to grow your blog to the point where it will help your business. Giving away an ebook or sending out a free newsletter are two other great ways of doing the same thing, but with less time commitment.
2.
Write with authority.
I’ve always made it clear to my readers that I am just a regular guy, writing about things I’ve tried out that have worked for me. But because I have actually accomplished many of the things I’m talking about, I can write with authority. I can tell people how to become an early riser, because I successfully transitioned to waking at 4:00 a.m., three hours earlier than I used to wake up. I can write with some authority about running, because I’ve completed a marathon. I can write about productivity, because I have a full-time job, six kids, a lot of freelance work, a Top 100 blog, and several other projects on top of that. Writing with authority establishes you as an expert.
3.
Be insanely useful.
It’s one thing to whet your reader’s appetite with some introductory advice, and then charge them for more advanced advice. They’ll read that and then go elsewhere. Instead, be as useful to your readers as humanly possible. Give them everything they need and more. If you are extremely useful to them, the readers will come back for more, and will appreciate what you’re giving them.
4.
Give it time.
You can’t give away 10 great articles on your blog, and expect to see increased business overnight. It takes time for you to establish credibility, to reach a wider audience, to prove yourself, to build up a library of useful resources. Give it a year, at least. Sure, some have done it in less time, but if you go out with the intention of accomplishing everything in a few months, you’ll probably fail. Shoot for long-term success.
5.
Capitalize only after you’ve built readership.
Your goal in the beginning should be to build an audience, not to monetize or grow your business right away. Reach new audiences by writing guest posts for other blogs, or freelancing for a number of blogs. Build your readership by writing very useful content, and interacting with your readers, answering questions and giving away advice for free. Only after you’ve built up that audience should you think about selling an ebook or making a lot of money on ads or making more money on your consulting or freelance business. - eternal464, on 11/28/2007, -4/+12apparently freelancers need better servers. I'd rather see an ad and be able to read about his/her services than not.
- fleury29, on 11/28/2007, -5/+11Step 1: Free
Step 2:
Step 3: Profit - betterth, on 11/28/2007, -1/+5Too bad he isn't given bandwidth for free. Maybe then his site wouldn't have died. :P
- wiihateeveryone, on 11/28/2007, -3/+7well, free hosting doesn't work! It's down already!
- DangerCollie, on 11/28/2007, -1/+4This works especially well if you don't like cold calling. It's a great way to get people calling you, an opportunity to sell yourself. Besides, you're not giving away your best stuff in a blog. It's window dressing. The short skirt on a hooker. It gets them looking, gives you a chance to interact.
- artsyave, on 11/28/2007, -2/+5Very well written article. I've always wondered about why skellie from skelliewag.org runs a wildly successful blog with zero ads. It makes sense. Very smart way of thinking about things. Abundance thinking rather than scarce thinking. Check out the article. :)
- hipsterelitist, on 11/28/2007, -3/+5So, if I have the means to support my endeavor until I can capitalize on it, I'll make more money? This advice not only seems only at bloggers (and maybe the open source community), but it also seems to say "Don't give up your day job... unless you can afford it."
Why this is on Freelance Switch, I've got no idea. - DarkXanthos, on 11/28/2007, -1/+3His business *IS* giving advice. He addresses that.
To quote:
After giving my advice away for free for so long, I’ve proven its worth. And while I would never start charging for my blog’s content, when I sold some of my advice in an ebook recently (Zen To Done - The Ultimate Productivity System), it did phenomenally well (well over a thousand copies sold in two weeks). And I have a print book that’s being auctioned up to publishers as we speak.
RTFA - breckinshire, on 11/28/2007, -2/+4It's all about volume.
- DivinoAG, on 11/28/2007, -1/+3RTFA. The exact point he makes is that after doing it for free, he now is in a position to get paid for his advice.
- jydesign, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2A good summary. I also tend to blog general advice. Another great client retention tool can be free advice via email. I try to keep my long-standing clients in mind when I surf for industry new etc. If I see an article related to software or services that I know they use, I email it to my client contacts. Or if there's a book or application I think they'd appreciate, I share that, etc.
The (non-billable) sharing of expertise can often contribute to keeping a client relationship in good health. Just be sure to find the appropriate volume of communication, so they do not feed inundated. Your clients then realize that you not only have expertise that you are willing to share, but that you keep them in mind and are 'narrow-casting' just for them. - dreesemonkey, on 11/28/2007, -2/+4People hire consultants for specific advice for their situation, they'll like the 'general' free ideas you post online but they'll still want your expertise and advice how to deal with their specific situation.
Buried for commenting with blinders on. - smackhero, on 11/28/2007, -2/+4because sites with ads never go down...
- catalysis, on 11/28/2007, -1/+3So he is essentially giving away free samples and charging for more. Hardly a revolutionary business model.
- inactive, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1His business is writing books.
- aitchison21, on 11/28/2007, -3/+4Great article by someone I look up to in the blogging world. His success in the last year has been nothing short of phenomenal, well done Leo.
- PunkyBrowser, on 11/28/2007, -1/+2100% agree
- jizzlies, on 11/28/2007, -1/+2That site is funny as hell. Strange, but funny.
- gregm11, on 11/28/2007, -2/+3I agree with the basic premise. I know a very successful artist and he refers to this concept as the 'drug dealer' analogy. "Give it away, they'll get hooked and come back for more".
My opinion is that it's better to start at very inexpensive rather than free. The reason, I feel, is that offering something for free reinforces the idea that it's 'worthless'. - kenbiz, on 11/28/2007, -0/+1very good info and i like the concept actually, because you do something free that will eventually gain you back thousand times of the credibility and this is no doubt of course will get you more peoples to refer to you and increase your business in the shortest time possible.
- ScottoGato, on 11/28/2007, -1/+2Examples of some of the startup costs:
domain name (unless you're using a free service)
web hosting (unless you're still using that free service - you tend to get what you pay for with web hosting)
blog script (there are good free blog services)
your time (your most valuable asset) - rolosworld, on 11/28/2007, -1/+2where I have seen that icon... :-p
- springboks, on 11/28/2007, -0/+1Hmmm I dunno, I can't think of any other applications where this "Free" model works. I'm happy for this zen blog chap.
He's hardly giving stuff away for free, this concept has been around for a while. I think of it as a try before you buy. Every business model does this to some degree.
*buried* - JayMosley, on 12/01/2007, -0/+0Very sound information. Giving things away for free with "value" is the key. We are in a "What's in it for me " age and we want more for less everyday.
- alien6, on 11/28/2007, -2/+2Great stuff Leo! Very inspirational for my own blog. Glad I have a feed to ZenHabits!
- mahdaeng, on 11/28/2007, -1/+1[[offering something for free reinforces the idea that it's 'worthless'.]]
I agree - and that is the delicate balance to be found. Sometimes, strangely enough, charging more results in greater sales. - juanroi5001, on 12/01/2007, -0/+0creativity + + +
passion + + +
cleverness + + +
wisdom + + +
equals
life non-gray. - stiggynet, on 11/28/2007, -1/+1Great point: if you build an audience and establish credibility you'll have a more valuable product to sell. The best way to build an audience is to give your work away for free.
- mahdaeng, on 11/28/2007, -1/+1Overhead depends greatly on your product/service.
- claura, on 11/29/2007, -0/+0OK, I agree. In order to capture attention you'd better give away for free a sample of "you", of what you want to promote/sell. No one will ever take for granted anything they don't know. So, you have to let them know, that's the idea. I see no other better way.
- WaRdRivR, on 11/28/2007, -0/+0@ mahdaeng
[I agree - and that is the delicate balance to be found. Sometimes, strangely enough, charging more results in greater sales.]
First you need to consider that great sales don't come from thin air, it's produced through diligent effort. So it depends on whether you have enough people needing in your advice/services in the first place otherwise you'll have 10 million copies of Final Cut Studio Pro (MSRP $1,299.00) collecting dust in the company warehouse. But that doesn't happen because video editors NEED these tools to complete their work. So expense will always be relative to whatever you decide to be offering for people to consume rather than always believing there's a bait to switch. - WaRdRivR, on 11/28/2007, -0/+0i actually didn't read the article.
- mechlin, on 11/28/2007, -0/+0Great "advice" Leo. This is very similar to the indie music model of Hear/Like/Buy.
- Oceanpoet, on 11/28/2007, -0/+0I like... great way to get your name out there.
- bshafferludwig, on 12/02/2007, -0/+0I've been reading his articles and like them a lot.
- romantic101, on 12/23/2008, -0/+0Online business articles
Brian
http://giftsidea.oggix.org
http://101freedatingtips.blogspot.com/
http://1000-cash-loan-payday-check.blogspot.com/ - WebWorker, on 11/28/2007, -2/+1Yes.. you need a loan from the bank to start a blog...
- WaRdRivR, on 11/28/2007, -1/+0that's the beauty of this business model, you don't have to reinvent the wheel, this so called 'free' advice simply plants the 'seed'. He conveys his 'expertise' by sharing his experiences. It doesn't have to be revolutionary. This is a great article because it emphasizes the common misconception that web-traffic automatically trumps everything else every time. Honesty, insightful advice, and great services are what matter. Influence will prevail in the long run, rather than stretching for quick returns and unpredictable fads. That doesn't matter.
- Heavypettingzoo, on 11/28/2007, -5/+4haha free? any time you wanna move something to consumers, there are start up costs and on going unforeseen expenses. this free 'business model' is a diaper full.
- flink405, on 11/28/2007, -3/+2Show your federal income tax form with yearly income or it is all blah, blah, baloooey.
- SteveTheSultan, on 11/28/2007, -3/+1mirror:
http://209.208.100.249/index.aspx - jydesign, on 11/28/2007, -3/+1A good summary. I also tend to blog general advice. Another great client retention tool can be free advice via email. I try to keep my long-standing clients in mind when I surf for industry new etc. If I see an article related to software or services that I know they use, I email it to my client contacts. Or if there's a book or application I think they'd appreciate, I share that, etc.
The (non-billable) sharing of expertise can often contribute to keeping a client relationship in good health. Just be sure to find the appropriate volume of communication, so they do not feed inundated. Your clients then realize that you not only have expertise that you are willing to share, but that you keep them in mind and are 'narrow-casting' just for them. - datastorageguy, on 11/28/2007, -4/+1Free? Not if you plan on getting a loan from a bank.
- inactive, on 11/28/2007, -7/+2So, he advocates giving away one's advice for free. But, what if one's business is giving advice?
Consultants sell their advice and expertise. If they give it away, how do they make money?
Buried as inaccurate
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