If you’re like a lot of small businesses and freelancers, you get paid for what you know. You may be a consultant, or a designer, or an accountant (or you may want to be), but in the end, people pay you because you know more about X than they do. Now if you’re smart, and you’ve been listening to me, you have put yourself out there as an expert in your field. Whether you have a blog, podcast, or Facebook page, or even just a twitter account, you write or talk about what you know. You share the good stuff others have written about your field. You probably do many of these things. So here’s the problem. You do these things for free, but you also do these things for a living.
A friend wrote a post on her blog, that got me thinking about this. Where do you draw the line between free and paid? When do you stop and say, “I’d love to continue helping you, and take you on as a client.”
Anyone who has ever traded what they know for money, has encountered this. Those if us who put some of what we know out there on Blogs, Podcasts, Youtube, etc., will encounter it more than others. We put stuff out there for free, because we love teaching. Of course we enjoy web traffic, and the clients it brings, but for most of us the reason we do it is rooted in a love for teaching. If you are writing only to attract new clients, you will quickly find out there are better ways to leverage your time to increase business.
So where do you draw the line between doing things for free and charging for your knowledge and expertise? That’s different for everyone, and really, I don’t think it matters. What really matters is that you draw the line. Some people draw the line at the “how”. Here’s what to do, if you want my help doing it, you’ll have to pay me. Some draw it at how much time the request may take. It doesn’t matter. People read your blog, or listen to your podcast etc., because they are getting value from it. They ask for a favor, or advice, or your opinion, because they view you as a knowledgeable person.
Never apologize for charging for your expertise. Ever! I hate it when I hear something like, “I’m sorry, but if we are going to continue this, I’m going to have to charge you.” I want to reach out and shake the person screaming, “What happened to you?!” What I really want to say is, “Grow a pair! Why do you have such a low sense of self worth?!” My doctor has never said, “I’m sorry, I know you got a lot out of that article I wrote, but it we are going to talk about how to get YOU healthy, then I’m going to have to charge you.” If what you know is worthy of being paid for, never, ever, feel bad about asking to be paid for what you know.
Me? I draw the line when it feels like work. I love helping my friends build their websites and start businesses and move their businesses forward. Once it starts to feel like work though, I’ll say “I’d love to continue helping you, and take you on as a client.” No apology, no regret. Sometimes it moves forward, sometimes it doesn’t. Never be afraid of offending someone by moving things to a business relationship. If this is greeted with surprise, or the person is put off by it, you should be the one who is offended.
Have you ever run into this? How do you handle it? Where do you draw the line?
Photo credit: Dave Keeshan
