You Won’t Save the World by Giving Your Solution Away for Free
Have I already hit a sore spot?
I know it’s a touchy subject when it comes to making money from your passion, and I hit on it slightly in one of my posts a few weeks ago and I’m still getting emails about it.
So what’s the nerve I’ve hit?
I’ll tell you…
You won’t save the world by giving your solution away for free!
We’ve been doing all of this work on finding your passion and making money from it and discovering how you can help people…
In other words, defining what solution you have to someone else’s problem…
I do one-on-one and group coaching to help people do all of this and time and time again one of my clients will say to me…
‘But I want to make the world a better place and if I have a solution that someone else needs, shouldn’t I give it to them for free?’
YIKES!
NO!
Here’s the deal…
Do I want you to take advantage of people?
No, of course not!
But the fact of the matter is you are NEVER going to make the world a better place by giving your solution away for free for 2 main reasons…
1. If you give it away for free, how long do you think you’ll be able to keep giving it away? Honestly, won’t you end up depleted of resources like time and money and energy if you go this route? I say this to my coaching clients like a mantra, “When you fly in an airplane, there’s a reason they tell you to put the oxygen mask on your self first.”
2. People don’t have anything at stake if it’s free and if you REALLY want to help people they have to have something at stake.
Now before you argue with me on that second point, I have proof…
Years ago, I had enough people ask me why I didn’t give my coaching for free so I thought it would be an interesting experiment. I invited 10 people to work with me one-on-one for free. This normally would have been a $5000 investment for them to work with me, but I agreed to have them pay that amount once they finished the program and saw what it could do for them.
What do you think happened?
Well…the first 2 weeks went quite well, everyone stayed accountable and took the action I gave them to take and then…
Well, let’s just say that after 5 weeks I was putting all my time and effort into chasing them down.
I called a group session together and asked them what they thought the problem was…
I’ll be completely honest about the response…
- 1 of the men in the group said that I just wasn’t the coach for him
- 1 woman said that she realized she really didn’t want to do what it would take to be an enterpreneur
- 1 younger guy didn’t even call into the group session
- And the 7 remaining people agreed that because they didn’t have any skin in the game, the program had gone to the bottom of their priority list…
They literally told me that because they didn’t have their investment in the program pressuring them to follow through, they just weren’t making it a priority at all.
Ultimately, as a group, we called off the experiment and 3 of the people made the investment to start working with me…
The results?
2 of them now have extremely successful businesses and the third didn’t follow through anyway so I let him out of the program.
So, I’ll say this a million times if I have to…
If you have a solution that will help people, and you really want to help as many people as you possible can, the results will be much better for everyone if you don’t give it to them for free!
I’m all for giving and charity, but that isn’t what this is about…
You don’t have to charge huge amounts of money, but it does need to be enough that it inspires the person to follow through and actually use the solution you have offered them…
If you want to make money from your passion, please take this to heart…
Put the oxygen mask on yourself first and then get out there and you’ll be able to help all the people you can reach!
Leave me a comment or shoot me an email to let me know how you feel about this, it’s a hot button topic and I want to open up a conversation about it!
Go Big!
Kristen
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Tags: Advantage, Airplane, Coaching, Fact Of The Matter, Finding Your Passion, Fly, Investment, Making Money, Mantra, Nerve, Oxygen Mask, Proof, Reason, Stake, Time And Money, Touchy Subject, Yikes
Attract Money Fast, Find Your Purpose, Key to a Fulfilling Life, Make Money from Your Passion, Personal Development | Kristen | 
July 7, 2009 5:09 pm
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By Rosemary, July 8, 2009 @ 5:52 am
What sage advice, but I would like to offer another reason for the phenomenon you observed: The vilification of money and/or capitalism by those who want to manipulate the minds of people over whom they want power. If we follow our passion, helping one another and living abundantly as a result, we cannot be herded like cattle to the slaughter. Your teaching of self-empowerment must ring from the rafters so more people can hear it. Thank you.
By Jaime Kalman, July 14, 2009 @ 11:30 am
Great post! As a certified energy healing practitioner, hypnotherapist, and life coach, I definately related to this blog. I suffered from this “money block” for years! I realized, that what was causing my suffering was not the actual dilema of whether or not to charge for my services, but what I was making it mean – in my own mind – if I did charge for my services. It was my thoughts about accepting money in exchange for being of loving, helpful service that was causing my discomfort. We are conditioned through fables, stories, and other societal means, that money is “the root of all evil”, and that true service comes from the heart and not from the wallet. I watched as TV evangelists guilted and scared religious viewers into donating money they didn’t have to “save the church” – and I became skeptical and critical of this practice. My heroes, such as Ghandi and Mother Theresa, were depicted as living in poverty as they committed their lives to total service of others. I clearly remember in the past, wanting to go to lectures or workshops given by spiritual or motivational speakers that I admired, but I was shocked and disappointed by the enormous costs of such events. It made me feel like only those who could afford it were allowed to receive the tools and inspiration that these enlightened beings offer. That never felt right to me. So, when I became a practitioner of self awareness and transformation, I ran right into these old, core beliefs and feelings about money and helping others. The result: total incongruence!!!! I had spent thousands of dollars on my credentials, studies, practice, resources and rent for a space to offer my services, and here I was, terrified to charge because I felt it would make me look bad or that it wasn’t fair to others. So, I didn’t charge…and very few people created any lasting changes. Instead, they were late to appointments, didn’t set clear intentions for their own healing, and following our sessions, chose not to implement any of the concepts we had practiced together. All the while, I was working full time as a waitress just to keep myself afloat in order to defend myself to those who criticized my charging for helping others! The result from not charging for my services, was that there was not an even exchange of energy. These clients also didn’t want to come back because they felt indebted having had the first session for free. So, I began charging an affordable fee, and people began to take it more seriously. They also became repeat clients because they felt they were investing in themselves and that there was a balance between client and practitioner. I learned that I didn’t have to charge more than I am comfortable with, but that an agreed upon amount sets the tone for the value that one can expect from my services. I then, get to experience my clients’ joy, when they see how I exceed their expectations in the value I deliver. If there is nothing invested, there is nothing keeping us in the game. We live in a monetary society, and those of us working to help others, can remember that we create our own value. I now charge for my services consistently, but I never turn anyone away if they are committed and willing and ready to do the work for lack of funds. I work with their budget, but I always remember that it is a dis-service to give it away for free. If someone wants coaching, healing, or therapy, but their story is that they can’t afford it, then their extraordinary transformation begins with proving to themselves that they can create the possiblity of investing in themselves in the first place! And that, is the true healing gift – to remind others that it is “their story of not having enough money” that is keeping them stuck – not actually spending the money on getting the help they desire to live lives they love!
Thank you for this helpful and inspirational article.
Warmly,
Jaime Kalman
By LOA, July 14, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
WOW Jaime…thanks for the input! I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Go Big!
Kristen