There is a strategy behind giving your knowledge and time away for free. Yes. Really.

You are one of the awesome people that keeps me doing these updates every week, and so is this?sponsor?of the Saturday Sprint.

In 2022, I was paying for three social media scheduling systems, only one of which I was actually using. So I ditched them all and switched to Sociamonials. It does 95% of what the others did, but there's no monthly subscription. You buy it once at $69 USD, and you're done.

It includes scheduling for 30 individual social accounts, an unlimited queue and posts to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Business, TikTok and more. And it lets you repeat your posts at your choice of intervals.

Stop paying monthly subscriptions and get Sociamonials. I did.

Frankly, I'm sick of being told what to do by coaches with no experience in business but their own coaching business and barely any clients of their own.

That's a bit harsh. But it's the reality of coaches right now. How many of these “qualified” coaches are making any money themselves?

When my last coach led me down a path that almost destroyed me financially, I called time on the gaslighting, the lack of relevant experience and the cookie-cutter qualifications that they claimed they had and just figured it out for myself.

Here's a bit of what I learned on that journey.

Myth #1: You can't give away your time for free or you'll never be able to charge for it ??

I hear this doozie all the time. Apparently, if you start out building a portfolio of free work early in your business journey, you'll never be able to charge for it later.

Which is a load of rubbish - because I and almost every other web designer, graphic designer, NLP practitioner, therapist or copywriter I know had to start somewhere if we they didn't already have a bunch of contacts in a company or a government department.

It took 2-3 websites before I got a paid one. Just one free managed social media account got me to my first paid one. It took me nearly 12 free workshops before I started getting paid for them.?

And I'll be clear about this - the previous free work I had done was the reason why people started paying for my stuff.?

“But what about your reputation for doing things for free?”

What reputation? I live in a regional city where we all seem to know each other, and honestly, I wasn't known for doing free work at all. In fact, it was assumed by my paying clients that I had been paid for that previous work.?

I've also been able to steadily increase my hourly rate over the last few years. So giving away free work at the start has been no barrier to me.

Myth 2: If you give away all your knowledge, you'll have nothing left to sell to your customers ??

I don't know about you, but pretty much everything I know, teach, coach and broadcast about can be found on Google or even ChatGPT.?

Every plumber, electrician, photographer or online marketer learned their craft from somewhere.?

And that somewhere was usually someone else.?

So little is truly unique, innovative or new in our world. So much so that when something truly new or innovative comes about, it's immediately sucked up into trademarks, patents, and lawyers' fees to protect it as much as possible from anyone else taking inspiration from it to build their own new thing.?

But in my case, everything I do, have learned or teach has been done before.?

Now sure, I may package it up differently, but if you really took the time to read back through my 3 free courses, over 250 YouTube videos, nearly 300 blog posts and countless social media posts, you could piece together everything I know for yourself.?

But no one really does that. I mean, I've done it. But I'm both technically able to and pretty patient when I'm looking for the information I want.?

The average person won't do it. And therefore, they are looking for a shortcut. And that's hiring you to show them how to do it, or do it for them.?

And given that I am now booked out for the next month with client work and have steady bookings right through into June, you can see that giving away all my knowledge online for free isn't hurting my bookings.?

I clearly have something left to sell.

Myth 3: Once you're established, you don't need to do anything for free ??

If you never do anything differently ever again from what you've done before, this might not be a myth.?

But if you plan to try new things, move in different directions, or release a new product or service, you may need more than your momentum and reputation in what you have done before to get you paying customers from Day 1 on your new thing.?

I no longer have to give away free social media strategies, digital coaching sessions or websites. But my world doesn't stop where those products do.?

I've been building a new public speaking coaching business since November. It's still early days. But it's already moving forward.?

I speak a lot in public. I do it every week in one form or another. And I have a tonne of public speaking experience. After all I've been doing it since I was about five years old.?

But only a few people know about that experience.?

I first thought of doing this in early 2022. So I started to accept more free public speaking engagements in Darwin, Cairns, Adelaide, Perth, the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast.??

Before long, I was getting paid for them. Modestly at first, and then a few gigs came up that were definitely worth my time.?

But I still do free speaking engagements. And I have lately provided some free public speaking training. Which led to my first paid class in March this year.?

I was moving into a line of business that I was not immediately known for. So I had to start again as I did before - except that I had a slight head start. The free stuff took a lot less time to turn paid this time.?

This is the same pattern I'm expecting from my next two soft launches with myself as an MC or “emcee” - which I am already being paid for - and a new digital coaching program that I expect will start paying almost from day one. Though I'll still take on a few free clients for that, seeing that it is something new and I want to test it out.

I want the money, and I want it now! ??

The rise of the internet ushered in an era of instant gratification like the world has never seen before. And we see the results of it everywhere.?

“Make $12,000 using ChatGPT in one month!”

“How to make six figures with a 2-hour side gig!”

“Teach your child to get all A's in just 21 days!”?

There's a course, YouTube video or TikTok fake-influencer to tell you exactly what you want to hear when it comes to skipping the hard work and time required to build something significant.?

The trouble is that there is no real proof that it works in any sustainable way. If you fluke it once, you'll almost never fluke it again.?

And that isn't something you can build a future on.

That's all for this weekend. Just one short read about how doing pro-bono work is a good thing for starting something new.?

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P.S. When you're ready, here's a few ways I can help out.

Now I've had a chance to test out my new public speaking framework on real people, it's ready for you! Delivered in-person in Darwin or online, it's a gentle way to get you confident and effective when speaking in front of people.?Learn more here.

If you missed my webinar last week about facing down your fear of failure and change, I've now got it on YouTube for you to watch.?See it here.

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