Stop Apologizing for Being In Business.
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
Great Article Ian, I enjoyed it very much, to many people want something for nothing these days, I've become all of my friends and family's tax and investment expert since I enjoy doing those actvities and it is a pain when they expect me to break it all down,file for them,set up the roth Ira whatever all for nothing, you can t pay your bill's with goodwill
Thanks Gary. It's tough when family and friends take advantage. I have
found though, that if you politely explain that this is not a hobby anymore
most people happily understand. Some are actually more comfortable dealing
with you professionally, and pay you to do more than they asked you to do
for free. Some don't want to take advantage, and when you bring things to
the next level, it frees them to deal with you as a paid adviser. It can be
very freeing to all parties! Thanks for stopping by.
I just want to say that It was very good post, it helped me in finding a good affiliate.
Hi Ian, I don't think I have ever thought about the need to apologize for charging someone for my consulting services. I guess it must be my background as an engineering consultant…
As an online entreprener, though, I have had to learn how to give out free advice in order to build community, etc.
I'm glad you haven't run into this problem Andy. There are a lot of
different scenarios where you would do something for free. Some
people have a problem when the time comes to start charginging. Both
on the client and provider side. When this arises, you need to be
confident and unapologetic. Thanks for stopping by!
This is a good article and it is motivation for people to keep pursuing their goals with their business. I also agree that you should not be afraid to charge people for your expertise. I will keep this point in mind as I continue with my business and online endeavors.
This is a good article and it is motivation for people to keep pursuing their goals with their business. I also agree that you should not be afraid to charge people for your expertise. I will keep this point in mind as I continue with my business and online endeavors.
This is a good article and it is motivation for people to keep pursuing their goals with their business. I also agree that you should not be afraid to charge people for your expertise. I will keep this point in mind as I continue with my business and online endeavors.
Thanks Ryan!
Yeah, I truly agree with you Ian. I just recently went through this situation with pastor of a church. I agree totally with the statement, “… when starts to feel like work.” This is where you start charging. I hate to say it but some churches are hard to “help out.” They seem to take advantage of your assistance sometimes.
Please don't shake me. I'm guilty of JUST APOLOGIZING to a client that I just completed work with.
It always seems that the ones that keep pestering for tips, etc. are the ones that are ON A BUDGET (pfft…yet on the same token, you know they can afford you but like to take with paying as little as possible).
To compromise, I worked with her budget and laid it down very clearly in the contract what I could do for her for her price range and she agreed, she paid and the project is complete.
My original quote included my consultation time among other things on the list, which she chose to eliminate. However, she keeps coming back and asking questions on HOW TO. At first, I didn't mind, but this has been going on for almost a week now where she has sent daily emails on tips, advice, quick tutorials, and the like.
It started feeling like work so I put a stop to it today, but I used the 'no-no' I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE…
You are right, though. In the freelance world, it seems like people think we owe them explanations or we need to justify our services and fees. On the same token, this world has nothing but takers – so it's to be expected whether we do or don't allow it to happen.
Thank you for this article!
Hi Linda,
We need to stop this viscous cycle of apologizing! Here in Canada, it seems
to be a national pastime :)
You can see that you are far from alone. I'm glad you realize you are
worthy of being paid for your expertise. It's really more of a shift in the
way WE think than our clients. The world is full of takers, but you should
not stop being generous with what you know. When help becomes “work”
though, the invoice is your friend.
Michael Port addresses this in his book 'Book Yourself Solid'. He advocates giving so much away that it hurts because in the end the trust and relationships that you build up will return more business than you can handle.
I always feel like if you can't at least give the basics away then you probably don't have anyting worth charging for anyway.
Book Yourself Solid is a great book, and I completely agree with being
overly generous with your skills and knowledge. Where some people run into
a problem, especially when they are just starting out, is where to draw the
line and feeling guilty or confused about bringing the relationship from
free adviser to hired. I just wanted to let those people know that they are
not alone, and encourage them to be confident and unapologetic when it comes
time to make that transition to paid adviser. Thanks for your comment!
I agree. I have an Uncle who is an Independent Financial Advisor and when I worked with him he would always say if you charge them nothing then they will feel like they got nothing.
He's from the old school, but it makes sense. If you give something away for free – especially advice – people may not take it as serious. But if they pay $500 for that advice you can be certain they will pay more attention to it.
The funny thing is I remember being in his office 20 years or so ago when he was starting out and he was fretting about charging one of his clients a lot of money. He went to one of the other business owners in his building to get some advice and confidence in doing so.
Apparently he's gotten past those hesitations.