Descriptions
One of the reasons many
entrepreneurs will not grow their businesses beyond subsistence level is their
inability to prioritise their business vision over the interests of family and
friends.
If you have been in business
for a considerable length of time, you must have had friends and close
connections approach you for free service. This is especially true for people
in the creative industry and others who seem to offer intangible products and
services.
When I started blogging and
consulting, my primary purpose was to express myself and enrich the world with
my wealth of knowledge. I was also driven by the desire to help people access
the help they need even if they can't afford it. However, I soon realised that
if I have to do this in a sustainable way, I have to move from hobby blogging
to business blogging.
Every month, I spend almost
twice the Federal Government's minimum wage on my blogging business in form of
courses, tools and other resources to make me better equipped to serve my
community. That's apart from basic costs like annual webhosting and associated
services. Yet, some wonderful people expect me to do it all for free.
We say that time is money – and
that's true. But time is more valuable than money because you can get more
money but you can't get more time. In essence, time is life. If your project is
not important enough to have you invest your money into it, why then do you
expect me to donate an irrecoverable portion of my life? One certain way to
show that you believe in your project is to put your money where your mouth is.
I have found that it all boils
down to our priorities. Someone who does not have 100,000 naira for a
ghostwriting project or 120,000 naira
for a website will spend 240,000 naira on a birthday party, 120,000 naira on a
TV set, 18,000 naira to fix her car and 42,000 naira on local flights when she
could as well have traveled by road or
even rail which is far cheaper. Isn't that ridiculous?
When people request for free
service without a deliberate intention to give value in return, they are
violating a major principle. I'm reminded of an interesting story in the Bible
where a young man was saddled with the task of preserving an entire nation
through seven years of famine.
One would have expected him to
offer "welfare services". After all, didn't he know that there was
famine in the land and the economy was not favourable? Not Joseph! He insisted
on collecting money for every measure of grain.
When the people ran out of money,
they began to give their land in exchange. And when they ran out of land, they
were made to work for Pharaoh. Do you see the point? Even lack or poverty is no
excuse for attempting to receive value without offering value in return.
Truth is, I love doing things
for free. From time to time, I conduct free courses for which other trainers charge
as much as 45,000 naira to N60,000. But I do it absolutely free of charge. My
blog posts are free, just like many of my books. But people are more committed
when they pay for something. Besides, I need to place more value on my time
too.
The more time I spend preparing
courses, teaching, responding to questions and guiding you in building your
business and career, the less time I have for other things, for instance basic
chores like laundry, planning my meals, etc.
The implication is that I have
to pay other people to do those things and even hire a virtual assistant to
handle some personal projects in order to free up more time to serve you.
Besides, I need to have basic necessities like good accommodation, power and
Internet access to enable me give you the quality service that you deserve.
So I have to balance the
equation by requesting that you pay for my time, creativity and expertise. I
must admit that it felt quite awkward at first, even though I'm convinced that
it's the right thing to do. Then I realised that the likes of Noah Kagan and Michael
Hyatt have had to deal with the same issue. Yes, I'm in good company!
In How Not to Feel Guilty about Charging For Your Time, Noah
says, "Money is a truth-teller. It’s a trade of your time for things you
value. If a person really values what you are doing for them then you should
charge them otherwise they’ll value you less." In a similar
piece, Michael says "Making money is not something we should
apologize for because of a few freeloaders who feel entitled to get stuff for
free. It’s not good for them. It’s certainly not good for us. And it’s not good
for the world."
So, when I insist that you pay
for products and services, it's because I need to grow my business, support my
family, share with those in need and pursue the highest good for all of us,
especially you. Does that make any sense to you? I hope it does.
Philip Amiola is a teacher and digital media
strategist. He helps entrepreneurs and young professionals hone their skills
and own their expertise while leveraging digital tools for more profit and
impact. You can connect reach him at PhilipAmiola.org or connect with him on Twitter.
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