Why It’s Wise To Value and Charge For Your Services vs ‘Free’ Help.

Let’s talk about Charge For Your Services. In the past, this use to baffle me. I use to think how come you did not take action when I told you? I use to think why would they rather pay for the information that they got for free from me???

Little did I know free is not always valued.

In these situations, I use to start questioning myself thinking maybe I missed something out or was not able to explain it, or I’m not good enough and sometimes self-doubt could have kicked it and to some degree it did. 

Well, I was wrong and I have now come to learn that it’s not about me. It is about the person who is asking for help and how they value what they are getting.

So what changed?

I started charging for my time and services.

What did this change?

It changed the dynamics of the relationship.

It placed a value on what I do and it is no longer free.

When we offer something for free, we are actually devaluing our own work and ourselves. We are saying that our time, skills and services are worth nothing.

Now, there will always be people who will take advantage of us but by and large, the people who appreciate and value our work, will be more than happy to pay for it.

Charging for our services also allows us to weed out those that are not serious about getting help. It also puts a boundary in place and establishes a level of respect between us and the person we are helping.

When we offer something for free, it can often be seen as a way to control or manipulate the person we are helping.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to help someone but it is important that we value our own work and time.

It is only when we do this, that others will too.

Free is not valued as paid – Charge For Your Services

Over the years I’ve shared countless information with many people on what they need to be doing because they needed ‘help’ or don’t have the ‘funds’. My thinking in the past was I’m helping them out. But little did I know that actually, not everyone will value what I share with them so I’m not really helping them.

I’ve had coffee meetings, free strategy sessions/conversations and shared in-depth insights, but still, this information is not always valued. (unless they genuinely take on board and implement what you share with them).

I’ve even had situations where I’ve shared information and have done nothing with it but later down the line that same person pays someone else, or gets on a course and they start to do the things that I had already shared with them.

In a nutshell, The thing is if you do not charge for your time and knowledge people don’t value it. 

The Bottom Line

Giving away our services for free devalues us and the work we do. It also sends a message to the person we are helping that our time and skills are worth nothing. If we want to be taken seriously, respected and valued for the work we do, then it is important that we charge for our services.

When you offer something for free, you devalue what you do and the person receiving your help may not appreciate or value it as much as if they had to pay for it. charging for our services allows us to establish a boundary and puts a value on our time and skills. It also weeds out those that are not serious about getting help. by valuing our own work, others will too.

It holds more value based on the perception of perceived success

I’ve even had situations where I’d share a digital strategy with a business mentor/entrepreneur because they did not know about this particular thing. Then when I shared this information with a potential client they ignored it but when that same business mentor shared the same strategy with that same client all of a sudden it was like gold dust, their minds were blown and the mentor took all the credit. 

Now in one way this really pissed me off, I was like how come you didn’t even acknowledge it when I told you but when the business mentor told you, you ran with it?? Was it the perception of getting information from someone you perceive to have a higher status than myself?

I’ve had situations where I have shared insights with mentors or entrepreneurs that I work with who then share with others and in the process made money from that same knowledge where I had shared it for free thinking I was helping that person out. (How many of you can relate to that?)

Interesting right?

The lesson learned

Later I learned that if people don’t have skin in the game then people won’t take action and won’t value information in the same way. It has to be high on their values and if they make a payment then all of a sudden that same information is like gold dust. 

Its perception of value that can be influenced by price and status.

But its all good because it gave me insights into self-worth, perception and skin in the game. It made me realise that perception influences one’s mind. A big learning point for me. So by putting a value on your knowledge is creates value in the mind of your prospect.

Your experience and knowledge holds more value than you think

I’m sure you have heard many people come out with things like well if you are so good why don’t you do it for free, help me get the results then I’ll pay you later…. Well its because if someone shares with you for free its not always valued in the same way as when you purchase the information. Your time to implement and years of experience all have value. Somewhere along the line, you paid for that Infomation and privilege so why are you not valuing it when paying it forward? 

Charge Your Worth

So what this taught me was that actually when you don’t charge people not only do you devalue what you share but the other person doesn’t get results either which isn’t really fair on them or you. 

There will always be the small few who do value what you share and they appreciate it but the biggest difference is that these people take action, they actually implement it. and they value information and action. 

Funny isn’t it 

Split Information into What and How

So, later on, I learned that information can be split into ‘what’ and ‘how’.

And that actually you can charge for the how-to and implementation elements. I realised that telling people what to do is information you can share for free but the implementation or how to do it is where you can charge people, this can become your IP. 

This is also a very good content strategy. Letting people know what to do shows your expertise and it allows you to create content that can be shared for free to help with positioning and authority. 

Experience Over Time

Over time with experience you can begin to see who will take value and apply action and who will not value what you do and those that may actually surprise you. 

So don’t think you are doing anyone any favours when you don’t charge. My brother picked up on this. My frustration around this was often shared with him and in doing so he picked up on what not to do quicker than me, I had to go through it and learn this stuff and he learned by seeing it and then thinking I’m not going to work in this way. Which is good. 

Conclusion

So I’m sharing this learning with you hoping that it can help you jump ahead so you can honour your self more by actually charging for your time, knowledge and services. 

My dear friend Sifu Lak Loi always says if knowledge is power then don’t share it indiscriminately. 

So remember to put a value on what you know.

When you don’t charge for your services, you devalue what you have to share and the other person doesn’t get results. You can charge for the how-to and implementation elements, which is a very good content strategy. With experience, you can begin to see who will take value and apply action.

If you liked this information please do feel free to share it with others who you feel will benefit form it. And if you have any questions feel free to get in touch.

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