How Much is Too Much Value to Give Away for Free?

[00:00:00] INTRO: After generating over a million dollars in sales and selling one of her businesses with a single email, your host Catherine Thompson takes an unconventional approach to marketing and sales. So if you're ready to tap into a more powerful way to be seen her and a sought after entrepreneur in your industry without having to spend endless hours marketing your business and chasing clients, you're in the right place.

Be the sought after entrepreneur podcast is here to help you ditch the cookie cutter. One size fits all approach to marketing and use your unique energy to effortlessly attract the most aligned clients. When you do this. You can spend less time marketing your business and more time doing your soul work and enjoying the richness of your life.

Welcome to be the sought after entrepreneur podcast. And here's your host, Katherine Thompson.

Kathryn Thompson: Hey, Hey, I'm super stoked that you're tuning into this week's episode. I cannot wait to dive in today's [00:01:00] topic because I'm building off of last week's episode where I shared with you some really. Simple, but potent content prompts that will help spark creativity, help you generate some ideas for your content.

And really more than that, help you understand your people and the people that you're sitting in front of, and you're having a conversation with, because that really is what marketing is all about. But one of the biggest questions I get asked when I share those prompts or when I talk about content in general is, how much value is too much value to give away for free?

And I wanted to record this episode and share with you my thoughts on that, because I know If you're here listening to this and you've been following me for a while, it's probably a question that's popped into your brain from time to time when you've maybe gone out to create a social media post, or you're creating a freebie for your business, a lead magnet, where you get people to opt in or where you've created a free training, or you've done a workshop in somebody else's [00:02:00] program, or you're sending out emails to your list every week and you're like, I don't know what to say, I don't know how much is.

too much. And again, if you've been following me for a while, you probably know I have a very counterintuitive way of thinking about this and a very different way of thinking about this than what is traditionally taught, which is don't give too much away or people won't buy, which is created. This big old fear blanket in the online coaching space for sure, but in business in general, if you're selling knowledge or information, this definitely is a message that has perpetuated the industry.

Don't give too much away or people won't buy from you. And to me that's just fear mongering. That's just fear being instilled for you to then be stuck in that old mental brain of yours, gatekeeping what you can and can't say. Gatekeeping, where to say something and when not to say something and when to charge for something and when not to charge for something.

[00:03:00] And I'm not saying as business owners that we don't want to charge for what we do, but I can almost bet my freaking house on the fact that the knowledge and the wealth of wisdom that's within you, your gift, is not something that you're going to be able to sum up in a social media post, something that you're not going to be able to sum up in an email.

It's not something that you're going to be able to sum up in even a free masterclass, an hour masterclass or a 30 minute masterclass. Like it's not something that you're going to be able to sum up. You're expansive. You've got these gifts, this wisdom, this knowledge, this insight, this knowing that will not be summed up in any of your free content.

And so to me, there's no worry. There's no worry about what you can and can't say that then will prevent people from buying because you're giving too much away for free. [00:04:00] Right. It's kind of like the saying that I've heard and I think this is a really old saying and it to me It's the grossest saying it's like why would he marry you if he can get the milk for free, right?

if you think of that statement, it's just such a gross statement and All it does again is perpetuate shame and fear and worry and all of that shit that none of us need None of us need as business owners. So just to set the record straight There's nothing that you can give away for free, literally, that's going to sum up your genius and your brilliance and, and what you do when you work with people, right?

On that, when I'm talking about coaches and people that are, you know, selling knowledge and their insight and their energetics and all of that, like, that's not something you can give away for free. free and 30 minutes or anything like that. Sure. Could somebody get a ton of insight and value from what you do?

Absolutely. Which is why I want to shift again, the way in [00:05:00] which we do this and even look at this. I want to shift the way we do this and look at this because one, I think it's stopping people from. Um, and what is on their heart and what they do really, really well. And what ends up happening is, is that we cut ourselves off, right?

Our mental brain's like, don't give too much away for free or people won't buy because that's the message that's been ingrained in us as business owners, specifically in the online coaching and consulting space. It's like, if you give away too much for free, then people will go off and just figure it out on their own.

And you and I both know that if that was actually true, then Everybody in the world who had Google and they could Google something would go off and be a really amazing business owner with a great, great success or would go off and have the most amazing relationship or who would, you know, be living this beautiful, healthy life that didn't need support with health and wellness.

Like you and I know that that isn't [00:06:00] the case, right? And Google is at our fingertips. We can pretty much Google anything. Knowledge is at our fingertips. The wealth of knowledge that's available to us for free is at our freaking fingertips. And yet there's people out there in every industry that still need the support that you have.

So it's not about how much value do I give away or not give away, right? It's what do I want to say? What is it that I want to share with the people that I want to share with? What value can I give them that will inspire them, that will shift their perspective, that will give them, you know, permission to go and do whatever the hell they want to do, that will give them insight, that will motivate them.

What can I do and what can I give that will do this for them? And then how do I add depth to that value? Because [00:07:00] depth. is the thing that's going to create even more connection with your people, but it's also going to help them see that you know what you're talking about. It's really easy to create a post that's like, Hey, I can help you attract more clients.

And if that's something that somebody saying over and over and over and over again in their content, and it's even easier to put that on repeat to continually point out all the mistakes that you're making. And these are the mistakes you're making to attract clients and I can help you attract clients.

It's really easy to do that. And to me, that's just surface level, right? Pointing out everybody's mistakes and why they're doing it wrong and how they can do it better is surface level. Show me that you have the depth to hold the space to coach and mentor me. Show me that you have the depth, you have the level of mastery, the embodiment, whatever it is that you're looking for, show me that you have that.

Just continually pointing out all the mistakes that I'm making or pointing out the mistakes and how you can help me solve the mistake. Is surface [00:08:00] level on every single way. It's like money promises to me, right? I'll help you make 10k. I'll help you make 20k. Cool. Surface level, right? Show me you have the depth.

Show me that you can hold the capacity to coach and mentor me. Show me that you have the ability to do this and the experience. Show me how you do it differently. Give value in that perspective. Cause that's the perspective that your audience is looking for. Is like, well, how are they different than maybe somebody else?

That's helping attract people, attract clients. How are they different than somebody, another relationship coach out there? How are they different than any other energetic healing coach out there that's going to help you shift and heal, right? And the only way to do that is to create depth, and you create depth by sharing more of who you are in a vulnerable, intimate, connected way.

That is the only way to do it. So, it's not about how much value can I give [00:09:00] away for free before nobody buys. That's scarcity, that's fear. It's like, how much value can I give to my audience that they could then take the information and absolutely frickin run with it if they want to. When I created my quiz, that was literally the intention I set for it.

How do I create the most thought provoking quiz on the internet? And how do I give so much away for free? That they could take that information and walk away with the permission to do things their own way. To garner more insight about who they are and what they're here to do. To maybe validate everything they've been feeling but then they're looking out into the world around them going, I don't quite fit.

Right? To feel understood and seen. So many times I got messages from people going, are you sure this is free? Like I took it. And then I got this like beautifully created page with so much value on it. [00:10:00] Are you sure this was free? Like, was this the free version or was I supposed to upgrade? And I didn't, like, I literally got message after message after message about that.

And I was like, yeah, it's absolutely free. My masterclass, same thing, sat down, recorded it. I was like, what do I want to say? What can really help them and what will give them direction and insight? Into taking the next step in their business or how whatever step they need to take. And I even said, I think on the masterclass, I was like, if you run with this and you go, and I'm sure you can great.

That's why I did it. And if you want to work with me more. Cool. I'd love to have a conversation with you. And I'm very honest about that. Like, I'm very, very honest about that and transparent. And anybody that's had a call with me will say, that's the energy I go into the call with. I don't hard sell people.

I'm not trying to twist their arm. If they literally are like, it's not the right timing. I'm like, cool. Come back when it [00:11:00] is. I don't have the financial means right now in this moment to invest, but I may in a couple months. Cool. I'm not asking people to go into debt. I'm not asking people to sell their, you know, most prized possessions to pay for coaching with me.

All of that feels really gross in my body. And so if there's any insight that you, I can give them to get the ball rolling and to hit the ground running, I'll do that. I do that in my DMs. I do that on sales calls. They say don't coach in the DMs. Don't coach on sales calls. But if someone's sitting in front of me and I can see and spot really, really clearly that if they just focused on this particular area right now, they'll be gold, right?

So Some people will come to me and they'll get on a call with me. And I know that I'm like, you don't need to focus right now on like what content you're creating. You need to really articulate the offer. You have go focus on what that offer is and then how you attract people into your world will be the next step.

Right? Like, I can literally look at someone's business and go, this is where you want to [00:12:00] put your energy right now. This is where you want to put your energy now. This is the clarity that you're going to need in order to do the next things that you want to do. And I'll, I'll tell people that on a sales call and people still buy from me.

You know what I mean? Like I think again, when we try to gatekeeper cut ourselves off or we get in our brains of like, Oh man, I'm giving way too much away for free. They're not going to buy from me. Um, we end up producing, like I said, this like surface level message. That's like, here's your mistakes and here's how I can help you.

And I know when I'm looking for a mentor or coach, I'm looking for somebody that has depth. I'm looking for someone that has a level of mastery. I'm looking for someone that has a level of understanding. I'm looking for maturity. I'm looking for embodiment, and I'm not going to get that if you're telling me five steps to fix x, y, and z.

I'm not going to get that if it's something I can easily Google, you know? I want to know who you are. I want to have that connection. [00:13:00] I want to form that connection with you. How do I do that? Where can I have a conversation with you? You know, I saw, I heard a message recently that was like, you know, if you're getting on sales calls and you have to do sales calls in your business, then your message and your offer and your content isn't doing its job, you know?

Um, and again, I'm like, what's the job of the content? What's the job of the message? What's the job of the offer? Right. To me, marketing and sales is just relationships and conversations. That's all it is. And so how are you creating that in your business? At what stage are you creating it at? And then what value in those relationships and conversations are you having?

Like what value are you putting into those conversations and those relationships? Are there moments where you're sitting there going, Oh, I can't share that. Cause if I share that, I'm like [00:14:00] giving away all of my secret sauce. It's impossible. It's impossible. I mean, again, if you think even about your, if you're in a marriage or a relation, a long term relationship, five years, 10 years, 15 years, I'm sure at some point in a relationship, you're, you're like still learning new things and insight about the person you're with.

Right. As we grow and evolve as humans. We change. It's the only certain thing in life is that things are going to change and we're going to evolve and we're going to grow. And so I'm circling this back to the whole like lead magnet, masterclass, workshop, free content on Instagram. I will tell you this.

That the more value that you offer, and this doesn't mean that you have to do more work and that your content has to be like this big long form piece of content that like reveals everything that [00:15:00] you do and all the steps you take and all of the things like it doesn't, that's not what I'm talking about.

Sometimes the most value. That you can give somebody is helping them shift their perspective. When I use the analogy of the wine analogy that I've shared lots on this podcast is that if, if you're trying to put wine in front of people over and over and over and over again, who don't drink wine, it won't matter how good your copy messaging offer is.

It won't matter. And yet sometimes we focus so much on just putting and blasting out our offer and like throwing it out there on Instagram, which to me is just a billboard that you put on the side of a highway kind of thing that you're hoping to God that people driving down the highway are going to read the message and hopefully.

Resonate with it. How many billboards do you see on the side of the highway that you don't resonate with? Right? Well, it's the same with any of your marketing that you're doing. If you're not having conversations with, with the people that actually are going to [00:16:00] benefit from the thing that you're selling, whether it be a product or a service, it won't matter how freaking good your offer is.

When I share that. That can be mind blowing to people and they'll go, wow, I just got massive value, right? The masterclass selling the invisible. Wow. I had no idea that we all resonate and have different resonance with messaging, depending on where we are vibrationally, those that want the void filled are going to really buy into messages that say, buy this.

product, buy Axe body spray, and it'll help you attract beautiful women into your life. That's a void filling, right? Do you think Axe body spray is really going to do that? No, but they'll use that message to sell Axe to men that want to fill the void of maybe having a beautiful woman on their arm. We see it all the time in marketing, right?

And so that will really resonate with that person. [00:17:00] But somebody who's like, not really seeking that or doesn't even really think that they need a relationship to fill any type of void are going to be like, I don't need acts. That message doesn't resonate with me. That in my masterclass has been one of the biggest feedbacks was like, wow, wow.

Like this resonates so much and that's the value that a lot of the people will walk away with. If you've watched it and listen to it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't click the link around here. There's one you can go and watch it or link in my bio on IG. But it's like these bite size pieces of insight that can create and shift the perspective and therefore the trajectory of people's lives.

So I don't want you to think about, I mean, you can think about what you want to think about, but I would love to support you in looking at this in a different way of like, there's nothing that you can give away for free and 30 minutes and one content bit that's going to be. Or even remotely [00:18:00] measure up to the capacity that you carry within yourself.

And the more you can give from a place of, I'm just going to give value and I don't care what my brain is talking about and I'm not going to put parameters on what I can and can't share in case people don't buy from me. The more value I know you'll create for your people. And anytime your brain starts to say, Well, that's too much.

I'd love to invite you to reflect on that. If at any point in your life, somebody told you you were too much. I shared this story before when I created the quiz and I was like, I wanted to be the most thought provoking quiz I want to put so much. Of my heart and soul into that quiz. And I want to give, give, give, give.

And I've had such great feedback, such great feedback. And like, is it free? And all the things like I shared, but I had one, I had one [00:19:00] person tell me that there was too much information. That's ridiculous. In a lot of ways, right, but it stopped me in my tracks because for the majority of my life, I'm big energy, right?

I have this really big energy, I get a lot done, I do a lot of things in my life, I'm like in a room, I'm just like, there's lots of energy here, right? And I've been told my whole life, you're too much, that's too much. You're an overachiever. You're hardcore. You know, those are things that have been told to me my whole life.

And so, I would love for you to reflect, has there been any time in your life where you've been told you're too much? If you give too much away, if you show up in the big way that you are, is that too much? Will that turn people off, or will that... Get them not to buy, right? It all kinds comes back to that fear and scarcity, right?

It all comes back to that place of fear and scarcity and [00:20:00] operating from that place of scarcity and operating from a place of fear. And when we can shift to that place of gratitude and love versus fear and scarcity, I'm not saying that. The fear and scarcity side doesn't work because it does. We see it on the interwebs all the time.

People selling the surface level to then get you into the program that they're selling. We see it all the time and it works. But I'm saying when you come from that place of loving gratitude and you share from that place of like, I just want to give value and support people and I don't care if they buy from me or not.

I would love to support whoever wants to come into my world and it's not like I don't care. It's like I trust that those that are going to come and want to work with me on a deeper level will and those that aren't ready right now won't and maybe they will at some point. That's cool. I'm not trying to control the outcomes, right?

That, that love and gratitude. There's so much more pleasure and joy from that place, creating a business from that place. It just feels so much better. There's this, this level of like groundedness and just [00:21:00] surrender. There's, it's just a much more beautiful place to create from and joyful place to create from.

When we're trying to control the outcome because we're scared of what might happen, there's this energy that eventually sort of builds up and eventually you won't feel fulfilled. Eventually you'll burn out. Eventually you won't be happy because you're operating from that place of scarcity and control versus.

Love, surrender, and joy, and fulfillment, and peace, right? Gratitude. Gratitude that I get to share this message. Gratitude that I get to put out what the hell I want to put out, and know and trust that those that want to work with me on the capacity they want to work with me will. So it's just a very different energy.

And so,

So, um, I'm going to share too much. And if you haven't taken my quiz, go take it and take a look at it. Because you'll look at that and then go, okay, I get, I get where she's [00:22:00] coming from. If you've taken the quiz, you get where I'm coming from. Because I give a lot, right? And again, I give a lot in those two capacities.

I give a lot on this podcast. I'm not really holding back when I'm talking. I'm just sharing literally to support you that I hope that in every episode you garner some insight that you can then use in your life and your business. And again, if you work with me, I'm so grateful that you choose to work with me.

But if you choose not to, that's totally cool too. Um, and that you're able to get the insight and value from this. podcast from the stuff that I put out there for free. There's no, there's nothing paid here, right? Um, and if you've, yeah, like I said, if you haven't taken the quiz, go and take a look at it.

You'll, you'll really get a sense of what I'm talking about and that we don't need to hold ourselves back. We don't need to gatekeep. We can answer questions, you know. Um, I know that I'm sure you've come across. [00:23:00] And interaction with a coach or a mentor where their answers were always like, this is what I teach in my paid program.

This is what I teach in my paid program. This is what I teach my paid program. When in reality, all you're asking is, yeah, a simple question that could be answered, you know, that could easily be answered. Um, so with that, I really hope that this is helped sort of diminish any feeling of fear around what you can and can't give that would potentially prevent people from working with you because you've given them too much.

Um, and that. It's helped you kind of come back to like a center place where you're, where you're going to just create from a place of creating and creating from a place of value and depth and insight, um, and love and gratitude. Versus the fear, scarcity, and control. So, with that, I hope you're having a [00:24:00] fab day.

And I cannot wait to, uh, chat with you later. Cheers!

OUTRO: Thanks for listening. We'll see you right back here next time. You can also find us on social media at creativelyowned. And online at creativelyowned.com. Until next time, keep showing up as your authentic self.