Giving it All Away

I've just read a very inspiring blog by Bob Calhoun: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/bob-calhoun/blog/success-in-business

He speaks of the need... well, I'll let you read the article!

It moved me to recycle some thoughts on a post I read last week, and responded to, in which the poster expressed concern about "giving too much away" on his website. We all have, or soon will have, our own areas of expertise. We'll guard these jealously, lest anyone absorb our knowledge and reduce or remove the need for our services. I was one of those people too.

Last year I made a discovery.

I discovered that the more help I gave, the more interaction I got, and the deeper into clients' consciousness I got, the more likely I was to be turned to if paid help was needed.

The reality is that you can't give too much help. Knowing what to do isn't always the same as being able to do it. Take my field. I can give away every writing technique I know from my website, but I'll have two groups of readers:

1. Readers who want to have a stab and are using me as a resource.

2. Readers who read what I write, say to themselves "Nope, I still don't get it".

The first group would never have hired me because they were DIY fans. Hopefully I've helped them to do it better. The second group may use me because there's a genuine need for help, and a genuine desire that someone else does the work.

But the first group isn't dead in the water; not yet at least. Many people who think they can write are suddenly faced with the reality that they're not quite as proficient as they think they are. So where do they go for help. Yup, to the person/website who or which was helping them for free.

If you're a French polisher, you can give all the help in the world, but few will try to do it themselves. If you run a review site, maybe smartphones, you're giving all you know away for free anyway, and people will buy from you. If you run a catering business, show your clients every recipe you know. Yes, they'll try to cook it for their (possibly) grateful spouse, but not for 60 people at a wedding. They'll ring you, especially once they've tried your recipes.

We give help here, all of us. We do it because we like to. But that doesn't mean we can't be helpful for business purposes too, whatever we do.