S7 E17-20 Guest Danielle Moran How to Draw a Line In The Sand with Brandon Souba

4/11/2021

S7 E17-20 (Success Can Be Fun - with Focus)
Guest Danielle Moran Tells us How To Draw a Line In the Sand

Episode 17 - Paid vs. Free Information/Content

As professionals and entrepreneurs, many of us struggle with deciding what information to give away for free and what information we should charge for.
For professionals who are not selling a physical product, it can feel like the information IS the product, so it can be difficult to wrap your mind around giving free advice or free content.
The bad news: the information is likely already out there. We live in the information age, where most people are not saying anything that can't already be found for free on the internet somewhere.
The good news: people don't pay for information, they pay for TRANSFORMATION!
- As service providers, clients pay us for the systems we create to help them more easily APPLY the information, to create transformation in their lives. To solve a pain point or a problem they are having.
When it comes to free content or free advice, I have heard experts talk about a few different strategies to put this into practice:
- Talking about small pieces of information they share in their paid program but never sharing the full system for free. This strategy can be used as sales content, where you talk about bits and pieces that always tie back to your paid program.
- Using your free content to shift people's perspectives to get them ready to buy and benefit from your paid programs.
- Share most of the information you would share within your paid programs for free. The theory behind this is, again, that people could find this information for free on the internet in other places, and that it is really only inside your program where it is presented in an orderly way with a level of accountability that the information really produces transformation.

Episode 18 - Endowment Effect

Why people should not be afraid to share free information.
Professionals can also be in the opposite mindset, where they just want to help everyone and want to give away all the information for free.
One concept that really helped me realize that I needed to charge for my expertise and services is the Endowment Effect.
The Endowment Effect is a concept in psychology that basically says people value something more if they own it than if they don't. It is sometimes also called the Ownership Effect.
The first time I heard about this was in an amazing Sales, Leadership, and Communication training called GUIDE Culture. They explained that people actually don't benefit from all free or heavily discounted things. People have to VALUE something in order to take action on it and see transformation in their lives. One of the main ways people value things is if they pay for them.
We do not value-free things as much as something we have invested in.

Episode 19 - What to say when someone asks to "pick your brain" as a professional

Ask for more information and be honest about what you can and cannot help them with.
- For example, you might have already created social media posts or a podcast that you can quickly send to them to answer their question.
Have your own boundaries clearly defined with what you feel comfortable sharing with people for free? It can be difficult to say no if you have the heart to serve or help people, but nobody is entitled to your time or expertise.
- Boundaries can help avoid burnout as well.
Think about what is best for them.
- Just giving away free information in a casual setting might not actually help them solve their problem.
- Guiding them toward your paid programs that have some structure and provide accountability might be more helpful for them.
- Ex: Ethical practice as a healthcare professional often requires more background information to know the whole picture and be able to give them more personalized recommendations.

Episode 20 - How to apply this to networking

If comfortable, you can give general information away for free to demonstrate your expertise and credibility.
Always point back to your services and what you offer so they know how to work with you or refer you.
- Examples: if someone asks a question in a 1:1 meeting, giving a group presentation, etc.