BELIEVE me.
I have been wrestling with this question for the longest time. And before you think I do not understand the notion of the giving-value-in-exchange-for-business model, take a pause.
Because almost everyone running a business, a startup, a freelancing gig understands that.
There are 2 giant questions marks hanging right above our heads.
Till how long are we going to work for free?
When is the right time to start charging for our products and services?
Let me answer these 2 questions via a personal story, and a conversation I had with Joanna.
Lead Magnets — Who are They Attracting?
“Joanna, has it ever got to you that not all birds like breadcrumbs?”
She stared at me as if I came from Saturn.
“There is always a possibility. The birds around my neighborhood prefer bones.”
My message to Joanna is a simple one.
Unless we know what our prospects want, we will never be able to hit the bull’s eyes. It is a waste of arrows without a target board.
Give them all you have (your arrows) for free.
Give them your E-Book for free.
Give them your best video ever created for free.
Give them your best first copywriting draft for free.
Give them your time, commitment, and consulting hours for free.
You are still shooting into the fog.
Yes, it is still possible to be ghosted by them after giving all your knowledge away. I know how THAT feels. There is one prospect I have been pursuing for 8 months.
I tried to woo her with all kinds of freebies I could think of. Yet, she never spared me one second of her time. Mind you, she has received a truckload of lead magnets from me. She did not bite. And I was baffled for the longest time. I kept asking myself this question.
“Don’t people want free stuff?”
It turned out to be the best question I ever asked. The answer would come, one day, in the form of personal experience. A girl scout asked if I would like to have one packet of tissue for free.
“No, thank you, my dear, I have no need for it.”
Then, I realized THAT was the answer to my question. I went home, scribbled down my thoughts into my journal, and started thinking about lead magnets. These are my thoughts.
We equate these freebies to breadcrumbs. And we treat our prospects as birds. By feeding our prospects with free breadcrumbs, we bait them into asking for more, to a point where they must pay because we can no longer offer finger food for free.
“Joanna, the trouble with lead magnets is this. You might have given them so much value that they no longer need your service. Copywriting prospects do that ALL THE TIME. When you treat them like birds, they will eat all your free breadcrumbs and fly off, just before paying you.”
She was visibly upset.
“Aldric, I am willing to try something new since it has not been working for me for the past 5 months. Tell me, what works?”
I shared my journey as a freelance copywriter with Joanna. In the beginning, just like many others, I got busy producing lead magnets. It wasn’t just 2 or 3. There were videos, social media posts, E-Books, articles, About Me, educating people using free emails. I accepted all podcasts and livestream invitations to talk about anything and everything related to copywriting.
Guess what? I wasn’t meaningfully busy. I was distracted.
“Why don’t you sell first? Secure your copywriting contracts. When they start consuming your services, give them your lead magnets. These digital assets help you increase the services your prospects will subsequently buy from you, while they pay you for your work TODAY.”
She stared at the ceiling for a while. Sighing. Then, she looked at me and said the following.
“You know what. I am going to give your tactic a try. And if it doesn’t work, dinner is on you.”
Our YouTube Channel – Knowledge Topics
On our Youtube Channel, we produce content to uncover topics that permeate all walks of life. Our community can understand what it means to be in the trenches of our interest.
Here are some topics of interest we recorded with high viewership:
Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.).
Why we buy what we buy.
Mindset and Career.
Marketing on a Dime.
Green Technology.
Robotic Era.
Mental Health.
Our goal is to share our research with our community from a practitioner's standpoint.
Summary
At some point in your business’s future, you have to start charging for your work.
That is the fundamental tenet of business.
So, why not charge your work starting today?
The job of Bottomsup Perspective is to research, discuss, and share our findings so our community can grow with us.
This topic is one example of sharing our practitionership.
Do you believe in what we do?
If you do, push this big purple button.