My thoughts regarding charity and poverty are similar to that of Perry Marshall’s.
The latest issue of his Renaissance Club newsletter struck a cord with me, so I thought I’ll come up here to share some of my thoughts.
He recently got an email from a very angry guy who can’t believe he had the audacity to turn down lunch requests and charge hourly rates instead.
He talks more about having the guts to charge for your service or product in your business, because it is your moral obligation to do so.
Here’s an excerpt of the newsletter, which will remain part of my business philosophy for life.
“If you’re going to be charitable in the world, there is no possibility of helping the bottom 10% if you also believe you’re obligated to help the middle 50% and not charge them for it. You must pic your battles and I have picked mine. The reason I can build orphanages in India is I’m building businesses in America and Canada and the UK and Australia and New Zealand and getting paid for it.”
I took his advice some time back, and had the “audacity” to charge $200 for Adwords Coaching instead of dispensing free information in forums.
The result of that coaching is that I gained the most respectful and cooperative client EVER, who told me that “it was okay to slow down on the coaching a little bit” when she learnt that I was having exams.
This is in stark contrast with my responses in Private Messages to people who ask me for help; these people whom I help with almost the same amount of heart and time, either reply with increasingly unresonably requests for my time (with no benefit to me at all), or they simply don’t reply at all.
While I’m certainly happy to spare a few minutes to help out fellow entrepreneurs, it seems like when the advice is free, it is never cherished or respected.
So is it better to waste your time dispensing free information that does NOT get properly utilized..
Or does it make more sense to charge a fee so YOU make a little profit for your time, AND
the information and thus benefit as well?
You decide.
