Free vs. Paid Content: Am I Giving Away Too Much?

Welcome to Captivate and Close. I'm Kinsey Machos business consultant and marketing strategist. And I'm going to show you how to attract and enroll high paying clients using my break through online marketing strategies, all without having to rely on complicated funnels, disingenuous clickbait, or spammy sales tactics. These are the messaging marketing and selling secrets that virtually no one is talking about. So let's dive in.

Hey, you, welcome back to another episode of Captivate and Close. So good to be here with you, wherever and whenever you're plugging in. I want to talk to you today about something that comes up a lot in our audience and in our clientele, is this question of what do I give away for free? Versus what do I protect or save for paid clients? Now, this is super fun, because I have so much to say about this. And so I might get a little sassy or feisty here. But I want to preface this with the fact that this particular question creates so much drama in your content strategy. Okay. And even asking yourself the question, I think is really doing just you, as a business owner a huge disservice in spending time or energy worrying about this particular thing, okay, and so I'm going to be doing you a huge favor, and I'm going to, we're going to put this to bed, and so that you don't have to have any more drama around it. And you can actually put your energy and your time into something that is going to move the needle.

Now, one of the things that I will say is that there's a lot of I remember, and this is a no judgment zone, by the way, I remember asking this particular question when I was under six figures. And so I truly believe that if you are under, say, six figures, or even seven figures, like there really is no right or wrong way to do this. And it's really just making sure that you're not spending time here. Wasting, right, like really strategically thinking about what's free, what's paid. Now to set the stage. This is in this context, we're talking about right? What do I put in my free content that's going to give value to my audience, right, but this feeling of I don't want to give away too much. Because right, then they won't hire me. Right? What do I save for actually my pain programs, right, that they have to really come into, and experience right and invest in in order to experience. So again, this is a very valid question. And especially as you're getting going, it can feel like you don't have a lot to pull from for for creating valuable in a free experience, right free content on your social media. Maybe if you're creating a workshop or a webinar or a launch, versus like having enough to save for a client that actually becomes a client.

So I want you to first just check in with yourself and really think about how does that feel when you even ask yourself that right? Or even say yourself? Well, I want to make sure I save content or save trainings, right for clients that pay me. Right, I don't want to give away too much for free. I don't want to give away too much. Right? But I don't have enough to save for paid clients, those thoughts or those feelings just really just feel low vibrational for me, okay? And it's coming from a lack mindset, not having enough, right or worried that if you don't have something to save, then people won't hire you. So that's the first thing I really want you to check into is just even questioning that alone is going to create a different sort of energy around you that is going to again, be more in the lack mind, right in the lack mindset. And when what we know right where your attention goes, energy flows. So if you're always focusing on what you don't have, or right, like not giving away too much free like saving it, like protecting it, right? We know that we're just going to recreate those types of results.

So I really just want you to Even within the context of that question, notice how that is potentially hindering how you're showing up online. If you think you have to save everything for your clients, right, then your your free content, right isn't going to drive people closer to you. So you're not going to get clients, right. And if you also have the thought that you don't have enough to give both in a free content free experience and also a paid experience, then it's always going to feel like you're not enough, you don't have enough. And so that's going to manifest itself in either not enough clients, or right, despite dissatisfied clients, because you're going to be pulling from a space of right, I am not enough to deliver on the results. So just sort of like conceptually, really helping you anchor into how that thought and even focusing on this particular strategy is creating an energy around you that you may not desire? Well, I don't, I would almost guarantee that it's not what you want in your business. And that's not really how you want to be showing up online. Now, there are a lot of, again, schools of thought around this particular question. And I remember asking my mentors this question, how do you write, decipher what's free? What's paid? You know, etc, etc. And I can tell you, you know, you're free experience is the why, in the what, right, that people are paying you for the how that really is the most tactical level question.

I remember hearing it that way, when I was under six figures, and that did resonate with me, sort of, but then what happened was, every time I would sit down, right to create a free experience, or to write my free content, I would constantly guess like I was the constant over analyzing it of is this the how Right? Or is this the one way, and so instead of creating my best work, right, and giving value in a piece of content, my brain was focused on, again, the lack, right? Like really making sure that I'm saving the how. And so instead of creating my best work, I was more focused on the tactical level. Why, what how, now, now that I'm in a different season of business, it's a little bit easier for me to really sit down and create content, or it's more about the why and the what, and less about the how, but that's only because I've been able to create the space in my business. And also experiment with my voice and my content to allow myself to go deeper with my ideas, my messaging with my clients. And not focusing on right, the why, what, how, but just showing up in over delivery. The truth is, the more value that you bring to the market, whether that's free or paid, the more value you're going to get in return. And sometimes it doesn't always feel like it right. When you put out free content, you don't know what's happening on happening on the other side of that. But I also want you to kind of imagine every time you help somebody, every time somebody thinks feels or does something differently as a result of your free experiencing, you're you're like getting paid, and that momentum builds. But you're not able to create that type of experiences in your free content, if you're focusing on the tactical level of why, what how. And you do yourself a disservice because you don't get to explore and experiment with how you think how you feel, right? How you do and how that translates with the people that you actually want to reach. And so I want you instead of focusing on like what's free, what's paid, I want you to access a deeper part of you, that's just here to deliver. You're just gonna show up and deliver, I want you to imagine that the the people on the other side of your free content are just creating massive results. What does that look like? Because to be honest, you guys, if people walk away from your content with zero transformation, we will you will never be able to gain them as a client. And I think a lot of that is happening because people think they need to save their best stuff for their paid programs. And so they're just sort of, they're sort of like showing up halfway in their content, but people are gonna look right past that.

The other thing I want you to consider is that you have infinite amount of ideas. You have such a deeper part of you that you haven't even explored yet because As you haven't allowed yourself to go there. What's fascinating is people think that again, I only have a certain number of ideas, I only have a certain number of concepts. I only have a certain number of trainings to offer, right. And so they, they kind of allow themselves to stay in that space of finite options. Right, it's sort of like I only have this amount of pennies in my piggy bank. And the more that I take out, right, the less that I have to give. And what that does is it leads you to believe that you don't have the capability to access more. And when you believe that you have all the ways to show up all the ideas, all the different ways you could talk to your ideal client, all the different ways you can demonstrate your offer all the different methods and ways to help your people, you will find it you have so much there. It's like breaking that piggy bank, in accessing your brain in your heart in such a massive way. By when you have this sort of lack focus of like I only have a certain amount to give. And I don't want to give too much in my free because then that takes away from my paid, it creates, again, that finite jar that you're accessing, and you cap yourself on creativity. And so when you think about what's paid, what's free, what if your free content was so good people couldn't not say no to you? And what if you over deliver in your free content, that it opens you up? Right to create bigger experiences for your paid clients? I want you to ask yourself those questions instead of well, what should I save for paid? What should I What should I? How should I show up in my free content, I want you to like show up as your full full self show up in your full brilliance for your audience so they can see what's there. Because saving it only gives you you kept yourself right in your free content. But your free content is the thing that helps people determine will they take next steps with you or not. And when you start building that muscle around creativity, and really learning what creates that transformative experience in your content, you'll start to really fine tune okay, what should I really save for not saved, but what what really it what is more appropriate for a paid client or a paid experience, versus really how to lead with that front end messaging of creating and hitting those thoughts and feelings. Because when people walk away, thinking or feeling something differently, that is where we start to get them closer to us. But right now I just want you to explore, I want you to explore your voice, I want you to explore your ideas, right and of course with with your dream client in mind, and what you show up as your full self, I really want you to know that you have so much to access, but you're not allowing yourself to go there. Because you're focused on lack. You have infinite amount of ideas, you have an infinite amount of creativity, just have to be willing to access it and ask yourself the right questions. And to be honest, you guys, most people, even if you think of free versus paid, a lot of people invest in other coaches or mentors, right or buy from you just to get closer to you just to get that private mentorship or that group mentorship or even just to be in your ecosystem. It's not always just about the content or the training they get. Right, it's a lot about that proximity, right, they love you so much. They just want to get in to your sphere. So just kind of like throw out all the rules at this point. And allow yourself to go deeper in your message deeper with your ideal client deeper in your ideas and show up as your full self in your free content. That will you cannot lose my friends who cannot lose with that strategy.

So I hope this really resonated with you today and it really really encourages you to show up in your full brilliance online so that people can see whole that you have to offer.