If you’re trying to grow a business and earn some income, it might feel hard to keep giving away your time for free, and you wonder how much is enough or too much?
Giving is actually the main thing you gotta do to grow. It’s important throughout your time in business.
Most business advice says to avoid giving away too much time for free. I see people resisting or confused about giving away more free time, perhaps out of fear of cheapening their services, or doing it wrong.
However, for service providers especially, like coaches and consultants, I believe you actually want more time connecting with people, so it’s actually a gift to yourself to do all those free connections. By that I mean connections with people you enjoy or might enjoy connecting with.
Stop worrying about “giving away your time.” Enjoy these valuable connections.
Generosity is the best marketing method there is. (Within limits)
Where’s the line?
In the beginning with my business, I kept thinking I was giving away too much, but it soon became clear that it was actually helping me grow my business and I kept going.
I could feel it crossed a line after someone I didn’t know well wanted to “pick my brain” (ugh) one more time. I learned how to graciously bow out when my body said no. Those moments have been rare.
I’ll describe some useful ways to be generous, and when it doesn’t make sense.
Recommended: Offering Gift Sessions
One of the best ways to grow a service-based business, like a coaching or consulting business, is to offer one-to-one gift sessions. Both in the beginning of your business, and any time you want to try out or grow a new service. Why:
- More people will understand your services and how it feels. It grows trust, which means they’ll be more enthusiastic about spreading the word, as well as perhaps enrolling themselves.
- You also benefit from getting to be in service, which is what you’re ultimately craving.
- You’re getting more practice, which helps you refine how you do things and helps you understand the people you’re most able to help.
- It’s also just good energy to be generous. Feels good to you and others.
It’s a win-win for sure. Enjoy it!
Making gift sessions work best:
- Offer sessions to people you don’t know well, or to light connections. Not family or close friends, but do ask them to share the option with others.
- Narrow your gift sessions to those who meet the criteria of who you are best able to help, as far as you know so far.
- Treat the session like the real thing, using all the usual systems, such as calendar reminders or prep forms.
- Send a follow-up check-in asking how it’s going, any questions, any feedback. Feedback can be a great way to help hone the offer and/or your description of what you do. I’m not saying to ask for a testimonial, but genuine feedback is useful.
- Don’t make it a sales call, but it’s OK to say at the end if you would welcome having them as a client or referral partner, and that you’d be happy to answer questions about that.
Recommended: Spacious Free Initial Calls
Even if you don’t do gift sessions, I suggest at least offer free initial calls that are spacious. These are for seeing if there’s a fit.
I see so many coaches or consultants offering only a 15-minute call before someone is to decide about working with you, even for a significant investment. That seems rushed, for both of you. Especially for introverts and highly sensitive people (HSPs). We hate feeling rushed.
Because I’m a coach and the fit really matters, I offer 45 minute calls and it gives us both breathing room and a chance to get acquainted. It feels right to me, and people express appreciation for the time. Your business needs might be different. This is just what I find for my work.
Why rush the connection and trust building process? Do you really want to rush this connection for them or for you?
When you rush, you might end up with a bad fit situation that is draining for your limited energy, and you could end up with an unhappy client. The cost of rushing can be high.
More Ways to Grow by Giving
Here are two other ideas for how you might spend a little time being generous and it helps your visibility and trust building, and adds more good will overall.
Send Gift Cards to Friends to Share
Cool idea for more business visibility: Send or mail a few gift session vouchers to a few people so they could share with someone they care about. You could have fun creating a little PDF voucher or a card to mail to them.
Could be a fun thing for holidays, or on your birthday, or some other reason to celebrate like supporting people doing good in the world.
Give Genuine 5-star Reviews to Colleagues
When you know and trust someone and their services, take a few minutes to write up a positive review for them, especially on Google and/or LinkedIn where it can really help their visibility. I wouldn’t ask for anything in return. They’ll be notified so they will be sure to receive the gift.
It’s just one more example of giving as a way of deepening connections in ways that are helpful to everyone, including you.
Too much or just right amount of free time?
Finding your line is more art than science. And by art I mean, staying tuned to your body’s signals which will tell you when your boundaries feel crossed. Here are some examples to give you a feel of what I have found:
Free time that IS useful:
- A spacious free initial call to see if there’s a fit.
- An interactive free intro group call about an upcoming group program.
- Gift sessions (1:1) for people who seem like ideal clients or referrers.
- Free class or gathering relevant to your work.
- A few free spots in a large group program that is normally paid.
- Occasional free 1:1 spot when it just feels so right to both parties and both are 100% in and it feels like a win-win. For instance, if you have a particular cause or community that’s close to your heart, you might limit your free spots for that.
Free time that’s NOT useful:
- Continual free 1:1 sessions for one person without a clear discussion and sense that both parties are invested.
- Someone says they can’t afford it and you immediately switch to no-charge without any discussion.
- You’re giving away free time because you don’t feel comfortable charging money for your services, then not earning enough to sustain yourself and your work.
- A free call is going on long past the set time and you can feel something is off. It’s OK to find an exit.
Think about where you might want to do a little more, and where you might need to do a little less. I find it’s usually more free time that’s needed if you want to grow your business.
Bottom Line
- Giving away time is a great way to enjoy connections, become a go-to resource, and have an authentic business based on people actually knowing you.
- If you’re giving away time because you’re afraid to charge money, or because you say yes when you want to say no, that needs addressing, ideally with support.
If you want to stay in touch with my other ideas for how introverts and HSPs actually grow their businesses, from the heart, you might like my Self-employment INsights newsletter.
