 If you keep creating free content, will people ever pay you for anything? Now that's a good question. And so I wanna talk in this video about what is the difference between free content versus paid content? How do we decide? There's a lot of things we can create that could either go into online courses, books, or it can be made for free on Facebook Live, YouTube, on medium.com and articles you write on your website. So what is the difference between free versus premium content? So first of all, I wanna say that I've changed my mind on this over the years. I used to believe that all content should be free. In fact, I've had a swing like this over the years. First, I used to believe that no content should be free or there should be very little free content. Everyone should pay for everything and there should only be teasers. And by the way, this is probably how you see some of the marketers out there. They really only give you the teasers and they make you pay for everything. So I used to have that model and my courses used to be $1,000, $2,000 per course. Yes, very expensive. But a lot of the people out there do this kind of thing. So over the years and 2013, 2014 when I had my spiritual breakthrough, I said everything should be free. All content should be free and you should only be charging for your time and your services. And I said, well, because if imagine, if everybody gave away all their content that humanity would progress faster and you would draw more of an audience and you would be more creative and all that good stuff. Some of that's still true. Humanity does progress faster with things like Wikipedia and free videos like this and articles that we are also grateful that we find for free. However, humanity and society also makes progress when teachers and authors have a livelihood. All right, let's think about this. Think about your favorite one or two of your favorite teachers or content creators, people who make videos or write articles that you're so grateful to find. Maybe you've read their book or maybe you've taken a course from them. Think about somebody who's content you really enjoy. Now, wouldn't you want them to have the time and energy to create more of the content that you love and to make their content even better so that it can help even more people? Wouldn't you want that for your teachers? Of course you would, right? Because if they didn't have an income from their content, what would they have to do? They would have to be in a job. Some of them would be serving tables or these days, I don't know, like delivering food or something like that, right? They would have to have a different job. Maybe they're being a corporate setting. So they wouldn't have those 40 hours a week or 20 hours a week or however many hours a week they do in the job. They wouldn't have that time to sit down and actually make more content for you, whether it's for your paid to make their free content and to make their free content even better and to make their paid content even better. So teachers and authors and creators deserve a livelihood. Of course, of course we all do. So that's why I encourage you to support small creators. I've written about that before because otherwise it's like any engagement you give to their content and anything you buy from them is like finding oasis in the desert for many of us. So teachers and authors deserve a livelihood. That's point number one. Point number two is that think about the time when you consume free content versus the energy you have when you've bought an online course and you're ready to do the work. I call this relaxed versus studious, right? Right now you're watching this video, it's free. It's on YouTube and it's on Facebook. And you're just, I know some of you I'm grateful are true fans and you actually show up and actually look for this and you look at this as a way of studying and that's wonderful. But most of the people watching this they're kind of scrolling through and oh, okay, I'll see what George has to say today and they're relaxing. Many of you are just relaxing and actually some of you have told me you watch my videos before you go to bed. If I put you to sleep and you're trying to sleep that's wonderful. If I put you to sleep when you're not trying to sleep that's probably not the best thing. So, you know, relaxed is how we consume free content, okay? Reading articles, oh, that's kind of interesting. Oh yeah, you know, I learned something, you know versus studious is when you like, okay I'm gonna invest that $100 or that $500 to join that online course. I'm gonna, you know, it's in a structured way. I'm gonna, other students have paid money and are serious about this. So let's do this together. Like that's really study and, you know, there's a resource document and there's, you know, more in-depth how-to tutorials about different things. That's when you really get serious and, you know, learn a subject in a step-by-step way. So that's one way of, another way of thinking about this is infotainment versus education versus transformation. So let me explain. Infotainment is free. That's what your free content should be. It should be put out there. Half as entertainment. Yes, you should really think about your free content. Half of it is really entertaining people. I know I don't tell as many jokes as I should. You know, I don't, you know, edit my videos so it's not as entertaining as other people's videos. I'm so grateful that you even watch me. That's why I try to talk faster. You know, I really have two modes and I would really be curious which of my two modes you appreciate. I could talk fast and be exciting and motivating and like, you really should go out there and make content and you really, so that's my motivational speaker mode which is authentic for me too because I actually do feel enjoyment from doing that. My other mode is the spiritual teacher mode where I'm gentle soul. I'm talking to you more gently with compassion and that's authentic to me too because that's also part of me. I have at least two parts. I have the motivational speaker part. I have the gentle soul spiritual teacher part. So I'm actually really curious which of my two modes of videos do you prefer? Some of you actually like the faster talking George motivation part. Some of you like the, some of you watch me before you go to bed. So you really prefer the gentle George soul speaking part. So I'm really curious which of these two. So that's what I mean. Your free content should be entertainment and you should pull your audience, which of the two and maybe they like a mixture of both. Sometimes they like this, sometimes they like that. Infotainment, okay? You're entertaining your audience with your authentic presence, whatever that means. Again, it doesn't have to be fast talking and fast moving. It doesn't have to be edited. It can be gentle and slow. That's entertainment in itself too. It's a different type of entertainment, right? So infotainment is entertainment that provides some educational value. Some, oh, I learned something interesting today, right? So that's infotainment. That's our free content. All right, the next one is education which is when you're ready to sit down and study step by step, here is the framework. Here is the template to use to change in this area of your life. Here is the formula, whatever it is, step by step. That's education and those are books and online courses. Those are paid. Infotainment's free. Books and online courses is education that's paid. And then there's third aspect of content which is transformation. And this is where those of you who provide one-to-one services or those of you who provide group coaching, this is where transformation comes in. People have taken your free content. They've enjoyed it. They've taken your online courses. They've learned something from it. Now they're ready to engage with you more in depth and that's transformation. So infotainment, education, transformation. Look and think about that for your own content. And the last thing I'll say is, I'll say two more things actually. Think about white belt content. I've talked about this before and I think it's important to bring in here as well. Have you ever been to a martial arts studio? And I want you to imagine one maybe, maybe like an Aikido studio. What you'll notice when you go to a martial arts studio is that there are black belts helping out the white belts. But the black belts, all right? The black belts themselves are also practicing along when the white belts are practicing the black belts are practicing too. They're practicing at a much more nuanced level. The white belts are just trying not to hurt themselves, learning how to punch, learning how to kick for the first time. They're just trying to get the form right. Or the black belts obviously know how to do this and do that but they're doing it much more. They know the history of the punch. They know the nuances and how you really get the power, how you really get the flexibility, how you stay calm and focused and not hurt yourself. The black belts know a lot but the white belts are just trying to get the basics down. So even the black belts appreciate white belt classes because they appreciate getting the basics again. They hear it at a nuanced level. Some of you are advanced marketers who are listening to me and you're getting this stuff at a deeper level than the people who are just learning how to start a business who hopefully will get something from this too. You see what I mean? So white belt content is the infotainment. That's the free stuff. I know white belt classes should be paid. Martial arts classes should be paid but yeah, there might be a free beginners for the public class that maybe they get something out of it. Public self-defense kind of thing. Anyway, white belt, think about your free content as like white belt classes and your paid content, the stuff that you teach step by step, more deep, deeper stuff is your blue belt, black belt, green belt type of stuff is paid courses. The last thing I wanna say is free is where you really emphasize the why and the what. And the paid where you charge people is the how, right? And the how, the how to, the what about this, the nuances, the pitfalls, that's in the paid stuff. The free stuff is the why and the what. Why do I believe this? Why is my philosophy important for the world? Why do I believe this versus that? And what is my overall philosophy? That can be free as well. Some of that's gonna be in the paid as well. But the overall very easy to consume, why and the what? Why tends to be motivating, entertaining? Here's why I believe this. Here's my rant. Here's something you haven't thought about why this is so important, okay? The what is like, oh, here's the overall idea, overall map for how you should get here from there. But if you want the how to, if you want the tools, the backpack, the guidance, the step by step, don't fall into this hole. That is in the paid stuff. So I hope this is helpful free versus paid content. I've got people doing work out there outside my windows is getting kind of noisy. I don't know if you can hear it, but I think I'll end the video now. I hope this is helpful. This has gone long enough for a free video, right? I wish you well. I'm George Kow, authentic business coach. I love talking about how to grow a business that's truly meaningful for you and for others and to do it from a place of authenticity and integrity. I wish you well and I'll see you in the next video. Take care.