Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

You Want Everything For Free? Beware!

January 22, 2009 | Advice, Feature

No doubt you have heard the statement “It takes money to make money.”. We know, intuitively, that this is true. Yet, we find ourselves searching high and low for free information on the Internet, sometimes going really out of our way not to spend any money. Speaking from experience, though, let me give you something to think about….

free-1 First of all, I am not writing this post with any hidden motivations. I’m not lubing you up for a money grab down the road. :) Yes, I have some things in store, but I’ll be very overt when I have something to offer and you can make that decision at the time.

No, this post was inspired by dealing with a lot of people in my time who have told me they won’t pay for information when there is so much available out there for free. And this is true – there is a lot of information available for free. A lot of good stuff, too. Just look at all that I put out for you guys every week for free. And look at ProBlogger, who has a constant stream of great stuff.

So, reading our blogs, you might think you’ve got everything. Then, when paid info products come along, you may think you don’t need it. You may think that you can find the info elsewhere. You may think that, since you’re not making any money yet that you shouldn’t pay for anything.

Sound familiar? Probably, because I used to be one of those people, too. Even when I was already making money online, I would avoid anything I had to pay for. But, you know what I realized?

It was a mistake.

Simply put: the most successful people in internet business consume a LOT of information products written by others. And trust me, we paid for it. I have spent many thousands of dollars learning my craft. Ultimately, I am self-taught. But, why would I slave to rediscover fire when I can just buy somebody else’s lighter?

That’s really what it comes down to: TIME.

I don’t want to re-invent the wheel. I don’t want to spend time gradually working my way to the right strategies when I could invest a little money into learning those strategies right from the beginning. Not only that, but other people have different approaches to business and I can learn from those viewpoints, too.

The other issue with free content on the Internet is that, while good stuff many of the times, it is spread out. This means that it takes a lot of searching and surfing the net to find the information you need. You probably don’t even have a workable blueprint to begin with, so you are basically a feather in the wind.

And herein lies the reason why so many people end up spinning their wheels for years in the business, always “learning”, but never actually taking concerted action and making any money. They are on a constant search for the magic bullet. They are looking for some automatic money machine that they just flip a switch and in comes a wave of money to the bank account.

That crap doesn’t exist! I’m telling you, guys, this is business. A REAL business. One where work is required.

So, if you are one of those people who go out of your way to not spend any money on information products, I encourage you to re-think your standing. The value of any info product lies not only in the information it contains, but the fact that that information is laid out in a followable format. It saves time. And it leads to results.

Most people who are now making money online barely blink at the thought of spending a few hundred dollars on a solid info product from an authority in our market. It isn’t because we’re able to afford it. On the contrary, it is because we are the ones who likely realized the hard way that we should have done it a long time ago and success would have come sooner.

Something to think about.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

  1. Beware of Free Speech Infringement [Soapbox Talk]
  2. Free Versus Paid? When Do You Charge?
  3. The Power of Saying NO
  4. Never Underestimate The Value of Free
  5. Pro Bloggers: Beware!

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  • Carol Linneken
    Overwhelmed is exactly what I am feeling. Recently, I've started looking into blogging and other avenues to make money using the internet. A marketing program seems to be a good place to start but which programs are best. That is my dilemma. There are many to choose from and some sound better than others. Oh, and prices vary a lot.
  • every business needs investment, we just need to make that investment to be useful and can bring better benefit.
  • I want to make money online by blogging. Right now, I want to use the free information online to make me money. Then I will use the money to invest in my knowledge to make more money.
  • That is a really good and justified argument to invest money
    in something that gets you more money eventually.But all those newbies like me don't know whether they are going to make it or not one day.Most start with little experience and
    technical know how.......And get overwhelmed with all the free information available online.I know because I do get overwhelmed.But once you have gone through them it is time to get focused and spend a little money to learn from the expert who has already walked the route we are fumbling around.And yes it saves a lot of time.This is why it justifies the expense.But the book or the course we buy is not going to do any thing unless we take one baby step at time to implement what we read.This is why a lot of us fail even after spending a fortune on "how to" products.
  • Truth
  • That's a powerful argument, and I have to admit to being in the "why pay for it" camp until I read it. But the reality is I've been buying books and paying for courses all my life, so what's the difference? I'm going to bit the bullet and search out some quality time saving advice, and hope it puts me on the fast track.
  • I spent my first few years online being so miserly, I'm embarrassed by it as I look back. Then, I read a quote that changed my life - literally.

    The quote was, "You can always make more money. You can't make more time."

    For some reason, that changed everything for me. I don't think it's a coincidence that when I started to spend money, investing it in education - I started to make money.
  • Thanks for the information David. I used to shy away from spending money, then bit the bullet and bought Blogging to the Bank - I have since purchased several other products and each one has taught me more and more. Stuff that I hadn't come across whilst looking on the net, and as you said, it is all laid out nicely for you.

    Thanks again for the tips and advice.
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