In our latest chat, we tackled the hot topic of pro bono work and the layers of decision-making that it entails for us, the business mavens. Speaking from personal experience, navigating the crossroads of opportunity and strategic growth is no small feat. A piece of wisdom that struck a chord with me was the conversation around thought leadership. Sure, being seen as a go-to expert is fabulous, but what’s it doing for your bottom line? This question is a wake-up call, especially when we’re all too eager to beef up our expertise and clout but may overlook the direct influence on our revenue.
So, let’s unpack this. After tuning in, mull over these three pivotal steps:
1. Reflect on Your Motives for Gratis Work: Pause and ponder why you’re considering unpaid projects. Are these reasons truly in sync with your business objectives, or are they just following the crowd?
2. Max Out Your Current Network: Before you cast your net wider, have you fully tapped into your existing circle? Engaging with those you already know is crucial before branching out.
3. Craft a Concrete Game Plan: Viewing a free gig as a ladder? Make sure you have a clear strategy to leverage it fully. Outline actionable steps to turn this freebie into a strategic win for your enterprise.
Decision-making in business means stepping up to the plate. If you need a hand piecing together these puzzles, we’re here for you. Our virtual VIP days are custom-made to empower you with strategies and informed choices for your journey.
Dive into the complete episode transcript for all the nitty-gritty details and invaluable insights. And if your social media game could use a boost, book a chat with me at bit.ly/TalkWithTamay. Let’s set the stage for your growth.
For the full transcript of this episode and more valuable insights, check out the full podcast.
Keep growing
Here’s the full transcript of the episode:
Tamay Shannon [00:00:00]:
Hello. Hello, everyone. So guess what? The big game just happened. Right? The Super Bowl. And everybody has lessons that you could learn from it as a business owner. It could be the Usher halftime show. It could be about Taylor Swift. It could be about, Yeezy having a commercial and how much money is made.
Tamay Shannon [00:00:19]:
But there’s been a lot of here’s how you can be a better business owner based on these lessons from these people. Right? And so I want to actually dive into a particular lesson. I’ve seen a lot about Usher doing the halftime show for free and how he’s gonna make money off of that. Now first things first, and I got notes. I have notes. First things first, my name is Tamay Shan, and I am the founder of W2S marketing, where to start marketing, and I specialize in social media organic social media for small businesses. Alright. 1st things first, as the sun streams into my face.
Tamay Shannon [00:01:00]:
One of the hardest things in business is understanding your next step because let’s be honest, the truth is there’s a lot of correct next steps. But which one is the right one for you? And that’s where being a business owner gets really difficult because there are a lot of ways you can go. There’s and there’s a lot of right ways you can go, but what is the right way for you at this point in time with where you’re at and what you can commit to? That is the business owner dilemma. Right? No matter how big you get, how small you are, that is always something you have to contend with. And so people have been sharing about how Usher doing this free halftime show, how he’s going to turn it into or already has turned into 1,000,000 of dollars. And there are a lot of lessons you can take from that, and those are absolutely valid. What I wanna attend to, what I wanna look at is how whether you should take on free work. So what does it look like for you? The things to consider.
Tamay Shannon [00:02:11]:
This could be, free portfolio builders. This could be free speaking engagements, but there are things to consider whether free is right for you at any point in time and free doing free work is not tied to the revenue that you make in your business. Right? It’s not tied to, oh, well, I’m at a low revenue point so I need to do this free work to get more revenue. No. Doing free work is more of a strategic move and so you’ve gotta make sure your choices are strategic. So first things first. So when you’re thinking about free work, you wanna consider, who is you and what is you doing. Right? Like, where are you at in business? What can you commit to? And how do you make sure that it returns dividends for you by taking this action, by putting out this returns dividends for you by taking this action, by putting out this effort, by sharing your genius.
Tamay Shannon [00:03:07]:
So I’m gonna address the reasons why people do things for free and questions and considerations you should ask yourself before you do things for free. So the first thing is brand awareness. That’s the big one. People are always like, brand awareness. If you do this thing, people will know your name. And you gotta look at 1, do you need brand awareness? You and you might not. You’ve gotta look at if you think you need brand awareness, I want you to look at first, are you actually converting the people who are already aware of your brand? Second, the people who are already aware of your brand, are they the right people? Because if you’re gonna do brand awareness for more of the not right people, then why are we here? That doesn’t make sense. So you wanna look at that as far as brand awareness and if it’s effective for you or not.
Tamay Shannon [00:04:04]:
So there’s that. The second thing that people say do this for free is thought leadership. Right? You get to establish yourself as an expert. You get to establish yourself as a leader. People are gonna look towards you. It’s gonna be amazing. And what I have to say is that is cool. That is correct.
Tamay Shannon [00:04:21]:
That is super. Where’s your revenue at? Right? Because thought leadership is wonderful. It absolutely adds to the bottom line. But if you’re in a I’ve gotta eat today mode, if you’re in a, nope, I’ve gotta meet, you know, I’ve gotta raise this certain amount of money in this amount of time and it’s gotta be quick, then what I would suggest is going to the people who already know you. Hitting up your LinkedIn connections, having conversations with past clients, having conversations with people who said maybe, not now, later, no. Right? So that is where I would say if you’re looking at thought leadership as a way to do something for free, first consider where your revenue is at and if that’s something that works for you or if it doesn’t. 3rd thing that people say, this is why you should do this for free. They say networking.
Tamay Shannon [00:05:12]:
This is gonna be wonderful. Networking, you’ll get to meet people. It’s gonna be wonderful. Expand your network. All of that stuff. Valid. My question that you say that I say you should ask yourself is, have you already leveraged the current network you have now? Have you talked to them lately? Have you had a 15 minute coffee chat lately? Have you slid into their DMs? Have you messaged them on social? Have you interacted and engaged with them? If you’re actually not actively leveraging the network you have now, what’s the point of expanding it? Networks aren’t meant to be collected. This is not Pokemon, y’all.
Tamay Shannon [00:05:53]:
They are meant to be used. They’re meant to be engaged with. They’re like a car. If you let a car sit, it’s useless to you. You have to drive it. You have to use it. It has to go somewhere. Networks are the same.
Tamay Shannon [00:06:06]:
Expanding your network without a plan to engage your network is only gonna waste your time. So those are considerations for your network. So the next thing is testing new material. So you might wanna do something for free because you’re like, oh, I get to test this new speech, this new material, this new formula, this new way of doing things. That is absolutely a wonderful reason why to do something free. What you should ask yourself, the things you should say is, again, I want you to check on these revenue levels Because if you are throwing out new things in order to quickly raise your revenue level, I’m a say go back to the oldies and goodies that convert. Go back to those things that are reliable for you. Double down on those.
Tamay Shannon [00:06:55]:
Go hard on those because people know those. You know how to deliver it. It’s quick and it’s easy. If you’re looking to have your revenue increase quickly, double down on what you do well. So the 5th, 4th, I forgot where I’m at in numbers, but the next reason why people say, yes. I’m definitely gonna do this thing for free is they want to get in the room. They want to say they wanna be next to people. They wanna be like, I need to meet this person.
Tamay Shannon [00:07:23]:
I wanna talk to this person, and that is 2000% a valid, wonderful, and amazing way to expand your network of people you might not normally get a chance to talk to. Now when you’re looking at getting in the room, if you don’t have a plan to activate the room, then don’t get in the room. Don’t be in the room. It’s like being like, oh, I’m hungry. Let me go to the grocery store and just stand in Kroger. You standing in Kroger doesn’t take away the hunger. Right? If you’re still hungry, you can stand next to the food all you want. You’re still gonna be hungry.
Tamay Shannon [00:08:06]:
You have to have a plan to get the food in your body. So it’s the same way with getting, getting in the room. You can be standing next to the right people, and it’s not gonna magically transfer all the things you want. You have to have a plan to figure out how to engage with them, how to follow-up with them, how to set up meetings, that that’s the piece about getting in the room that’s important. If you just get in the room and just stand there, that’s not gonna do anything for you. So if you’re doing things for free to get in the room, but you don’t have a plan to activate the room, stay home. You can you can get in your own room. That’s that’s is gonna be just as effective if you don’t have a plan to engage and follow-up with people.
Tamay Shannon [00:08:51]:
So there’s that. Another reason why people love to do things for free is personal growth, expanding yourself. Right? In in doing taking on a new skill set, learning something new, learning something new about yourself, getting through a personal hurdle, totally get it. Business ownership is, you know, half about being a business owner and the other half is dealing with all your limiting beliefs, so taking on something free as a way to achieve, get through, and deal with personal growth is legitimate. But I want you to consider, and this is again, it goes back to, are you gonna have a plan to actually have this be a growth opportunity. So instead of you just being like, oh, I’m a do something I’m scared to do and then it ends there, what is your plan to actually really have these lessons sink in and become a new way of you doing business versus you just visiting and then retreating and visiting and then retreating, visiting and then retreating? No. What is a way where you can really take on these lessons and fundamentally change how you do things? So if you’re gonna do something for personal growth and development, legitimate reason, but how are you gonna make sure that it sticks so you’re not always back and forth, back and forth, back and forth? So another reason why people this is a big reason, especially if you got a big heart. Reason why people say they do things for free is they wanna help people.
Tamay Shannon [00:10:22]:
All I gotta say is you gotta put on your mask first. You can’t help nobody if your mask is not on first. So if you are in a situation where you wanna help people and your mask isn’t on, it’s not going to work out. You’ve gotta put your mask on first. You have to. You have to. You have to. Cool? Alright.
Tamay Shannon [00:10:41]:
And then there’s another one. Stepping stones. So people say, okay. If I do this for free, this will allow me to get to the next step, whether that’s in the skill set, whether that’s a type of contractor taking on, that this is the next step for me. And while that may be true, it goes with you’re gonna start to notice a thing just a little bit. But what it is, it’s it’s a plan. So you’ve gotta have a plan and a solid plan. Let’s see.
Tamay Shannon [00:11:10]:
What what do my notes say? So you wanna have a solid plan to turn this stepping stone into something that you can control versus something that happens to you. Right? So what that looks like as an example is, let’s say, you wanna get in the room as a stepping stone to this next level. Well, if you’re just hoping that once you move yourself into a spot that things will happen to you, that is not taking a plan. What can you actively do? What can you actively control that will make this stepping stone a true stepping stone that will make it actually the next step to where you wanna be? What are the active things that you can do? So that’s what you wanna look at when planning and looking at freebie as a stepping stone. You wanna look at, okay, what actions can I take to turn this freebie into a thing that actually works for me? And not just I hope that when I show up, people will see my genius and they will give me $1,000,000. I used to have those dreams. Hasn’t come true yet. Right? Alright.
Tamay Shannon [00:12:19]:
So those are the reasons why people do things for free. Those are the considerations that you have to look at when you’re considering what would to do things for free because it’s not that doing something for free is a bad thing. It’s not. You saw Usher did a free halftime show. He’s going to rake in the money, but it doesn’t mean it’s appropriate for you right where you are with what you’re dealing with. So you just wanna consider when you’re looking in all of these different ways to do business. At the end of the day, the way to do business is the way that’s best for you. And that is something you discover out of taking action in your business.
Tamay Shannon [00:13:00]:
So if you need help, really looking at stepping stones and doing things for free and navigating marketing and your business, I’ve got the virtual VIP day. We’re gonna have conversations just like this just to make sure that the next step that you take is right for you, that the next step that you take is appropriate for you. So that is a virtual VIP day. I’ll drop the link in the comments, but let me know about the next thing that you’re gonna do for free and how you’re gonna make sure it’s actually gonna add to your business and not just be like, oh, I did this thing because I like people. I wanna help people. No. We’re not gonna do that no more because we’ve gotta make sure that we have our mask on first before we help the world. So drop those in the comments.
Tamay Shannon [00:13:48]:
I will talk to y’all later.