What should you give away for free?

One of the questions that I'm often asked is should I give away information for free and if so, how much should I give away?

For years now, I have been giving away free information, but I remember being told by a Business Consultant about 3 years into the business that I gave away too much for free and I should scale back. So, promptly following his advice that's what I did - but what I found is that this didn't work for me. I found that in my business, giving away things for free enabled me to establish my expertise and make people aware of me, so I went back to doing that and I've taken this approach every since.

What I did scale back on though was how MUCH I gave away for free. Prior to my conversation with the Business Consultant, I used to give away most of my knowledge and now I have put some boundaries in place so that I know in my own mind what I'm happy to give away for free and what's not ok. When I meet someone who asks for some advice, I'll happily give away my time and information up to my boundary, but no more.

In terms of what you can give away for free, you could give away samples, free information (in the form of an e-book or a tips sheet), your time, a free audio recording (podcast) and so on. I would advise though sitting down and deciding in your own mind what you're ok to give away free and what you're not - then put this into practice and don't give away for free anything you're not comfortable with.

Then when you do decide to give something away for free, do so and don't begrudge it - just be happy that you've helped someone else out.