The True Cost of Free Content: What Creators and Consumers Owe Each Other

You know you need something, you're just not sure what. You've been listening, you're doing the work, but there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place, like you're waiting for the thing that finally moves you. Now maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back, the timing, the money, or you're just not sure you're ready yet. I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you. I built a resource for exactly this moment, guided meditations for when the waves hit and you just need to breathe. Workbooks to help you get out of your head and onto the page, ebooks on what near-death experiences tell us about the people we've lost, and whether they're really gone, a full course for widows and widowers who are ready to find their way back to living, and a full course for the evidence of the afterlife. And all of it is available for pay what you want. Nobody gets turned away because of money. I think these resources are valuable, but I don't want to hold them back because you don't have the money to pay for them. You don't have to wait until you're ready for coaching. The next step might be a lot smaller than you think. To find out, go to grief2growth.com/store. That's grief, the numeral 2, growth.com/store. And check out the resources I've made for you.

Hi there, welcome to Grief 2 Growth Podcast. Your host is Brian D Smith, spiritual seeker, bestselling author, grief survivor, and life coach. Brian believes that the worst tragedies of life provide the greatest opportunity for growth. Brian says he was planted, not buried, and he is here to help you grow where you've been planted by the difficulties in life. In each episode, Brian and his guests will share what has helped them to survive and thrive. It is his sincere hope this episode helps you today.

Hey there. Today I want to talk to you about the care and feeding of content creators. Now you may be asking yourself, What's a content creator and why should I care about how they're fed or cared for? Well, content creator is anyone who produces a podcast, writes a blog, creates YouTube videos, writes books, etc. And if you're not a content creator, you are a content consumer. You're listening to this content right now. This is content that I put out for you, and this is for you too. This is for both content creators and consumers. Now we live in a time of abundance when it comes to information that we can consume. We live in a time where everything you want to know is at your fingertips. Most of it's offered free of charge. Being able to upload a video from your phone to YouTube, the ease of creating a website, self-publishing of books has made it possible for anyone to become a content creator, to take our ideas and to share them with the world. Yet, not all content creators are created equal. This can create tension between content consumers and creators. And again, this is for both. If you're a consumer, I'm going to tell you how you can support your favorite content creator. If you're a creator, I will tell you how to help your audience help you. And make sure you stay to the end because in this case, I'm saving the best for last. Now, on one extreme, you have content creators with sponsors or who have paid advertising or they work for a company. Those people are provided for financially by their sponsors or by their employers. On the other end of the spectrum, some people blog just for fun. Some people might drop a YouTube video every once in a while for friends and family. People have Instagram accounts just for social reasons. But in the very, very broad middle, you have content creators who do it for a passion, similar to the people who do it just for fun. However, they would like to create more content, spend more time creating content, but they have day jobs. Therefore, they've got to find a way to monetize their content. And the word monetize should be a 4-letter word. Nobody likes it. Consumers don't like feeling like they're being manipulated into spending money. They don't like watching advertisements. And content creators don't want to feel like they're constantly selling or begging for support. Creators can actually end up resenting their audiences who they feel just take and take and take, or they may feel no one's even listening because they aren't getting any feedback. I'm going to let you in on a secret. No content creator is creating content for free. Some sort of exchange is expected. I would say it's even needed. It doesn't have to be monetary. Often it's not. Several years ago, my daughter Shayna asked me if she could make a blog. She knew that I blogged and she knew I loved it and she had a passion for writing. So I set up a blog for her. A few weeks later, she asked me to shut it down. I asked her why. Well, the reason was there was no interaction, there was no exchange. She was pouring her energy into her blog and not getting anything in exchange for it. So she shut it down. Now recently, I listened to a podcast that told content creators that we need to tell our audiences how they can help us. Many, if not most content creators are hesitant to accept ads, to ask for money, or to ask listeners to support them in any, any way. Yes, some viewers don't care about supporting the creators, but many do, and they want to provide that support and they don't know how to do it. I'll give you a recent example of this. I recently found out how I can make it easier for my listeners to review my podcast. So I made a post on Facebook and I told people exactly how to make a review of my podcast. And it was a wee— an easy way to do it. Now, the interesting thing is one of my longest supporters, someone who listens to all my podcasts, she's actually a client of mine for my coaching business, said, this is a great idea. I never thought of leaving you a review. And it made me realize that it was my fault that I had never told people how important it was to make leave reviews for me, or how to do it. So that's on me. So let's talk about ways that you can support content creators and ways content creators can help you support them. So the first thing I'm going to talk about is financial contributions. Now, nobody likes paying out money for content, but this is the most obvious way to support a content creator. Now, I realize our society has become accustomed to information being free. Television, radios are supported by commercials, but they still kind of consider it free as far as broadcast TV goes. The internet has what's an almost infinite amount of information for free, and who among us has not clicked on an article hit a paywall and search for a free version of the article. I know I have. I don't want to pay for articles. We don't want to pay for podcasts. We don't want to pay to watch a YouTube video. But we complain when YouTube forces us to watch ads. Now, as a content consumer, consider making small financial contributions to your favorite creators. This doesn't have to be for every podcast you ever listen to, of course. And it doesn't have to be large amounts of money. It doesn't have to be ongoing. It could be one time. For many content creators, it's not even the amount that counts. Let me repeat that. It's not so much the amount that counts. It's just the fact that you take the time and you feel it's worth it to make a contribution. That's what really lights us up. Now, creators, make it easy for your consumers to send money to you. There's nothing wrong with asking for money. You're spending your time creating content. You have to eat, you have expenses. I'm on my third microphone for my podcast, there are hosting fees, etc. Podcasting isn't free. So I recently set up a tip jar that I'm promoting in my emails and my YouTube videos going forward. It's an easy way for an audience member to contribute one time in a small or large amount as they want. So I've included that link in a button at the footer of my webpage, and I call it Buy Me a Coffee. So it's a very easy way to do it. It's at the bottom of every page of my website, and I'm including it in all my emails that go out now. You might also want to consider a premium service like Patreon. And this is for supporters who want to feel like they're really part of what you're doing. You can provide exclusive content for people that support your show in this way. They're called patrons. Now I do post exclusive content for the, for my patrons monthly. They are charged monthly until they cancel. But I'll tell you this, creators, don't get your hopes really high on Patreon. Don't think you're going to make a living on it. A few people do, but not many. The vast majority of your audience will not be interested in supporting you in this way, but make it available for those who are. Just to give you an example, for me, I've been doing Patreon for about 2 years. I think I have about 20 sponsors. I bring in a little bit over $100 a month. Every little bit helps, but it's a way to get people really involved in your show or what you're putting out. Now let's talk about non-financial support. This is something everybody can do. You might say, I can't afford to pay for podcasts or for YouTube videos. But what about non-financial support? While you're watching that YouTube video, take a few extra seconds. It's not even extra time, do it while you're watching it and hit the like or the thumbs up. Now, in addition to the thrill you'll give to the content creator, because we love seeing those likes, liking a video helps in tangible ways as well. YouTube recommends videos that people like. So just liking the video in your head isn't enough. Watching the video and saying, this is great, hit that button. That helps the creator reach a wider audience. Make sure that you subscribe to your favorite YouTube channels and your podcasts. And once you subscribe, you have to hit the bell on YouTube to get notifications when new content is there. So remember, like the video, subscribe to the channel, and hit notify. Now, on the other side, that was about YouTube. On the other side, looking at reviews, reviews are the lifeblood of podcasts. Getting reviews on podcasts is one of the most difficult things that content creators have to try to do. I have about 85,000 downloads of my podcast. And as of a couple of weeks ago, I had fewer than 40 reviews on Apple Podcasts. If you listen to more than a few episodes of a podcast, please take the time to write a review. Just as important as liking and subscribing is sharing your favorite podcasts and YouTube channels with your circle of friends. We all take something much more seriously when it comes from a trusted source like a friend. Creators can spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on advertising, but the best and most effective advertising is when one listener tells another potential listener, check this out, I like this guy, check him out. So that's a way you can support somebody without even any financial aspect at all. Now, for creators, I encourage you to have a prompt somewhere in your video or your podcast telling people how to like and subscribe. I encourage you to include this at the beginning, as I said, or in the middle. Uh, don't put it at the end because at the end people are probably going to tune it out. Now, I recently purchased a service called Rate This Podcast. It provides an easy and memorable link for listeners to rate my podcast. Apple doesn't provide you with a deep link to get consumers to this point easily, and it's kind of difficult, frankly, to rate an Apple podcast. But Rate This Podcast provides you with that. Include this link in every email you send out and on your social media pages. Now mine is ratethispodcast.com/grief2growth. So it's ratethispodcast.com/grief, the number 2, growth, just like my website. And going back to the tip jar thing I mentioned earlier, I want to let you know what I'm doing with for tip jars, I'm using a service called ConvertKit. Which I use for my email. And with ConvertKit, I could set up a tip jar. It's a page that people can go to, and they can donate through that page. So that's how I do tip jar. There are other ways to do it as well. Now, remember at the beginning when I said I was saving the best for last? Well, this is it. When Shayna started that blog, she gave up because she didn't feel as if anyone was listening, or she was having any impact. Now, most of us content creators are not doing this to get rich. We might want to have some financial income from it, but we know we're not going to get rich. But we can spend hours a week creating content. I typically spend probably at least 5 or 6 hours a week between working on my podcast and creating other content. And most of that goes out for free. It's more than just a hobby, though, and it's more than just creating the content. We create this content because we want someone to consume it. And we want to know we're making a difference. Recently, I was in a Zoom meeting with a group of people from England. I had never met any of them. But several of them told me that they listened to every episode of my podcast. Some said they were having a rough time dealing with their grief, they turned on my podcast, and it helped them tremendously. And this was fantastic. I loved getting this feedback. But the thing I was thinking is, I'd never heard from a single one of them. Not a comment, not an email. And these are people who are regular listeners, and I have 150 podcasts out, so I was a little disappointed I hadn't heard from any of them. Many of my videos get hundreds of views, but they often won't get a single comment. I tell you this, even a negative comment is better than none at all. All it costs to provide positive reinforcement for your favorite creator is to take a few moments to drop a comment or write a quick email. These are like gold for us. I tell you, if I had to make a choice, I'd take more comments or emails over more financial support. Of course, I like to have both, but what really gets me charged up is the comments and the emails. Just a couple days ago, I received this, and I have permission to share it, but I'm going to keep the person anonymous. She said, "Hi, Brian, sometimes we're unaware of how we help others. I just felt compelled to tell you this morning how often you have helped me, even at times saved my life." I still wake up often wishing I wasn't on this earth to face another day without my son. I immediately go to your podcast and I listen to my favorites. I often listen to the one where you answer my question about our loved ones being given a chance to stay or leave. Now, when I interject here, she'd ask a question about when our children pass away, are they given a chance to stay or come back? And her question I thought was so interesting, I actually created an episode about it. Continuing on, she said, I also like your interviews with other Shining Light parents. There are more, but those are especially endearing. As we approach Thanksgiving, I am thankful for you and for your— the gift of your book and the podcast. Also for all the times I reached out to you and you quickly responded. Please know you make a huge difference in so many lives, and especially in mine. Many thanks. Name without. Now, I have to say this also. You might feel like you're bugging somebody if you reach out to someone who's creating a podcast, or you've read their book or something. I can tell you, in 99.9% of the cases, you're not bugging that person. They really want to hear from you. The other day, I was having an interaction with a guy on my blog, and he was making a comment. I would make a comment back, and he finally said, I'm going to let you go now because I know that you're busy, you've got other things to do. Uh, this is the thing I like to do. I like interacting with people that are getting something from what I put out. This is the stuff that really keeps me going. I tell you, there are times when I feel like I'm wasting my time producing content, and I think about doing something else with my time. There are times when I feel like I'll create something and I put a lot of time into it, and I get no feedback on it whatsoever. It just kind of goes out into the ether. But I create because I feel the need to share. I'm going to create because I just feel like I have to. But it's really, really nice when someone lets me know that it makes a difference to them. I'm going to ask you, if you're, if you're consuming content, please take care of your content creators. So whether you're a content creator, or you're a content consumer, I hope you found this useful. If so, leave me a comment or drop me a line. And if you'd like to leave a review for me, for the podcast, visit www.ratethispodcast.com/grief, the number 2, growth. If you'd like to throw a few bucks in my tip jar, visit me at grief2growth.com, grief, the number 2, growth.com. Scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the Buy Me a Coffee button, or it's grief2growth.com/tipjar, all one word. Have a wonderful day, and I'll see you next time. Hi there, I'm really excited to tell you about my latest ebook. It's 4 lessons that you can learn from the near-death experience without going through all the trouble of dying to learn them. I've been studying NDEs for several years now. I am completely convinced that not only are they 100% real, but that there's some very universal wisdom that we can get from the near-death experience. And I've distilled that down in this book into 4 short lessons. And I've also given you all the reasons why I believe that NDEs are absolutely real. So go to www.grieftogrowth.com/NDElessons to pick it up for free. Www.grief2growth.com/NDElessons. I hope you enjoy it.