What Should Be Paid and What Should Be Free

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 152. Today you and I are chatting all about what type of content could be free and what could be paid, and how to make the decision between the two. Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance and movement, package and position their products and services and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast.

What's up coach? Thank you so much for pushing play on another episode of the PT Profit Podcast. I'm your host, Beverly Simpson, and if this is the first time you're here, welcome through. Thank you. Super pumped that you're here. If you've been following along at all on over on Instagram, you'll know that we. I have actually still not gotten my computer back. And so the reason that I did not put out a podcast last week is because I didn't have my computer. So it's been over a week and it's been challenging to say the least. Mostly because luckily I have my husband's computer and I'm so grateful for that. But it's, I, it's not a machine that I can move easily around on. It's. The learning curve has been great and it hasn't been, to be frank, it has not been particularly fun to navigate his computer. And it's really slowed me way down. And at first I was really irritated about it, but now I've really chilled out and I've taken it as a sign and used it as a chance to really, really slow down inside of the business and to take a 30,000 foot view. And it also prompted me to do this 30 day audience building jumpstart, essentially which I'm doing for my students or clients inside of formula and accelerator. And so I just wanted to unpack and talk a little bit about why. And so as I'm putting this together, one of the biggest questions that was coming up for me, but also comes up a lot for my clients and it certainly did for me at the beginning when I was really contemplating, well, what content should be free and what content should be paid. And it was interesting because I noticed that the language I used was should and, and I hear should all the time. Well, here is the first thing, Number one, there is no should. What would it look like if you change that word from should to could and asked yourself, could be the free content and what could be paid and how do you decide the differences? So I'm going to talk about that inside of this, inside of this episode, but I do want to talk a little bit more about, about the, the live event. So it was such an amazing experience. If you haven't had the opportunity to get into a room with people, like minded people, and just discuss all things fitness marketing, business building, honestly, it's one of the most rewarding and fulfilling things that you could give to yourself. Honestly, one of the things I shared in, in the weekend was, was that sometimes it's hard for me to describe the intangible meaning there are going to be side conversations and inspirational convers, conversations that happen in between sessions. And that's where the magic happens. I was once in a peer mastermind and one of. I grew my list to 4,000 people essentially overnight for almost 10 cents and 10 cents a lead because I was using paid advertising at the time and it came from an idea that I was musing on and talking to in my peer mastermind, from my group, from my groups. So. And from my bigger mastermind. So it's just the power of connection and conversation is underestimated in our industry. And so especially if you're building an online presence for your brick and mortar or you're building an online specific business, it can feel very isolating. So if you ever get the chance to get into a room when you're in, even if, even if, and this also comes up a lot too, is that why do I need to go to a marketing live event when I want to deal with fitness training? I get that. This is why I like to serve fitness people and put fitness wellness people in the same room for a couple of reasons. Because the networking opportunities are so huge and important. Because if you, if you look at people that you look up to and they're always collaborating, you know, I think of Ben, Dr. Ben House and Dr. Pat. I don't know if they're doing anything anymore together, but when they were, it was because they met, they were sitting next to each other in a live event. And so it can just. The power is. The power of networking is underrated and your net worth is honestly a direct reflection of your network. And I say that because you get to collaborate, you get to share ideas, you get to be. Even if you're an introvert. Right? So anyway, that's not, I probably could do a separate episode on that. That's not what this episode is about. But this came from that. And so now I'm doing a 30 day jumpstart for my formula people and accelerator people because I want to implement, you know, when we're talking theory and when we are talking a whole bunch of, of when we're talking theory and when we're talking high level concepts and understanding the psychology of your, of your ideal client, where they are now and where they want to be. This is powerful insight, but it doesn't matter if we're not putting it into action, if we're not hearing the message and we are not sharing our gifts and the opportunity to continue to work with us. And so, and I wrote this on a post a while ago where I said then you don't, you know, otherwise we have a hobby and not a business. And so I wanted to really help people get rubber meets the road and grow the audience. And so, and that's what is leading to what could be free content and what could be paid content. And what are the differences? What are the key differences? So here's an example. I, you know, on one hand I could ask a guest speaker to come and be on my podcast and sometimes for the most part, no, I've never paid a guest to come and be on the podcast. No one's charged to be a guest on the podcast because it's, but it is beneficial to both people that are networking and collaborating. However, when I've asked a guest to come and speak inside my paid walls programs, I have invested in the speaker to share their knowledge and collaborate with my people. So what are some of the key differences between that? Well, there are, they're big two number one is that when you are on a podcast or when you're doing, even if you're doing live together, you're, you're, you're talking collaborating and sharing together in a very teaching informational driven output, which is important. It's not that it's bad but when you bring someone into your community and now they're presenting oftentimes there's, there's the opportunity for them to get your personal, your, your clients personal questions answered. There's more Q and A, there's more collaboration and if it's a big, big, big event now they're there live. And so chances are there the guest is, is going to be there for you to talk to after the, after their presentation or you might have to wait in line to take a photo or the, but there is going to be more of a opportunity to connect with a said guest for Example versus when you're having them on a podcast or when there is just less accessibility to them. So that's often the number one thing I'm always thinking about between the difference between free and paid is what is the level of accessibility to either the guest speaker and, or to you. And accessibility mostly in, in terms of coaching and also in terms of insight. The second thing that we want to be thinking about when it comes to free content and paid and the difference and how to decide is the system and organization of the delivery. So for example, when someone is sharing a piece of insight on a free content on a podcast or on Instagram or YouTube, sometimes it is delivered or it can be delivered in an organized fashion. Meaning if they are anything like me and they follow a very specific plan and customer journey, then sure, they could listen to podcasts in order and they will sometimes depending, but they will sometimes build upon one another. However, most people don't do that. And in addition to that, most people aren't scrolling back or even know how to organize or think about other people's content. And how it is essentially a progressive overload without a. Without, you know, for lack of a better word, is that I equate it to fitness all the time, is that you and I know that in order for a client to really achieve their goal, they need to go through a systematic, progressive, overloaded, structured plan. But that's not to say that necessarily that they couldn't go out and figure out how to do that themselves and, you know, go watch a whole bunch of videos and YouTube and go down rabbit holes. But that would take so much time and so much effort. And that's also assuming that the client knows what to do and knows what to look for, and most people don't. So the truth is I never, I never worry about what, what to, you know, what is an overshare in terms of giving the information away because information is abundant. It's not a lack of information that people are struggling. It's that people don't realize what the real problem is, the root cause of the problem. They don't understand how to organize the information in a way that's going to work best for them. And they're also in information overload. So they don't have a system, a structure or a plan or a process that's going to carry them through a progressive overload step by step, which is what your paid program will do for them. Sure, they could go on Beachbody online, sure, they could go to Peloton even and just pick up, you know, a library of classes, and if it works for them, cool. But if it doesn't, then that's a perfect opportunity for you to share what it is that you do and why they need progressive overload and why they need your program. So now this begs the question, which comes up a lot. And it comes up a lot, especially when we're dealing with. Well, Beverly, you teach persuasion and influence, which is true, I do. In an ethical way. So how do you. If we're all just giving away all our best stuff for free all the time, then how are we going to create demand or harness demand? So the reason why I've really moved away from saying create demand is because, friends, we're not convincing anybody. Coach, you are not convincing anybody of anything. I said this over the weekend. That there is absolutely no amount of persuasive and influential language on the planet that is going to get me excited about writing a fiction children's novel. Never. Never, Never, Never. And my hat's off to the. To the people who are inspired to do that because I'm so grateful for them, because my children love it, but it'll never be me. This is why I always know that the desires of your heart are safe guidance, because if there's something that's placed in your heart, you were meant to do it. Because there is a ton of stuff that is not placed in our hearts for a reason, in my opinion. And I'm not meant to do that. I'm not meant. Could I force myself to become a fiction writer? Sure, I could, but that's not in the desire. That's not what I want, you know, and then people will say, this is a little bit of a side tangent, but, you know, sometimes people will fall into really great jobs that they weren't necessarily dreaming of doing, and that's fine. However, they are in a role that they were dreaming of doing, and they are fulfilling on all of their. They're fulfilling on all of their dreams and wants, which is great, just maybe not in the way that they thought they were. So I think of it like this, right? Is that I wanted. I started this. This life off performing. I started in musical theater and I started, you know, being on the stage. And now that part of me has changed in the. How it's delivered. But definitely I'm on stage all the time. The whole. The online space is a stage and I'm on all the time. So there, that big part of me is still fulfilled, even though I'm not at the capacity that I wanted to Be in sign note. But so what we're doing, when we are, you know, if we're giving away all of our information for free, I want you to know that it's not like, so how, you know, how do you give your information away for how do you share, how do you share the knowledge and harness demand. So I say harness because it's, it's. We want to move people to get excited about doing your program. So again, it goes down to making a case for the how your program is going to deliver the goal. So what you're sharing is the what, it is the why. And your program is specifically the how. So you're sharing content that exposes problems, right? They, they, they're, they're walking around in symptoms and not understanding what the real problem is. They're walking around and saying, oh, I have a headache, I have a headache, I have a headache. And you and I know that they might be, they might be dehydrated. But if you know, so as someone who solves the problem of dehydration, we are not going to write the content that says, oh, three ways to end dehydration. When they don't know that they're dehydrated, they just think that they have a headache. We solve headache problems. Now, that's only one component. Now you have what if you were a concussionist and you solved concussions and maybe they're not dehydrated and maybe they have headache because they have a concussion, right? So symptoms and problems are not universally linked. This is why it is essential for you to understand what is the problem that you solve. And there's no right answer. It's just you making the decision of what it is that you do and then getting really powerfully powerful in the effectiveness of your communication. And then we make a case for what it is that your program stands for. So, for example, if you're making, if you're someone who makes a case for support and accountability and for, you know, yeah, sure, you could try and do this yourself, but you're not going to push yourself in a, you know, you're not going to push yourself hard enough or maybe you're going to push yourself too hard and you don't have a trained eye to know, to be watching you and whatever it is that you're making a case space for, you want your content. You're going to give as much of your content, you know, the information of the what and the why and move them towards the importance of taking the next step with you. Now, what Most people do. And the difference, so here's the big difference is that most people will say things like, you know, they come in, they do maybe a kickoff is what we used to call them at the gym, or they do a fitness assessment and it's like, hey, you know, here's this killer workout, let's just work out workout, because that's why you're here and you came to work out. And then the person leaves with a really great workout, but then no sense of what it is that they need in order to hit to their goal. There's no sense of, oh, I need to sign up with this trainer. And they just give, right? So I see this all the time in content. People will say, you know, say bookmark this workout and try it for later. But there's no context around the workout. It's just them giving a workout. So then if you are just posting these awesome workouts and the client is looking on Instagram and they see this workout, they're going to bookmark it, they're going to try it, and now the client is taking action based on their skill level and taking action. Ready? No. And just feeds into this broken system that we're in of clients. Clients making decisions without having, without knowing better, without realizing now, now a client, a person, anyone, is always going to know what's best for them as long as you know. But clients just don't know what they don't know. And they don't know about progressive overload. They don't think to ask that because the, because the system or the whatever they're consuming, whatever they're learning isn't sharing. They're just telling them to do this. And people are walking around in the I'm fine coma. And so I've been sharing with my formula clients very specific posts that do this unconsciously. Meaning one of my really good friends, she does an amazing job of. She shares tons of workouts on her Instagram. Tons. And every workout that she says makes a case for her program, whatever the program is that she's running. This is one of the programs that we're, this is one of the workouts we're doing inside of the program. And so if you like this, you're going to love the program. Or it's sometimes, hey, this is, you know, this is the protocol for today. But we're going to, we're going to go deeper inside the program and what you really need is right, there is a case, there is context for, for the workout, and it moves people to take action. So that's sometimes, you know, just, you know, in addition to sharing a ton of information, in addition to making a case for working with you, there's more asks most people and honestly, inside formula that most people are not, are not sharing what it is that they do and not actively inviting people enough into their world. So that's also a really big difference between the free content and the paid content. The free content can be very powerful, very valuable and very inspiring and share a lot. I've learned a lot from the free content that's out there. The free content also makes a case for going deeper and for solving the problem. It's for also moving people to take action to work with you. And the paid content is the step by step that process, the how, the implementation. That's a very big difference between free content and paid content. And also another side tangent, just while we're on it here, your free content, even if it is a direct promotional piece where it's like, hey, buy my stuff. That's very valuable. Getting people to say, inspiring people, motivating people to say yes to themselves, to actually take inspired action, is a very powerful, underrated piece of content. Because most people are apologetically selling and they are just, if you're anything like me, you're, you know, building really wanting to build no like and trust an audience of people who just love you and listen. I get that. Me too. I want my clients to be served. I want my clients to know how much I love them. And I also want that type of community and support, support inside of my world. But we're going to talk more about that in a sec. But most people, you know, will be like, okay, well, I just, I'm gonna promote this, but I'll go back to building no like and trust. I promise, I promise. And then two things happen. Number one, you're subconsciously not even realizing it, putting out this, this sense of, oh, I'm, I'm apologetically selling A. And then B, you're putting undue pressure on yourself to hit these goals, especially if you're only launching, you know, once a quarter of. No wonder you hate launching because all of your all this pressure is put on you to be successful when it really doesn't have to be that way at all. And that could probably be an entirely separate podcast, so. And then lastly, what I would say a big difference between the free content versus versus paid content is sometimes people in their customer journey, chances are this is not the first time they've tried to get healthy and fit before. For me, this is not the first time you've tried to grow your business, grow your audience and whatnot. So what happens is people can feel a little, I don't know, skeptical, or they can feel burned, or they can feel like, is this really for me? And so if your piece of free content gives them their first quick win, especially if you have to help people get excited about Mount Everest. One of the things that came up in, in the, in the weekend was how do you make the non sexy sound sexy, meaning like get people excited for the long haul. And the short answer is get them excited about the first summit. If they're climbing Mount Everest, show them how possible the first summit is and then where to go from there. And then the last thing I'll say.

To wrap up this episode today is.

To even though I'm doing this 30 day jumpstart at end and moving people to take inspired action, it's coming from a place of you knowing that you don't need to chase popularity. We don't need to chase popularity metrics. We don't need to have 100 million thousand followers. We can have a very, very profitable six, seven figure business with an audience of 2,200, 100. It doesn't matter. We make the math work for us. You just need to put the right message in front of the right person at the right time and the sky's the limit for you. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today. I'll catch you on the next episode.

Thank you for listening to the PT Profit podcast. If you like this episode, chances are your friends will too. So it would be a huge service to us if you would please leave us our review and share with your friends on your social media channels. When you leave us a review, be sure to take a screenshot of it and email that screenshot to my team atinfo simpson fitness.com and we'll send you a very special Instagram podcast that will show you how to create compelling content.

So that your ideal clients come to.

You and you go from from wanting.

Clients to a wait list of clients ready for your services.

Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you on the next episode.