In this solo video, Mary Schiller explains the concept of "giving it all away" for online business owners and coaches. She defines the phrase as sharing one’s hard‑earned secrets, strategies, and insights openly—without holding back—when creating emails, videos, or social posts. Schiller stresses that generosity does not mean refusing to charge; free content and paid services (coaching, courses) can coexist. She describes how generous free content attracts a subset of the audience who become paying clients, while others remain free‑bie seekers, and that this dynamic is normal. Drawing on a personal anecdote about a generous act she witnessed, she illustrates the principle of reciprocity: generosity tends to return in various forms (opportunities, relationships, support). Schiller outlines a daily practice of looking for something to create and share, emphasizing that this habit fuels both personal fulfillment and business growth. Finally, she frames generosity not as a marketing strategy but as an authentic way of being, encouraging viewers to adopt it as part of their identity.
Chapters
Hello, Mary here, and we have a big topic to discuss, which is giving it all away. What the heck does that even mean? And why is it so crucial to get this idea if you are in business and if you want to be in business? First of all, before I go any further, I invite you to subscribe to this channel and visit the description for some goodies. Okay. If you have been around the business conversation for any length of time, I'm sure you have heard the phrase, quote, give it all away. Give it all away. What the heck does that even mean? Does it literally mean that you give away everything? That you give away all the secrets? That you give away all the how-tos? That you give away all of your insights and that you inspire people with your generosity. Yes, that is exactly what it means. It means don't hold back. Now I'm going to tell you what it does not mean in just a minute because, oh my gosh, that is super, super crucial. So please keep watching because that is Wow. I, I can't leave this video without addressing what it does not mean, but let's explore what it means to give it all away. To me, giving it all away means that when you are about to write an email to your subscribers, when you're about to create a YouTube video, when you're about to post something on social media, and you have that thought of, oh my gosh, if I tell them this, then they're going to know the secret and they won't hire me. That's when you know that it's time to make that video, make that post, send that email, because that is the thing that really signals generosity. Those secrets and those ideas that you have learned through perhaps years of experience in your field, that's what it means to give it all away. You want to share all of that with people. I know that when I look at some YouTube channels, let's say, that I find incredibly inspiring and educational, I could go through all of the videos on that channel and solve my problem. I literally could do everything just by following what they tell me in the videos, for example. There are people that I follow on social media, like on Instagram, who, if I went back through their Instagram grid and followed their suggestions, I would solve whatever the problem is. This is what it means to be generous. It literally means don't hold back. When you feel that urge to share a secret with your followers or your subscribers or whomever, share it. Just tell people about it. Don't keep it locked in. That's not what it's for. But here is the thing that is super important to know. Giving it all away does not mean that you don't charge. Okay, this is an excuse that I hear people give, especially life coaches, but it goes past life coaches. But people will say to me, Mary, I don't feel right about charging for my coaching, for example. Because it feels like I should just give it all away for free. It's something that everyone should know, so I'm just going to give it away. Well, you can give it away. You can put it on social media. You can send it out to your subscribers. You can make a YouTube video. You can do all of those things. And you can charge real money for things like coaching. The two things coexist. They're not separate. They're actually the same because here's the thing, you may be enjoying this video of me right now talking to you about this topic of giving it all away. Is that the same as engaging my services for business coaching for a few months, or is it different? Obviously it's different. You're not going to have the same experience listening to me or watching me on a video as you do with me on a Zoom call or a phone call with you. Those are two very different things. And so what's going to happen is there are going to be people when you start giving it all away, when you stop holding back, there are going to be people who just take the free stuff. And you know what? That's totally fine. It's totally fine. Not everyone in your audience is going to raise their hand and say, I want to pay you. However, there will be a very strong subset of people who experience what you give away for free, meaning they will experience your incredibly generous spirit, and they will say, oh my gosh, I want more of this person in my life. How do I get more of her? How do I get more of her? Where do I sign up for coaching? Or where do I buy her online course so I can really dive into the topic even more? Those are the people who will also show up. We have this idea that there are certain people who are quote unquote freebie seekers. Have you heard that before? And I think that that idea scares people off from being more generous. That has not been my experience. Like I said, there are certain people who are only interested in the free stuff, maybe from you. They may buy from someone else and that's okay too. This isn't a contest in that way. But you're also wanting to show the people who want to take the next step that there actually is a next step. There is a next level that they can reach with you in terms of, you know, proximity and coaching and whatever. And that requires them to pay money. Somehow we have to get over this idea that it's wrong to charge for coaching and that we should just give it all away. Or that it's wrong to give it all away and we should charge for everything. There is a happy medium here that I have been so privileged to discover throughout my entire career as a coach since 2016, which is the more I focus on being generous and giving away all of my best secrets and all of my best tips and all of my best strategies, as well as inspiration, The more people enter my world who actually appreciate all of that and who want to take the next step, who want to pay for the coaching, who want to enroll in the online course or whatever it might be that I'm offering. Why am I talking to you about this today? Actually, there's a really powerful reason, which is that a few minutes ago, before I started to record this video, Someone in my life did something incredibly generous. I literally am sitting here in disbelief at what someone did just because they wanted to and because they could. They had the means to do this incredibly generous thing. I'm not going to go into the details, but I'm getting choked up just thinking about it, but it really taught me something. In that moment, which is generosity is reciprocal. It doesn't have to mean that you are just constantly giving until you have nothing left, because that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the fact that when you and I exercise our naturally generous spirit, the world brings it back to us in some way, shape, or form. We never know exactly what that's going to look like, But it's true. I know that you have experienced that for yourself, haven't you? When you have been more generous, it's like life just opens its arms and says, okay, here is more for you. And more can mean all different things. It doesn't have to mean money. It can mean love. It can mean friendship. It can mean opportunities, experiences, food, a place to stay, whatever it is. But When we focus on being generous every single day, oh my gosh, what a difference that makes in the quality of our life. For many years now, I have done this exact thing every single day. Every day when I wake up, I say to myself, is there something that I could create today? Is there something I could share today that might help someone? And I don't mean for money, in exchange for money. I just mean generally, is there something that I can do today that might bring a smile to someone's face, that might help them make progress on their business, that might just show them that they're not alone? That's one reason why I email my subscribers so frequently is because they are always on my mind. I always want to be there for them. I want them to know that there's someone in their corner. If they don't want to hear from me, they can unsubscribe, but I'm going to keep giving as generously as I possibly can to everyone in my world, in my business community, in my life, my friends, my family, all of them. I feel such a pull to share everything that I have. and I know from the business side of things that it's not just a strategy. I want to make this clear. Being generous and giving it all away isn't a strategy. It's a way of being in this world. It's a way of being you. And because I am speaking to you and I know what type of person you are, I know how easy it is for you to share and be your beautiful, gorgeous, generous, yourself every single day. So I hope that this video has been helpful to you today. It was my way of being generous with you today. Again, I invite you to subscribe, and I will talk to you again very soon. Bye for now.
