Do people value things they get for free?
If someone pays more for something, are they more likely to take it seriously?
I’ve heard this story told a lot in the online business spaces I’ve been part of, and I want to push back on it. I think this narrative is subtly upholding a classist ideology.
“I gave someone a scholarship to my course, but they only showed up for half the classes. People just don’t value what they don’t pay for.”
If you’ve had this happen, stay with me.
I’ve given away more than $100,000 in solidarity discounts to my Marketing for Weirdos course over the past five years. That doesn’t count the reduced spots I’ve offered for one-on-one coaching, all the people I’ve had take Freely for free, or any of the free Office Hours calls I’ve offered publicly. I’m not saying any of this for accolades, but because I speak on this issue from very extensive personal experience.
My experience has largely been the opposite of this online trope. When I offer things for free or for a reduced price, the people who access them that way SHOW UP. They are active participants. They contribute to the group.
And when they can’t, I know that the systemic barriers that make it hard for someone to PAY for your course/program/coaching/etc are the same barriers that make it hard for someone to SHOW UP to it.
The students and clients who pay at a solidarity rate are also often the most expressive of gratitude. And don’t get me wrong, my landlord doesn’t accept gratitude as currency. I still need money and people who can pay it. But there are more forms of capital than just money. The gratitude matters to me.
The narrative that people only value what they pay for demonizes poor people and holds them personally responsible for systemic problems. It’s not our job as individuals to solve these systemic problems, but it is our responsibility to always hold an awareness of them, and to seek to ameliorate them where we can.
I’ve been running my business in an anticapitalist way for as long as I’ve been self-employed (16 years now!) I grew up working class/working poor, so I know firsthand how harmful these kinds of stereotypes can be.