Recently, I came across a video clip where Jerry Seinfeld was being hassled by a fan. The fan kept asking, “Hey Jerry, how come tickets to your show are so expensive? Where can I get tickets for free?”
Jerry replied,
“If ‘free’ is all I am worth… then why do you want to come?”
Boom. Powerful words.
He’s right, though. If a product, service, performance, or experience is really amazing, then you should pay full price for it—willingly and happily.
Sometimes, too, we forget just how much effort, time, and love goes into creating the things that we want to consume.
That fresh-pressed juice that costs $7… is not just a glass of juice. That glass of juice represents one brave entrepreneur getting up at 5am to commute over and set up the shop, mop the floor, wipe down the counters, clean the machines, lovingly wash the vegetables, and set up the juicing station, so that you can waltz in for your pineapple-kale juice at 8am on your way to the gym. And let’s not even get into the farmers who grew that kale and those pineapples, the delivery drivers who brought them to your town, and so on, and so on.
There’s an entire odyssey of love that goes into making that glass of juice for you. Suddenly, $7 seems like an unbelievable deal.
I know that it’s fun, sometimes, to get things for free or to score a sweet discount. (Personally, if there’s a sale happening at my favorite boot store, you better believe I am racing down there like my ass is on FIRE.)
But generally speaking, I wish people would stop asking for freebies. Y’all: just don’t. Honor the effort,
time, and love that goes into creating whatever it is that you want—and pay up. It’s good karma. Wouldn’t you want the same respect in return for your own work? I would hope so. Because I can assure you, your time, your energy, your ideas, your brilliance, an hour of you listening attentively… all of that is worth a lot more than “free.”
We all need to remember this, especially those of us in the small business/entrepreneurial/coaching world, where there’s often so much pressure to give EVERYTHING away for free.
Sister-friend:
You’re worth a lot more than “free.”
P. S. Last week, my friend, Ellen, and I launched a new program, GO GET IT! With this program, you will choose 1 career, business, or income goal that matters to you + you will pursue that goal for 6 weeks in a row—while getting coached, guided, and inspired to the max.
GO GET IT! begins very soon. Get all the details HERE and get yourself signed up.
