11. Creating a Freebie: Yes Girl, You Have Something to Offer

amp;nbsp; Creating a Freebie: Yes Girl, You Have Something to Offer   Today we’re going to talk about creating a freebie because doing so gives so many benefits to your business, like for example it can help grow your following or e-mail list, it helps build trust between you and your following, and it helps position yourself as an expert, just to name a few.    So first things first, how do you decide what to create a freebie on?

Today we’re going to talk about creating a freebie because doing so gives so many benefits to your business, like for example it can help grow your following or e-mail list, it helps build trust between you and your following, and it helps position yourself as an expert, just to name a few. 

So first things first, how do you decide what to create a freebie on? Because that’s the first and biggest hurdle right? Feeling like you don’t have anything to offer, or that no one would want to learn something from you. First off- that’s totally false. Because you DO have something to offer, and we’re going to walk through how to figure out what that is. 

I should start by saying, a freebie doesn’t have to be anything crazy and I think that’s where people get hung up. They worry they don’t have enough knowledge to share with the world in freebie form so they just don’t bother. But here’s the secret truth- it doesn’t have to be this super detailed, crazy, life changing freebie. The purpose is to help someone in a quick, and easily digestible manner. 

For example, common freebies often follow the format: 5 Steps to… or 3 Tips for.. Or Quick Hacks about XYZ… so it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. 

Now knowing that, you need to think about your niche and you need to think about what it is within your niche that you’re SUPER passionate about, that you could offer assistance to others with. 

So for me, I nerd out over instagram. I nerd out because when I first started using Instagram for my business- I KNEW NOTHING. So what did I do? I stalked articles on pinterest, I binge listened to podcasts and youtube, and just soaked in all the information I could. And then, I realized I had a lot of knowledge about instagram that others didn’t! 

From that realization, I took ONE aspect of Instagram and I decided to make a freebie about hashtags. Now I hope you’re with me on this, because hashtags are only one piece of the entire instagram puzzle. So again, it wasn’t crazy, it was just one piece of information I knew really well and decided “hey! I could take this knowledge, write it out, and create a freebie on it!” And that’s exactly what I did. 

Now we need to put this in terms of your business. You are doing something that others do not know how to do, or do not know how to do as well. Again, I know it’s so common to feel like this isn’t true, that we don’t have enough knowledge to be sharing with others, or certainly not enough knowledge to be creating a freebie on. But I want to be clear, you are one step ahead of someone- and that is all you need to be in order to create a successful freebie.

When we get stuck in entrepreneurial land, and we’re watching all these boss babes who are killing and who are where we want to be, it can be hard for us to see our own special talents and it can be hard for us to realize that we have some knowledge that could benefit others! BECAUSE we’re so busy following our role models, that we don’t see the people who are following us because we inspire them. Remember, The kindergartner looks up to the first grader, and you only need to be one chapter ahead of someone in order to help them!

With that in mind, think about your niche and most importantly, think about your ideal client (because everything in business comes down to knowing our ideal client! And if this is something you’re still struggling with, be sure to check out episode 4.) But knowing your niche and knowing your ideal client, what knowledge can you share with them, that will help them? 

It’s really that simple!

Again, this would be based on your knowledge and what you feel comfortable and confident in sharing with your following but you just need to think of quick helpful knowledge that you can share, that your ideal client would find useful and helpful.

If you’re still struggling, really take the time to sit down and think what your ideal client is struggling with. What are their fears? What makes them mad? What makes them sad? What are their goals? Once you know the answer to those questions, create a freebie that answers their struggle. Create something that brings them a solution to their problem, or if not a full solution, a helpful way to get started.

The hardest part I won’t lie, is believing in yourself! If you know your audience and you know their needs, then thinking of a freebie topic should become that much easier. The struggle is getting past that mindset block and understanding you don’t have to have 5000 followers to make a difference. You don’t have to have a full time business. You don’t have hit a milestone before you are capable of sharing your knowledge with the world. 

Now that we’ve gone over how you’re capable, because you are, and we’ve made the idea of creating a freebie less scary, I want to share the actual logistics of creating a freebie with you. Because for some of you, THIS could be the part that’s hanging you up.

Like I’ve learned from Jenna Kutcher, it can be as easy as opening up a word document, typing out your information, and then saving it as a PDF. BOOM. DONE.

I’ve actually downloaded freebies that use that very process and I didn’t think anything of it. It’s super simple and all you need is Word or Pages on your computer.

However, me personally, I’m a visual person, so I like when things look pretty. If you’re like me in this department, I LOVE PicMonkey for all of my creating needs. It’s a super easy design tool that gives you access to stock photos and videos, thousands of templates and graphics, and all that fun stuff and you can check it out HERE, but essentially, it’s a super easy way to make beautiful graphics and freebies.

But what I want to be sure you understand, is whether you go fancy or not, you need something typed up and saved as a PDF. That’s it. Once you’ve done that- you have your freebie! So time to pop the champagne, order takeout, do a happy dance, and CELEBRATE! I feel like creating a freebie is such an important step in the realm of business because, as I said before, it can help you gain more followers, it helps position you as an expert, and it just adds VALUE for your following. And if you’ve been following along with me, you know that as business owners we should always be thinking “how can I add more value for my clients?”

Now you might be wondering, “Molly, what the heck do I do once I have this saved PDF version of my Freebie?” That’s a good question and honestly, it depends on what the purpose of it is. You could use your freebie to grow your e-mail list, or you can upload it somewhere like Google drive which is what I do, and get a shareable link for it! That way, you could just share the link with your audience or in your profile

To wrap it up let’s go over three action items we can do today to move the needle forward:

1. Action step #1: Work on writing out your ideal client’s struggles. Even if you’ve already done it, make sure it’s up to date. Get them out of your head and write them down somewhere whether it’s on paper or in your computer/phone.
   
2. Action step #2:  Brainstorm Freebie titles or topics. Start thinking about your skills, and think about what you know that someone a chapter behind you doesn’t know.
   
3. Action step #3: Pick one of those topics and just start getting the information you want to share on that topic out of your head and onto paper or into your computer phone.
   

XOXO