The ideas aren’t free

When you reach a certain level in your career, you’ll find yourself getting emails from professional acquaintances, entrepreneurs, and complete strangers asking you to ‘grab coffee’ or ‘hop on a call.’ Most of these emails come from a genuinely honest place and are flattering and humbling. I probably sent plenty of these sorts of emails in my 20s, hungry to learn and find mentorship.

I love the idea of grabbing coffee with people — and it’s nice when someone says they’ll pay for my coffee in exchange for my ideas.

I love the idea of grabbing coffee with people — and it’s nice when someone says they’ll pay for my coffee in exchange for my ideas. Really! I’m not even being sarcastic. But the thing that I think a lot of people forget (or maybe haven’t yet realized?) — and sometimes I forget, too, is that ideas aren’t free. And they’re worth more than a cup of coffee. Time is — truly — money. And don’t I know it.

Now that I’m working for myself and trying to juggle motherhood and a career, I realize more than ever that these thoughtfully-written emails deserve an honest response and not just an ‘I’m a little busy right now; wish I could’ sort of reply.

So here it is:

The ideas aren’t free.

Ideas are the most expensive part of strategy. Without the ideas, the execution is irrelevant. So next time you want to ‘pick someone’s brain’ consider this: offer to pay them a consulting fee for their time, and their ideas.

Thank you, Lena Dunham, for inspiring this post.

Photo via Unsplash