Sitemap
The Startup

Get smarter at building your thing. Follow to join The Startup’s +8 million monthly readers & +772K followers.

Member-only story

What Should You Teach for Free (And What Should You Charge For?)

5 min readMay 12, 2025

--

Image by the author

You think you’re being generous:

  • Posting tips.
  • Dropping value bombs.
  • Giving away the good stuff.

But here’s what’s really happening: You’re training your audience to take — and never pay.

Give me 5 minutes of your time and I’ll show you what should be free and what should you charge for.

How much you move the freeline depends on this

The freeline is not a moral choice. It’s a strategic one.

If you make your money selling implementation like:

  • Coaching
  • Group programs
  • Done-for-you services

Then sure, give it all away. The more they know, the more they want your help doing it.

But if your offer is the information — courses, playbooks, digital products — then giving it all away makes zero –let me say it again: ZERO– sense.

That’s like handing out the full menu for free when your revenue comes from meals. No one’s sticking around to pay.

--

--

The Startup
The Startup

Published in The Startup

Get smarter at building your thing. Follow to join The Startup’s +8 million monthly readers & +772K followers.

Matt Giaro
Matt Giaro

Written by Matt Giaro

6 Figure Creator. Helping experts turn their ideas into income with online content (in just 2h/day.) Start now 👉 https://mattgiaro.com/medium