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Nice Guys Get Paid Too

posted on December 15, 2010

More than one person has called me a nice guy, and I like to think that I am.

Being a nice guy means that I’ll go out of my way to help as many people as possible. If you’re a friend, then I’ll go even above and beyond that to help out. Throughout my life, I’ve been the shoulder that people come to cry on and the ear that people confess their secrets to. It’s who I am. It’s how I want to live my life.

Slackershots - September 14, 2007

That said, I also have a family, mortgage and bills to pay. I want to send my children to college and ensure that there is food on the table every night for supper. In order to do that, I must have income to cover my expenses.

Lately, being a “nice guy” seems to be getting in my way of being paid. People and organizations make the assumption that in return for them buying me a drink or putting me on stage in front of an audience, they’ll get everything from me, for free. I make a living as a consultant, speaker and creator. In order to continue doing that, I must be paid for the services I offer.

I know that I’m not alone in these thoughts, as I’ve spoken to numerous friends and colleagues who are seeing and experiencing the same thing. An example: Conferences will charge attendees to come, but won’t even cover travel for speakers. Another: The growing trend of “pint consulting,” where in exchange for a cup of coffee or a glass of beer, a company will expect to pick your brain. I want to help the world become a better place, but I also must take care of my life and family.

This post isn’t meant to be a personal pity party. My hope is to shine a light on a problem that is becoming more prevalent. With so many nice guys and girls out there wanting to help people, they’re getting taken advantage of. In this world — where many things can be had for free — people are starting to expect everything for free. That is not sustainable.

So, the next time you think about reaching out to someone to pick their brain or to give them exposure so your company/event/organization can make money, stop and realize that they need to make some as well.

I’ll always be a nice guy. Will you be nice to me is the question?

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Categories: Rants
  • http://matthewebel.com Matthew Ebel

    If I had $20 for every time a group or convention wanted me to buy my own plane ticket, bring my own equipment, play a full show, sleep in a hotel room I’m paying for, and promote their event to my fans just because they haven’t budgeted for any entertainment…

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      It happens to everyone and yet people hate it when you flip the coin in their direction….

  • http://www.unquietdesperation.com Chris Miller

    Bravo, sir. Well put. I see this in my own profession (both writing code and writing nonfiction) and in my wife’s (a professional musician). People do not want to pay for skill or talent they way they pay for hard goods. It’s infuriating. Good on you for calling it out.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Thanks for the video you shared on Twitter. You should put it here as well because you are RIGHT, he nailed it!

  • http://twitter.com/merrybubbles Liva Judic

    Two words. Spot. On. Thanks CC

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Thanks Liva. I tried to speak from the heart and I know that this is happening far to often to far to many talented people.

  • http://twitter.com/veemoe Victoria

    Couldn’t agree more. I can’t tell you how many “friends” I’ve given free consulting to. I finally have started saying “I can steer you to Google, or you can pay my hourly fee.”

  • http://www.daveflys.com David Allen

    I just finished reading “The Go-Giver” by Bob Burg and John David Mann. One of the rules in the book is to “give more in value than you receive in payment”. It does not say to give everything away for free, but the emphasis is that if you are truly concerned about others, the money will come. Knowing what I know of you, C.C., I would say that you are living your life this way. However, it seems that the money is still not so easy to come by. How does one cope? I, like you, just want to change the world for the better. But, more importantly, I want to provide for my wife and children. How do we make this giving attitude work without having to focus so much on compensation?

    • http://danieljohnsonjr.com danieljohnsonjr

      Well stated, David. Where is that line you draw between what you give away for free and what you charge for?

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  • Formerly Jersey Todd

    Don’t change. There’s no reason to. At the end of the day, no matter what you are selling, you ultimately are selling yourself. Karma always has a way of working things out, as hokey as it sounds, I truly believe that.

    The trick is to make yourself indispensable, and to only deal with people that respect the division between a friend and a paying client, and those who can tell the difference between a hobbyist and a professional.

    We joke here at the office that if we made donuts, there are clients that would come in and ask for a free one every day. The trick is to give them a bite, and have them buy the rest.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Dude, don’t worry, I’m never going to change. I’m a nice guy for life. *laugh*

      As I said that is just the way I am and I know that while plenty of people will try to take advantage of me for that, I also know that there are plenty of good people who won’t.

      It has been a balancing act my entire life, but a couple of recent events and lots of discussions with others made me realize I had to put it out there.

  • Rob Lane

    Absolutely agree. I think this issue has always existed to some extent but when we lived in that small village, it was easier to control. Hyper-connectivity only increases the issue.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Well said.

  • http://beckyskaleidoscope.blogspot.com/ Becky

    This is so true, don’t let being nice get in the way of you getting paid what you deserve. Keep doing what you’re doing. I only recently started listening to your show (Managing the Grey), but I love it.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Thank you for listening Becky. I’ve talked about this on past shows before but felt I needed to bring it up again based on recent events and conversations.

      Keep doing what you are doing as well!

  • http://www.lynetteradio.com/ LynetteRadio

    Hell yeah brotha! I’ve had people (companies, clients, event organizers, etc.) tell me so many excuses of why they don’t see the need to pay me *or my company that pays its employees* money for work.

    “Your overhead must be nothing…”
    “We aren’t sure if we are going to make money so we don’t have any to pay for your services right now…”
    “This project is an experiment for us, so if we make a lot of money right away, we can pay your bill…”
    “We will put a link on our site footer, you will get TONS of paid referral traffic…”
    “I see you volunteer for SMC/PodCamp etc. so you obviously want to help companies for free… ”
    “We aren’t really making any money on this conference…”

    I call bullshit, nice guy or gal or NOT.

  • http://chelpixie.com/ Chel Wolverton

    The thing that gets me is that the conferences are getting paid to put on the show but the SPEAKERS are the ones that give a day or two (sometimes more) to attend, share information and are expected to cover travel etc.

    I understand wanting to have access to information. But if a company wouldn’t give away their product/services/etc for free, why should they expect to pick your brain (which is time and free information and advice) for free?

    • http://www.lynetteradio.com/ LynetteRadio

      PLUS think about the lost revenue and time that speaker has to eat because they are attending a conference for free. Trust me when I say our time is worth more than the conference entry fee. Much more…

      • http://chelpixie.com/ Chel Wolverton

        I think I’m a tad bit sensitive to this as I got off a call with someone who requested I work well for well under my rate on Christmas Eve and the 26th for approximately 40 hours on a project. Um, no.

        Thankfully I learned that word finally.

      • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

        Good for you Chel.

        Learning how to say No is a very important skill indeed.

  • http://uptownuncorked.com geechee_girl

    I so hear this.

  • http://twitter.com/howardpdx Howard DiNatale

    An experienced broadcast television producer (also my teacher) once told me never to work for free. I remember this whenever I look at business models based on giving away free content or advice.
    The best models include strategies that convert bystanders into paying customers. “Giving it away” doesn’t work unless the business owner obtains measurable value (dollars, email addresses, etc..) from the interaction.
    Unfortunately, conversion is easier to talk about than it is to accomplish. I enjoy helping people and I don’t want to burn bridges, but I have bills to pay.
    As a consumer of podcast novels, I deliberately guilt trip myself into buying the novels I listen to. As an aspiring consultant, I’ll have to lay down the law when people want to pick my brain.
    Thanks for posting this.

  • http://www.experiate.net Paul Flanigan

    COULD NOT AGREE MORE. Re: Speaking at events – too many organizers think that the trade off is you get an audience of potential clients in return. (You don’t. They paid already.) Re: Pint consulting, so true. But there is a fine line between marketing and consulting, both of which must work together to land the $$ client.

    I can respect a dash of quid pro quo if it benefits both, but simply picking a brain doesn’t benefit the brain. At all.

    Time + Brains = Money. Period.

  • http://igniteyouressence.com Justin Popovic

    Well written piece of advice here. I was the exact same way for the first couple of years of my entrepreneurial career and it cost me BIG time. I would ask too little for my work or I would give my services away for free which, in my opinion, devalues it.

    There is a fine line between giving away great content and ideas for self branding purposes and giving away your skill and expertise to your own detriment.

    I think you can still be a “nice guy” and very aggressive when it comes to billing for your work. You are representing a business and when that business does not receive fair compensation for work completed, it needs to be addressed.

    I think this article will raise some eyebrows of new/startup business owners.

  • Sgurley

    Since there is always someone willing to do it for nothing even if you’re not, this will always be a problem. There are two alternatives:

    1) represent something that is so compelling and differentiated in value as to be wholly unique

    2) find a company, establish a collaborative partnership in which they underwrite your expense and income in exchange for the visibility and market advantage that you give them. A Truly symbiotic relationship.

  • http://dannybrown.me Danny Brown

    Just. Say. No.

    Amazing how that works.

    • http://spinsucks.com Gini Dietrich

      It works in dating. Why can’t it work in business?

  • http://www.davemadethat.com Dave Delaney

    Great post C.C. I’ve run into this too.

    One big advantage of organizing events like the monthly Geek Breakfast and Nashcocktail is we can meet there.

    If someone has reached out to me to “pick my brain”, I invite them to join me at one of the two monthly events. They are free to attend, so it’s a perfect way to connect with folks who would like to have a casual chat in person.

  • http://spinsucks.com Gini Dietrich

    My favorite is, “If you speak for free, you’ll have access to 200 people who want to hire you.” Yeah. Has never happened. In fact, the one time I did do it for free to have access to those people, the conference coordinators refused to give me the attendee list and said if I didn’t collect business cards on my own, I didn’t do a good enough job. Besides, if you speak or consult for free, you’re not giving yourself the credit you’re worth. I’m totally with you.

  • Anonymous

    My sentiments exactly. It seems, from talking to speakers in other fields, they get paid and not just for travel.

    I’ll add on I know conferences that charge money and somebody makes a profit but then still has “volunteers.” I’m not volunteering to make someone else a profit. My time is too valuable. I will and have for a good cause; but I think it’s fleecing people in the “I make money but you do the work for free” situation. Same with not even paying for travel for speakers.

  • http://twitter.com/bryanrhoads Bryan Rhoads

    So very true – I just cancelled a trip to speak in Italy, while sounds fantastic, it would have been a 3-day trip for a 45 min presentation.

    Organizers are counting on you being a nice guy. Great post. And beyond charging for attendees, they also have sponsors.

  • Anonymous

    Brilliant post man. THanks Justin Popovic for sending me this link!

    Seems like everyone wants to have a free coffee meeting. I now have my assistant respond with my hourly rates to meet @ Starbucks. No worries, I will get my own latte ;)

  • http://twitter.com/SucceedSpeaking Shawn

    Great post here, C.C. You’re not alone in this (as you know). I’ve been booking speakers for almost 12 years now and I discovered this problem of people undervaluing speakers pretty early in the process. For some reason, asking a speaker to show up somewhere for free (or in exchange for a meal or even a couple of nights of hotel accommodations) seems okay, but if you ask the other person, “Would you come to work today for free? Or for a cup of coffee? Or for a hotel stay?” they’d think you were crazy! We all have to do better at standing up for our value.

  • http://danieljohnsonjr.com danieljohnsonjr

    This would make a great Managing the Gray episode, I’m thinking. It echoes what you’ve talked about in the past.

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  • Anonymous

    I love the term Pint Consulting. Brilliant. And you’re correct about the attitude of folks to try to get your services for free. I’ve found that it’s not a malicious move for the most part, but is one borne of ignorance.

    Folks don’t think of verbal guidance the same way as they do solder and pipes or prescriptions and treatment. They think that if you can share an idea easily, verbally, quickly, it might not have the same worth as a bucket full of parts and a truck used to haul them around.

    I’ve been at this gig – creating content for folks – since 1988. I have never run into anyone who has offered to pay me for an opinion on their idea…yet that’s what I charge clients for when I create product names, taglines, branding and even headlines for articles I write.

    It’s a battle of education and our power is constantly usurped by the folks around us who like to ‘play’ in this environment. I don’t think that will change. Especially when folks believe all they need is a flip cam or a recorder and a computer to compete with Madison Avenue agencies or Pulitzer-prize-winning journalists.

    What I’m trying to say is “I feel your pain.”

    I’ll leave you with something I heard years ago from a fellow writer. He said that someone at a party expressed their excitement about an idea for a book and unintentionally implied that it would be fun to go and write one…especially because it was such a good idea. My writer friend said to this guy – an eye surgeon – “yeah, I’ve thought the same thing about cataract surgery. I’ve been thinking it would be fun to go and do some of that.”