As a writer, I lurk in the background of many other writers' email lists. They're great to keep an eye on what the competition is up to, get inspiration, learn new techniques and skills, and generally nod along in agreement with their views and opinions.
There are even a few writers I follow who have with fairly....divisive opinions, though. I often cringe when reading their emails before filing it away, shaking my head in wonderment at their angst-fuelled rants about what's wrong in the world, the rise of 'cancel culture' 'the tide of woke' (hate that phrase).
Now I'm a pretty liberal guy, and I have fairly established and (probably 'woke' 😖) opinions on things like politics, race, LGBTQ+ rights, gender identity, religion, all the usual hot-topics that do the rounds.
Still, for the most part, I keep these to myself and ignore the thoughts of those I don't agree with.
Water off a duck's back.
If I flew into a rage every time I read a controversial view, I'd be spewing bile every time I scrolled through social media, or worse, ventured into the comments section of YouTube or the Guardian.
But, I feel like I have to talk about one particular point of view I just can't let slide.
I joined the mailing list of a writer who's constantly posting fairly strongly worded rants on LinkedIn about being a freelancer.
And they're the usual 'clients are bad,' 'freelancers have it tough,' 'join my membership and I'll teach you how to demand higher fees and qualify better leads and clients,' all the usual.
When I first came across this guy, I'd had a few potential clients vanish, never to be seen again, and I was feeling a little bruised.
I get it. People are busy. Priorities change. No biggy.
(but would it hurt to send even a brief courtesy "thanks but no thanks" email, so I'm not left hanging?! That aside...)
But this guy promised 'a new way' to qualify leads, and you'll never be ghosted again, so I signed up with a healthy dose of scepticism, prepared to hear what I'd heard a million times before.
And when I join mailing lists, I tend to reply to the first one so they don't end up in spam next time, and it's fun to see how they go about engaging with their newest fans:
Well... I wasn't expecting this...I'll let you read...
I stopped replying after that.
Other than the extremely frustrating habit of answering every question with a question, this is not something I can get on board with.
If I'm entering into a potential business partnership with someone, it massively impacts the dynamic if I charge money to even speak to someone.
And if I'm interested in hiring someone to work, with I know very little about, and they want me to pay for the privilege to see if they can solve my problems?
I'll pass, thanks!
Clearly, there is some merit in part of his idea—I need to make money, sure, and giving out free advice is not always the best route to take, but that advice can often lead to future work.
I've just signed up a new client who I first spoke to in December 2020.
I knew at the time, she didn't have any budget, but she was trying to grow her business, so I spent an hour talking through potential strategies and options she could try. What's the harm in that?
Well, she received a business development grant a few weeks ago to expand, and did she post on UpWork looking for a writer?
No.
She sent me an email.
She had money to spend, and she didn't bother speaking to any one else.
She knew I knew what I was talking about, and I had made an effort to help her even though I knew there was nothing in it for me.
We have our kick-off call next week.
It seems I'm not alone in my opinions about charging for discovery calls—I'll be chatting to the amazing Nicki Krawczyk (all-round copywriting genius and I'm happy to say, one of my mentors) about this in an upcoming Instagram Live next week.
Follow Filthy Rich Writer to hear what we have to say.