Chris Pirillo » Business

Is Charging for Information Right or Wrong?

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 05:00:11 +0000

Is Charging for Information Right or Wrong?

Recently, Google+ has been the topic of conversation – ya know, part of that same conversation people have claimed was on Twitter (yet, impossible to follow due to Twitter not having a UX to support conversations).

I’ve been having a blast with my Plus profile – interspersing fun and functional, day in and day out. It’s insanely addictive, reminiscent of so many other social platforms in their nascent stages. We’ve been posting a flurry of helpful Google+ articles on LockerGnome over the past week or so. Why? Because people are looking for help.

My friend Chris Brogan is taking flak for wanting to teach people how to effectively use Google Plus. The arguments seem to be of one of two types: (1) It’s too early, don’t waste your money on something that could change, or the traditional blogger argument that (2) Information should be free, and Chris is a “douchebag” for charging anything for what could be given for free.

Apparently, his two-hour webinar is $47. You probably spend more on a large popcorn at a 3D movie with a date than you would on this two-hour discussion, so it’s not that a lack of money would be an issue. When you consider the lost opportunity of not being on the platform early, getting a foothold in the community could be huge if this thing is as big as everyone thinks it will be. And if Google+ flops, it would have been $47 spent – the cost of treating your family to see “Cars 2″ in theaters today (which may prove to be an even bigger waste of two hours and money).

As to the charging for his intelligence? Of course he is going to charge! If you give stuff away for free, people don’t put ANY value on it. Information is power, and the power doesn’t come cheap. If you aren’t wanting to invest in yourself or your business by leveraging someone else’s known experience, then this isn’t the seminar for you. If so, quit raining on everyone else’s parade.

And when people look for help, you can provide it – or not. You can even charge for that help – or not. And it’s the former decision, not the latter, which has seemingly given rise to a situation. Chris Brogan is under attack for planning a paid webinar around his intelligence – and his gathered intelligence, at this stage, is likely no more deep than any other Google+ user.

The platform is too new to understand it completely – but that doesn’t mean that you should wait before you NEED to begin to understand its current promise and potential. Don’t you wish you had been in early on Twitter so that you could have been on the Suggested Lists? And so that you would have built community there when the followers were high quality and the spam ratio was low?

Either way, Chris is under attack by extremely smart people who make money online by other means. This is where I’m a bit lost. What right do I have, as anybody, to tell someone what they can and cannot do with their time? What right do I have, as a person who needs to make money SOME way to pay the bills, to tell someone else how much their own time and intelligence are worth?

It’s just… rude.

I faced this type of insolence every single year I was involved in the production of the Gnomedex conference. Despite bending over backwards to create a VIP-level event for a peanut-butter price point, I had a slew of people tell me that I was doing it wrong. And Chris Brogan, by the way, was a Gnomedex attendee long before he became the person people know him as today – supportive, intelligent, and savvy.

My business organized a meetup a few weeks back with several dozen registrants, both free and paid. Interesting statistic: over 90% of the people who didn’t pay anything for a ticket didn’t bother to show up, whereas 100% of the people who purchased a pass actually attended. It was only ~$20, largely to cover their parking and a drinking ticket – there was no real profit made, and (honestly) LockerGnome probably lost money on the meetup due to the time we spent on putting it together. Thus marked the last time I ever do anything for people for free. This week’s meetup is about Google+ in Seattle (of all things).

Put up, or shut up.

If you don’t think your time is worth anything, that’s fine – it’s your time. But you can’t sit there and claim that someone else’s time is worth nothing – especially when that someone has gone to great lengths to share so much intelligence *without* charging for it!

I probably know just about as much about Google+ at this point as anybody does, but that doesn’t mean that EVERYBODY understands why this is likely to become increasingly relevant. Still, I have half a mind to pay for Chris’s webinar because I support what he’s doing for people who don’t quite understand

NEWS FLASH: Companies make an obscene amount of money by doing what you do for your personal account for free. Like, to the tune of several THOUSAND dollars to manage a Twitter and Facebook account. I’m not kidding. I’m not even close to kidding. And here’s the thing: those businesses are NOT overpaying for such services.

Here’s the thing: Chris isn’t promising an all-out guide to would-be or active Google+ users. He’s offering guidance. There’s a gigantic difference.

I wound up “plussing” what was going to be a longer piece on my Google+ profile a few minutes back, but decided to keep the update succinct: “Is it because Google+ is ‘too young,’ or because people believe that just because THEY get social media without paying for it that everybody should get social media without paying for it?”

A few notable comments have come from this…

Tim Czerwinski:

I don’t see anything wrong with what he is doing. He doesn’t appear to be misleading anyone about the product he is selling. He does not appear to be making unsupportable claims. This is in line with what he does for a living. If the knowledge he is selling is worth the price, people will pursue it. if not, it will go away. that is what markets are for. There is a huge industry built around facebook. Why would Google+ be different?

Ravarius Castor:

Well I definitely think it’s a little foolish to offer ‘expert’ device about a service that isnt’t even close to fully realized, but as already said as well I think this is a case of supply and demand. He feels he can supply guidance worth paying for, and it’s credibility and value falls on the consumers and their demand for what he is offering.

Tim Goebel:

If Mr. Brogan offers a service that others find worth exchanging their money with him to receive, I have no idea why that would be of interest to anyone else? No one is forced to do business with him, as far as I understand the situation, and if his clients feel that they receive value for their money, what can anyone outside of the transaction possibly be objecting to?

Dunno. I’m largely in the camp of “Let Chris Do What Chris Wants to Do” – which intersects with the “Do What You Want to Do but Don’t Piss in Someone’s Cheerios” camp. I’m not here to claim that what Chris has to share is anything more than Chris’s insights on Google’s new social network, but… hey, how much is two hours of your time worth? If it’s nowhere near $47, maybe you should spend less time bitching and more time moving your hourly rate north.

Is Charging for Information Right or Wrong?

Happy Days are Here Again

Chris Pirillo — Mon, 25 May 2009 05:36:32 +0000

Happy Days are Here Again

Ok, so sue me. I couldn’t think of a title for tonight’s link roundup! It’s true that a lot of my time is spent reading what other people are doing online. I consider it a part of my job! I define what I do as information sharing. How else am I going to know what’s hot – what’s important – what’s NOW – if I don’t read what the rest of you are saying? Do YOU take the time to read what other people in the world have to say? Or are you too busy worrying about your own thing? If you fall into that latter category, I feel bad for you. You honestly need to expand yourself, and get out of your own box. See the world… right from your computer.

Happy Days are Here Again

Should Neighborhood Community Businesses be Online?

Chris Pirillo — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:52:24 +0000

Should Neighborhood Community Businesses be Online?

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BizBuzz, LLC was a presenter at Live Pitch 2008 in Seattle recently. BizBuzz has one goal: to unite all businesses within a community under one umbrella resource. Having a centralized community location for all businesses, people will be able to find what they need faster. Businesses will also be able to network much easier, to better meet the needs of their communities.

BizBuzz, LLC

Business Category: Tech Startup
Founder: Nancy McManus
Inspiration for Product/Service: I was looking to give myself, my friends, and my neighbors a vehicle to access the incredible local resources that exist in our community. Previously, these resources were outside our grasp, as there was not a well-known centralized place to turn to find the answers.
Target Customer/Audience: The businesses and the neighbors in a single neighborhood of a big city.
Synopsis of Product / Service: BizBuzz, LLC is a unique community-driven website that cuts through the chatter of Internet congestion and allows you to garnish the best (and often unknown) resources of your own community… while also enabling every business to have a indexable web presence.
Main Company Contact: Nancy McManus

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Should Neighborhood Community Businesses be Online?

Technology Jobs in Smaller Communities

Chris Pirillo — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:31:16 +0000

Technology Jobs in Smaller Communities

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I grew up in Iowa, and I was a big Evangelist in Iowa as far as helping to bring small businesses to Iowa. Mike sent me an email, asking what I thought about Iowa enticing Microsoft into building a DataCenter in DesMoines … especially in light of the recent Class Action Lawsuit against Microsoft.

I think it’s a great idea for any business to go into a location that is stateside which doesn’t necessarily have… well. Maybe DesMoines isn’t as “sexy” as San Fransisco, LA or Chicago. However, that weakness is also the strength. The costs are much lower for nearly everything. The people are more down-to-earth in general. This makes it easier to attract and keep good employees for the long-term.

Microsoft has said it must have a good supply of energy, water, workers and certain fiber optics. So the location would have to be near a power plant, have an available network of “dark fiber,” have a substantial water supply, and be along an interstate. Iowa lawmakers are trying to fast-track a set of tax breaks for Microsoft through the Iowa House this week. The legislation would offer a state sales and use tax exemptions on purchases of computers, equipment and electricity necessary for use in a Web portal business with an investment of at least $200 million in Iowa. And the technology equipment inside the building would be exempt from property taxes. The tax breaks are the same as the ones lawmakers passed last year to lure high-tech giant Google.

Overall, I think ANY big business would benefit greatly by opening up off-shoots in smaller communities.

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Technology Jobs in Smaller Communities

Good Business Guidelines

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:41:13 +0000

Good Business Guidelines

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I’ve owned and operated my own business for many years now. For the most part, it’s gone very well for me. Yes, of course I’ve made mistakes. But… I’ve also made some excellent business decisions. I don’t see myself ever working for anyone other than myself again. I love working with vendors, helping people save money by passing along savings. I love the interaction from my community. This is just something that I truly love. I received the following email the other day, regarding business.

Recently, I saw the “Investment” video you posted, in which a 19 year old set up a business in Philippines. So i reckoned, now people know how to start up a business, why not teach them how to make it last. I’ve been looking into business since the age of 15. I have picked up tips and advice from businessman and women all over the world through different conferences. I have summed up ten values in which any organization should have in their organizational culture in order to last. I tried to do a top 5 list, but 5 just weren’t enough. Here are the 10 values:

Loyalty Always be loyal to your organization, employees and employers. This can help you in the long run with relationships with your colleagues, bosses and family!
Commitment This has always been one of the key values that drive a business. Recently, I’ve read your post on “How to Start (and KEEP) a Blog”. This also adds on to the facts on commitment to a certain task.
Respect Always have healthy respect for your bosses (positioned above you), your peers (beside you), and your subordinates (below you). This is achieved by having humility in everything you do. Humility is shown in the actions you do, the words you say and most importantly, your attitude. Always guard against sedition (elevating yourself to the position of whom you are working under).
Accountability Always be accountable! Whether to your bosses or colleagues. This is one of the things to watch out for in working in an organization. By being accountable, you are indirectly building up on your connectedness with others.
Family Never neglect your family members. Your relationships you have with them means more than your job post in the long run! Take time off from work to spend quality time, if not some time, with your family. Whatever happens at home can clearly be reflected in work performance.
Love Being a loving person is always beneficial to either yourself or others. Be forgiving, have mercy on the poor soul that just burst your blood vessels. It ain’t any good to yourself or the other party if there are any hatchets that aren’t buried yet. Having love in the organization results in better service in the case of service industries.
Faithfulness This can also include trustworthiness. If your clients don’t trust you, and your subordinates don’t trust your business plan, what is there left in your organization? Trust is essential in any business. Here are 3 things you have to be faithful in:
- Little things (if you can’t be trusted with a small project, how can you ever expect to receive a huge project?)
- Other people’s belongings (if you can’t even be responsible for your neighbor’s things, how can you be with your company’s?)
- Finance
Hard work/Diligence Where will you get your profits if you don’t work hard? A start-up will always have it’s hiccups. But if you work hard enough, you’ll get guaranteed results.
Integrity Crucial! Always be truthful in your dealings and actions. No matter whatever losses you’ve made through truthful dealings, people will still trust you more.
Generosity Generosity begets generosity. If you are generous, even in small amounts, you’ll eventually receive the same treatment.

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Good Business Guidelines

Making an Investment in Yourself for Business

Chris Pirillo — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:42:31 +0000

Making an Investment in Yourself for Business

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Robert has sent in some excellent tips for going into business, saying: “I will say I have learned all this and more since opening my first business in the Philippines which was a Drinks shop and I’m only 19. Its been open for just under a year and I’m soon to open my second one.”

Market Study – See what your local and Global markets desires,wants and needs are. If you introduce a business that delivers a product or service for the minority of people that have money you will either fail or have a seasonal income.
Dont put all your eggs in one basket – Simply you believing that your business will work is by far not enough. Have thoughts and considerations to alternative business lines you would be happy breeching into. Sure business is going to put a big hole in your pocket but this is exactly the one reason why you should have more than one pocket. Putting all your money into that one business and then leaving your self financial broke without any backup plan or way of ever continuing life without that business is why many early entrepreneurs fail and leave them selves in worse off conditions than before they ever began.
Mind your own Business – I will give credit to the title of this tip, a Robert Kiyosaki the author of ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ and it is simply about minding your own business. Not in the sense that you shouldn’t know or take interest in what peoples personal affairs are but more that when you have already established your business, Never for one moment let your mind slip on how your business is being run. Small errors and little mistakes end up being big hassle when it gets to you. Then at the end of the day your the one loosing and your the one to sort it out. Keep records and keep track of everything that happens with your business. Money transfers, incoming stock, out-going stock the list is endless and the list depends on your line of business. The success of your business starts with the correct management and since its your business you have to be the manager.
Reinvestment – Although at the end business is about money never expect to make fast money in your first opening years. Another top reason for entrepreneurs to fail or quit is the unclarity of the return investment. Most inverters expect a fast return and this simply cannot be. What you should be doing in your first year is reinvesting in your business. For example the profit you make out of your products or service should go into: a) Expanding the range of products or services you have to offer, b) Promoting and advertising your business to places that may not know already, c) General maintenance to your equipment/Building etc, d) maintaining a reliable service for your regular and non-regular customers.
Staff / Employee’s – Just picking up anyone from the street that wants work and doesn’t mind what they get paid is asking for trouble. Also the adverse of that, finding an over qualified individual can be just too much hassle. Here are a few pointers in finding the right staff:
- Check their history before employing them, most times if there is a criminal record attached to them they don’t tend to loose there trade
- Check their personal appearance, if your gut reaction is bad imagine how your customers will feel being greeted by that person
- Trust, this one is urned over time but one mistake of bad trust and there should be no hesitance for you to get rid of that person straight away
- Have them trained in the way you would like your customers to be treated and make sure this training is thorough to every little detail. For example if one of your customers accidentally leaves his wallet in your shop, your staffs standard procedure should be to take that wallet and pass it to the front desk, most likely that customer will come back and wont have to worry about his wallet ending up in the wrong hands
- Lastly keep your staff happy and let them enjoy working for you, keep an open mind of being equal with them but also letting them know your still the boss and should be respected. Happy staff can equal a satisfied customer so keep this in mind when it comes to the personalty of your staff, although you can never really change the personality, you can always change the person.

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Making an Investment in Yourself for Business

Why Your IT Department Doesn’t Love the iPhone

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:25:41 +0000

Why Your IT Department Doesn’t Love the iPhone

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DC wrote in to say he and his colleagues feel that Apple should try and market the iPhone to IT and corporate professionals, because of the obvious increase in revenue. Here is his list of reasons why IT Departments hate the iPhone.

Doesn’t natively support push business email or over-the-air calendar synchronization The iPhone can sync with Microsoft’s Exchange and IBM’s Lotus Notes over IMAP and SMTP ports, but your server and security admins have to configure their infrastructure to do so or purchase a mobile gateway from Synchronica or Azaleos.
Doesn’t accommodate third-party applications, including those internally developed This is a show stopper for companies with enterprise mobility initiatives that require line-of-business applications like mobile sales force automation or an industry-specific application like mobile claims.
Lacks a hard keypad that provides feedback, which isn’t ideal for rapid and accurate input Many respected journalists have come to the conclusion that ultimately the keyboard “is a nonissue,” but only after five days of use. In speaking with enterprise-class mobile device users on a daily basis, the vast majority have found that they need some form of tactile feedback from their QWERTY or numeric keyboards.
Lacks a removable battery, so when the battery kicks it, so does the device Apple does not sell replacement batteries for the iPhone. So when the battery dies, so does worker productivity.
Is only the first generation Even Apple enthusiasts admit that there are some weaknesses they’d like to see fixed in future generations, like making it easier to activate the device, improving the battery life and sound quality, and, most importantly, allowing it to connect to higher-speed networks (3G).

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Why Your IT Department Doesn’t Love the iPhone

I Heart Closed Systems

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 02:00:15 +0000

I Heart Closed Systems

Why do companies hate their users? No, seriously – there’s an enormous disconnect between marketing and business affairs across every single industry on the planet. Believe it or not, this isn’t a rant specifically about Microsoft or Apple.

Someone sent me a link to How to Quit the Gym (or Anything) the other day. “Once they’ve got your credit card number, charges on subscriptions, services and memberships can seem impossible to stop.” This really worries me, largely because Ponzi buys every subscription that dangles in front of her face – then she forgets about them and we wind up spending money on services that never get used.

We’re had already been paying for an URGE account – on top of a Napster account – yet that didn’t stop Ponzi for purchasing access to the same goddamned album through another goddamned music service a couple of weeks ago. Jebus! Enough! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read the options that one might excercise when trying to escape a contract:

Death (with proof)
Military service (again, with proof)
Pay more

Really?! There should be a law passed that makes it just as easy to get OUT of a contract as it is to get INTO the goddamned thing. Why do companies hate their users so much? Seriously, why?

I Heart Closed Systems