Last Wednesday, I emailed 13 free resources I’ve built over the past two years.

A client and friend, Ollie, messaged:

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“Just seen your email. Love it. I’m concerned because my giveaways get great responses on social media but no buyers. I see influencers say they’re terrible for business. What do you think?”

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For reference, Ollie is an injury specialist making decent money with his high ticket offer.

He’s in demand. For his giveaways to flop there must be something wrong. So I whipped out my Sherlock Holmes hat and asked what he last created.

His answer?

‘The 5 best shoulder exercises to get out of pain’.

And here, my dear Watson, lies the problem.

Ollie shows people how to get out of pain. If his free stuff does this too, why on earth would someone pay him for his advice?

It’s a common mistake. One that’s easy to overlook. One I’ve also fell victim too.

And one that’s easily avoided if you listen to the next 2 minutes of advice.

The purpose of free value is not to educate your audience.

It’s to excite them.

When you give away steps, blueprints, and frameworks, you’ll get many ‘thank yous’ in your inbox but zero dollars in your bank.

Sure, money ain’t the only metric of successful writing.

But it is an important one.

If you can’t get your audience to pay for your advice, you don’t know if they’re listening.

Yes, some will take your free stuff. But most will glance through then quickly forget you exist—it’s only when someone invests that they are truly invested.

But that's not to say free value doesn’t work.

It can be incredibly profitable… if you do it right.

Let me explain.

Your free assets should target the beliefs surrounding your offer so people want to buy. Your paid assets then get them the results.

For example, with Ollie’s program (which, by the way, I’ve taken, he’s 100x better than any physio I’ve seen), a great free asset would be:

The 5 Shoulder Injury Myths Your Physiotherapist Doesn’t Want You to Know.

Imagine how curious you’d be if you were chronically injured. Inside, he gives advice you haven’t heard before. He throws stones at the conventional path to prime his prospects for a different, more effective way to recover:

His.

If he then collects emails with this ‘Authority Asset,’ he knows every lead is problem-aware and intrigued by what he has to say. This is perfect for sending story-based emails—like this one I’m writing you.

And that, Reader, is how you turn free value into good money.

Hope this helps,

Kieran

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P.S.

The free value trap applies to writing, too.

That’s why ‘Excite don’t Educate’ is Rule 3 of 10 of the Universal Rules of Magnetic Emails I give in my upcoming course.

It’s also one of the seven criteria for creating Authority Assets that build your business.

If you want a simple process for writing emails that lead to more relationships, reputation, and revenue, the launch is 1st September.

Join 2033 entrepreneurs on the waitlist by clicking the link below.

​You’ve got me excited.​