For years, I thought I was being generous.

Giving away free content. Answering every question. Posting tips, tutorials, PDFs, the works. I thought I was building trust.

But when it came time to monetize? Something didn’t work.
I thought the problem was my offer. Or my copywriting skills. Or my price.

Turns out, the real problem was me attracting the wrong audience. I followed broken advice: “give away value.” “Teach for free.”

All garbage.

Tire kickers don’t need more information. They need to be shown the door.

Let’s see how to attract an audience that will gladly pay for your knowledge, respect your time, and help you achieve more freedom.

Stop giving away everything for free

Giving away more FREE stuff is training your audience to expect free stuff.

For years, I thought I was playing the long game by giving away value. “Serve first,” they say. “Give. Give. Give.”

So I gave. A lot. Too much.

I wrote free guides. Free templates. Free walkthroughs. I even replied to long emails from strangers with their life stories, like I was their unpaid consultant.

You know what I got in return?

A bunch of freebie seekers who dropped F-bombs the moment I wanted to finally sell something.

It’s easy to confuse generosity with strategy. But when people don’t pay, they don’t pay attention.

People tell you to give everything away for free, to blow your audience’s mind. But what really happens is that people will say, “Wait… why would I pay for this if the free stuff is already so good?”

Think of it like opening a coffee shop. You don’t spend three months handing out free cups of espresso on the street corner, hoping people will eventually walk in and buy something.

You open the door, hang a price tag, and start pouring. You might give away free small cups to taste, but you leave them thirsty, so they’d buy your 40-ounce cup.

I stopped treating content like a charity: Now I give away insight, not instructions. Tease the result. Hint at the path.

But save the full map for paying clients.

Want respect? Act like what you offer is worth paying for.

Draw a line in the sand between free content and paid content.

Sell from day 1

This idea that you need to “nurture your audience” for six months before making an offer?

Total nonsense.

Stop hiding your paid offers. Your first followers need to know there’s something to buy.
They need to know you’re someone who sells.

And first impressions matter. If you don’t sell (or at least tease you’re going to sell something), you become their favorite unpaid teacher. And when they’re finally ready to pay someone… they pay someone else!

So here’s what I do now:
Even when I’m writing free content, I mention what I sell.
Even when I’m giving value, I remind people there’s more behind an order form.

That way, I don’t have to shift gears later. Selling isn’t a plot twist. It’s just part of the story.

Sell from day 1.

Call freebie seekers by their name

Attracting the right people means pushing the wrong ones away.

That’s uncomfortable at first. Especially if you’re used to being liked.

You want to be helpful. Inclusive. Supportive.

And suddenly I’m here telling you to repel people?

Yeah. On purpose.

Because the longer you try to please everyone, the more invisible you become:

• You soften your pitch.

• You water down your message.

• And you end up attracting passive lurkers instead of decisive buyers.

This is what I call “anti-marketing.”

You want to give your audience a good reason not to subscribe or buy from you.

So, as an example, when you sign up to my email list, I tell you upfront I’m going to pitch you.

When I’m launching products, I also address the big elephant in the room. When something is going to take time, then I’m simply going to say it: “Hey, if you want to get rich by next Tuesday, I can’t help you. But if you’re willing to invest 3 months into building a business, then this might help…”

It’s not mean. It’s honest. And the right people respect it.

You don’t need more subscribers. You need better ones.

Stop pleasing. Start repelling.

Train your audience like you train the dog

People respond to how you train them. Period.

Every time you answer a 10-paragraph email from someone who’s never paid you a cent with personalized free advice? Or someone who wants to pick your brain?

You’re reinforcing bad behavior.

But if your dog pees on the carpet, and you give it a treat… what do you think it’s gonna do next time?

You either train them to respect your time… or you train them to waste it.

If you’ve paid, I’ll help.

If you haven’t? You get boundaries, and I say, “this is for paying clients — hope you understand.”

It’s not about being a jerk. It’s about protecting the people who do pay.

Because nothing screams “I don’t value my customers” louder than giving non-customers more of your time than the ones who actually support you.

And guess what — when people know you don’t give everything away for free, they start treating your offers differently.
They listen more.
They respect your time.

And when they’re ready, they buy.

Attracting paying clients starts with you

What you say in your content shapes perceptions.

If nobody’s paying you, it’s because you trained them not to — either implicitly or explicitly.

Creating content that attracts people who will gladly pay you for your knowledge goes back to putting the right content out there.

And it all starts by fixing your broken “value” mindset.