Building on Why we create for free (and why it’s hard to get paid), leveraging @Julien’s perfect how-to counter-point, and thinking about how we fund the gap between purpose and profit with sweat and tears.

Alone in Public, Charlottesville, Virginia, June 2010

So, a couple weeks ago I posted a quick riff about why it’s hard to get paid for what we do for free. Based on the response, it appears there are a more than a couple people out there thinking along the same lines.

For many of us, simply indulging our passions, creating and publishing for ourselves is enough. But for the rest of us, we harbour the belief that creating and publishing is an investment in ourselves, developing intellectual rigor, learning new skills and mediums, developing relationships, leveraging the communicative margin. We put in the time and effort to make the transition from passion to paid.

That’s a different mindset. We do “fake work” and “make work” because for us, it’s real work. We get serious about getting paid, even though it may not look obvious to the outside world. We do the seemingly ridonkulous, because we know the routes we take matter.

We invest in purpose, even as we fund the gap between purpose and profits with our blood, sweat and tears.

We know that every project, every action, every emotion, has an opportunity cost. And we know that the opportunity cost of not following your passions and interests is tremendously expensive, and usually much higher when viewed in retrospect than the here and the now.

We do. We build. We learn how to listen to the market rather than just ourselves. We learn to decern the difference between being stubborn and being determined. And if we’re good (and we tell people about it) and the market is functioning, then what we build will scale, we’ll bring others with shared purposes together, and we’ll have the impact we’re meant to have.

But still, sometimes we don’t know how to proceed.

Cue Julien, and his post How to get paid for what you do for free, a more tactical response to my more vague “link, build, recycle, shift” advice, focusing on “gaining credibility, changing context and applying leverage”.

Three methods:

• Method #1 focuses on building testimonials and word of mouth, or at the very least facilitating word of mouth.
• Method #2 is all about profiting from asymmetries: your easy = their difficult, or your knowledge = their lack of knowledge:
  

  What you do isn’t magic in your circle, so you have to go somewhere where it is.

  Meaning: translate one realm to another. It may seem easy to you, but that’s because you’ve built the knowledge, credibility and support to translate between realms.

• Method #3 is about creating and leveraging social proof:
  

  This final method is a third form of social proof, one that completes the equation with the other two: proof from others, proof from the environment, and proof from yourself. When you put together all three, you have evidence on all sides telling everyone that you’re worth a premium. Apply enough pressure on each of these, and you’re golden. But don’t apply enough, and there will be a lack of congruence when people look around, so they won’t believe it.

• But of course, it’s not just about doing the right things, but doing it the right way.
  

  Here’s the thing though: You actually have to be good at this thing you’re doing for free. You can be average and apply all of these methods I mention and still get paid, but people only feel good about it once they’ve gotten great value from your work. So you might be able to convince a few people, but then you’ll quickly go back down the ladder again. When you start to get paid, realize that you need to up your game very seriously and it’ll keep you up there. That’s when it’s even more important to work your face off.

Three keys on how to be better than free. Points for consideration of your current and future path. And hopefully, a rejuvenated conviction that the you can actually see the future you want. The inner and outer selves will align, just around the bend.

You just have to fund that gap between purpose and profit with a little more blood, sweat and tears. Trust: purpose pays. Doing good is good business. It just takes the marketplace some time to realize it sometimes. And sadly, we can’t pay the rent with tears in the meantime.

But you have it. Pick your spots, build, and keep pressing go.

Thank you, Brian, for the spark. Maybe this is why I blog.