Why Business Leaders Give Away Their Time: And Why 2025 is the Year I’m Stopping
Time is one of the most valuable assets in business, especially when you are a small business owner. If you’re not billing for your time, you’re not making money. I am grateful that I enjoy the work I do and that I enjoy the clients I work with. I don’t mind an extra meeting here or there. And if you are a “larger” client for us, then, sure, I’m going to give away a little more free time than I normally would out of good faith. But everyone will tell you why this is a bad idea - including me. Because I know it’s not always the right thing to do, even when I am doing it. Is it because I’m a woman? Is it because I was a teacher in a past life? Or maybe because I score as “The Helper” on the Enneagram Personality Test (it’s my natural inclination to help others). Whatever the reason (or, reasons), I need to make some adjustments.
Giving as a Growth Strategy
At a high-level, I believe giving away a little is good for both the client and a growing business. In my experience, if there is a new topic or project that comes up that our team hasn’t explored and the client needs support with, I usually feel flexible enough to try it out free of charge for two reasons.
Our team will learn a new skill set and establish a new project or template that we can use for future clients
We’ll build trust with that client by going the extra mile and strengthening our relationship
I can look back on a few projects that we created for clients - for free - that became staples in our service offering including a handbook on “How to Take Good Photos for Social Media,” and “On-Site Content Creation.” So how come some freebies work - and others are just a waste of time? If 2024 taught me anything about client relationships, it’s that I need to do a much better job balancing my natural inclination to help with what the client actually needs.
A Case Study on When Not To Give Time Away
In the previous two examples of free projects we did, the clients needed those resources - they didn’t ask for them. And I wasn’t sure if it was something that we could provide long-term, so I was willing to “test” it out for the greater good of the relationship. This past year, I had a large client tell me what they wanted - versus my finding a gap in what they needed. And as any professional business owner who works in a niche space knows - this was my ultimate downfall.
The client wanted a marketing plan - and I was happy to oblige (I love creating marketing plans!), but I should have pushed back. What they needed was a come to Jesus understanding of who they were as a brand and how they wanted to be perceived with their customers. So instead of me spending five to six hours on a marketing plan that we ultimately didn’t execute, I should have spent one hour - tops - working with their team to determine who they wanted to be. Because when we presented their marketing plan, they didn’t like it. They couldn’t tell us why they didn’t like it - except that it didn’t speak to them. I knew better than them in this scenario, and I still let them tell me what they wanted. When they wanted to terminate our agreement early, I wasn’t surprised, but I certainly felt that if I had maintained better control of the free time I gave them, I would have been much less sour about their parting, and they - might have - received a better outcome from the partnership.
The Long-Term Downside of Working for Free
I honestly didn’t realize how much time I had given away in 2024 until I pulled my profit and loss statement in December. Under “discounts given,” I was looking at tens of thousands in free work. (That sound you currently hear is me banging my head against my desk). What felt like a couple of hundred dollars here and there really added up. No wonder by the end of 2024 I was feeling overwhelmingly exhausted with work. I was giving away the one thing I’ll never have more of - time.
Not only did this number impact my bottom line, but it also devalued my expertise. If clients were becoming used to me “helping out” more often than not, they would simply begin to expect more of me - and not to charge them for it. It was an expectation - and hole - that I had created and therefore had no one to blame but myself.
Setting Boundaries While Still Being Generous
Historically, I am pretty comfortable giving away free time. But this will be the year that I draw a line in the sand. Not just for my mental sanity, but by extension my team and family’s sanity as well. When I spend extra time with a client who is not paying us, that’s time I could be using to find another - paying - client. And when I inevitably reach burnout not long before said client usually pulls the plug, my husband hears little else (and the wine bottles start piling up in the recycling bin). Going forward, I’m making a conscious effort to give away free time to the types of clients that fit with our mission:
Women-owned businesses (especially if they are in a business that supports other women)
Actual friends and family who are looking for support with a project or just need some feedback
Non-profits that matter to us. You know we love our Veterans, but we also support teachers and students, domestic violence education and adoption education.
Moving Forward with Boundaries and Support
If there is anything that I can say for sure about 2025, it’s that I will personally have less time to devote to clients, and I don’t expect my team to pick up my bad habits and work for free. So how can I remain helpful without giving away time? I’ve decided to push further on a new(er) service, Content Coaching, where we can help mentor and guide a client’s marketing strategy without building it for them. Instead, they come to us with their ideas, and we help them massage the plan so it fits their resources. At the end of the year, I hope our bottom line will be a little fuller, even if we don’t sign on one new client (which we will). But charging what we are worth for small businesses will make a huge difference. That is one thing I know for sure.