Free Information... What's It Worth?

The Value of Information
By Trina L.C. Schiller

Have you ever heard that giving something away for free automatically makes people think it has no real value? That if something is free it must be junk?

Well I am here to tell you that is a big bunch of horse hockey! It is a sales ploy. It is a lie that you and everyone else have been told, for the express purpose of parting you with your cash.

Just because something has a huge price tag does not necessarily mean it is better than something else that is being offered for less, or for free, especially when it comes to information. It is an illusion.

Do you have an ebook library? I do. I have been downloading and reading ebooks since the day I discovered they existed. Most of the books I have in my library are related to Internet marketing. Some of them are very, very good, and others are the epitome of mediocrity. Some of them were free and others I paid money for. Believe it or not, the price tag has nothing to do with the actual value of the contents. Some of the most valuable information I have received has been given to me for free.

I would like to show you a few things that I stumbled upon in my Internet travels which didn't cost me a dime, but taught me a great deal.

The most recent was this ebook: "Success In 10 Steps" I picked this book up at a web site called Mentoring For Free.

I didn't even read the web site, I just downloaded the book, because it was free, and because I was interested by the title.

I read all 95 pages of this book, and I was honestly impressed by every word. There was no hype, no product promotion of any kind; not an affiliate link in it at all. It was honest information with more value to me than any book I had ever spent money on.

I went back to the web site and read every word of it. I signed up for a free teleconference and attended the call.

I was totally blown away by the information on the call! (The speaker on the call was none other than John Fogg, author of another awesome free book I've read... "The Greatest Networker in the World."

The call was an hour or so in length, and it was time well spent. I hung up feeling like I had just been given something of extreme importance and value. I was given not one, but several golden nuggets of wisdom, and it didn't cost me anything but my time.

The author of, "Success In 10 Steps," runs a free mentoring program, mentioned earlier, Mentoring For Free. What this man is offering for free, other people charge enormous fees for. I have seen mentoring programs that go for $100's of dollars to $1000's of dollars. I've even participated in some of them myself.

Were those paid programs worth the money spent? For the most part, not really. I walked away having learned some things I didn't know, but truthfully, for the amount I paid, I felt overcharged. It really depends on the program and what its focus is. Not all mentoring programs or seminars can be applied to every situation.

For instance, if you are building a home based business as a distributor of say, water filtering systems, an affiliate marketing mentoring seminar probably won't help you much. However, if you are attempting to build an empire based on the promotion of affiliate programs, you would most likely get a great deal out of that type of seminar.

Side Note: The one thing that intrigued me the most about the Mentoring For Free program was that it focused on network marketing as a whole. It is the only program that I have seen which teaches skills that can be used to build any network marketing business, whether it is online, offline, selling products, services, whatever. What it teaches is not company or product specific.

Most of the other programs I have come into contact with are very product or company specific. There is nothing wrong with that, except when you are lead to believe that what you'll learn can be applied to any business.

The true value of any program is what you actually learn and can apply to your own business, not how much it costs.

Here is a personal example of a mentoring program that changed my life. First of all, this program had nothing to do with a business. This program was all about personal success. This program was not free either, at least not for everyone. Even though this example is not about a business mentoring program, it will demonstrate the point I am trying to make about value.

Back in 1995, I was married to a very abusive man. I felt isolated, powerless, and afraid. Although others, my co-workers, friends, family, saw me as a strong and confident woman, I did not see myself possessing those traits at all. I was afraid to leave my husband for fear I could not make it on my own. I didn't think I earned enough money to support my child alone. I was afraid of being homeless.

Because my husband was court ordered to participate in a therapy program for abusive men, I was introduced to a woman who ran a therapy program for abused women. This program of hers was very expensive. If memory serves me correctly, it cost $250.00 per session and the whole program was 20 weeks long. I had no insurance to pay for this.

This woman saw how desperately I needed help, how trapped I was, and just how awful my husband was to live with, for she was partnered with the therapist my husband was required to see.

To make a long story short, she invited me to join her program for free. I spent 20 weeks with four other women who were paying full price for this program. By the time I had been in the program for 15 weeks, I had decided I was getting a divorce; that I could and would make it on my own no matter what. I learned that I had power, I had strength, and I deserved better out of life.

Another woman in my group walked away from all of this wonderful learning having gotten nowhere. She paid good money for exactly what I had gotten for free, and had benefited not at all. She is still, to this very day, living in misery.

I found tremendous, life changing value in what I was given, and she found nothing. So it really doesn't matter how much you pay for something. Whether it comes to you for free, or with a huge price tag, what it all boils down to is what you are able to do with the information; how you apply it to your situation, if it can be applied to your situation.

Just because something costs money doesn't guarantee that it will work for you. And, just because something is free doesn't mean it has no value. You must evaluate each offering and contemplate how it will apply to your own situation. Don't prejudge the quality of something based on its price tag.

Please feel free to download the following ebooks for some truly awesome information. It's all FREE! To save these PDF files to your hard drive, click on the link and allow it to load. Then click the SAVE ICON inside the Adobe Acrobat Tool Bar.

The Science of Getting Rich By Wallace D. Wattles
As A Man Thinketh By James Allen
Why People Fail By Ken Evoy
The Art of Money Getting By P.T. Barnum
A Home Based Business: the 21st Century Lifeboat By Roger Essen & Rachel Keeney




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Keywords: free information, free mentoring, mentoring for free, seminars