Why Generosity might be the smartest move you can make right now to grow your creative work
The simple act that builds trust, stands out, boosts YOUR mood and sells.
Hey you!
I think it is fair to say that most people are feeling a bit jaded right now, especially those of us who are self employed, running small businesses and trying to build something.
Everything feels a bit harder than it used to doesn’t it? Costs are up, energy is down (and not just because of the summer and the bloody heatwaves!) and the general mood in the UK, the US and beyond seems more “batten down the hatches” than “throw those curtains wide”.
It does not exactly feel like a generous time to be living in.
So much of what we are fed by the mainstream and social media channels has a spirit of meanness about it and I feel like the looking after number one, individualistic mindset has never seemed more prevalent.
And yet, in my experience, generosity can be one of the best strategies a small creative business can use, even when things are tight for everyone. Especially when things are tight actually. We need generosity these days more than ever, for all sorts of reasons, practical, emotional and fiscal.
Before you start to wonder or get turned off, generosity is not about giving everything away for free or working yourself into burnout for the sake of being nice to everyone, regardless of their ability to buy from you.
I saw people do this during the pandemic. they made the assumption that no one had any money anymore, or that the pain around them meant they had to be endlessly kind. They started creating a whole load of content and stuff for free or a very low cost and then crashed. (The truth was, in the pandemic lots of people had the same income and a willingness to spend differently, but not many creative businesses capitalised on that - a story for another day i think!)
MY version of generosity is about choosing to share something of real value, something from your heart, without keeping score, in the knowledge that some of that value and goodwill, will come back to you.
It is about surprising people, delighting them, making them feel seen and valued by you, and leaving them thinking, “Well, that was unusual - in a good way.”
Here is why generosity matters for those trying to grow their business (or simply keep it going) in tricky times:
It feels good. There is a small hit of joy in knowing you have made someone else’s day better. By knowing that you are doing some good in the world. That mood boost can carry over into the rest of your work, motivate you, give you energy to do other things. We all need this at the moment.
It builds trust. People buy from people they trust, and generosity is one of the fastest ways to build that. Trust is even more important when people are being more careful about who they spend their money with.
It makes you memorable. In a world of endless scroll and click and half arsed freebies, the person who freely offers something really cool and valuable definitely stands out and draws people to them.
It helps sales. This is not about being manipulative. It is simply about creating a natural flow from ‘free and useful’ to ‘paid and even better.’ It’s knowing that you don’t lose anything by giving things away.
If you have ever received a thoughtful freebie from a business, you know how it works. You download something that is actually helpful or just brilliant in some way, you use it, it solves a problem, brings you joy and then you are more likely to buy from that person when the time comes.
I got onto a visual artist’s list recently and I was so bowled over by what she then sent me. Over the next few days I got access to a really valuable series of resources. Videos, how to’s, all delivered really professionally and clearly. I honestly would have paid for something of that quality and I have not for one second considered leaving her list and I have sent her details to a few other women that I know would like to know about her work.
This is why I am so keep to help creative women create really great versions of what is often called a “lead magnet”, a free, high-value resource that gives people a taste of your best work.
If you do it well, it is a real win-win. They get something useful right away, and you get to keep the conversation going with someone who is now much more likely to become a paying customer and stay on your list. And you get to feel GOOD. Let’s not forget that. felling good about what you do and offer and connecting with it’s value is so so important in terms of maintaining a useful mindset.
It also makes asking people to join your mailing list less icky as you can proudly offer them the chance to sign up for your brilliant thing, instead of feeling like you are immediately in sales mode.
However, a lot of creative women either do not have a lead magnet at all, or they have one that is so vague or generic or out of date that it is not really pulling its weight.
Which is why I have put together my new mini-course, Let’s Make Lead Magnets!
We will spend a week together creating a new lead magnet so signing up to your mailing list is irresistible to the right people. You’ll also have a further week of contact before we pledge to have the thing done and dusted and ready to share - and we will all help each other share them too!
We start Monday 1 September.
Details are to come but you will get access to some short Zoom sessions (live and recorded), downloads, a pop-up WhatsApp group for support, and a chance to share your lead magnet with my own 2,500+ audience.
It is £35 though there will be an early bird when I release full details (or £20 for my paid Substack members as a thank you).
If you want to join, click here to get on the waitlist. Let’s create something generous, valuable, and very you!
With love,
Sarah x
Photo by Elaine Casap on Unsplash