Give Things Away for Free? Um...No.
Ah, social media, how I simultaneously love and hate thee.
There was a post on one of my feeds about how music therapists should just share their resources in an open source model so that all other music therapists could have access to those resources so they "didn't have to reinvent the wheel."
This brought me up short and has bothered me ever since I read it. (I really need to stop taking things so personally when the person who posts it does not know me at all - it wasn't directed at me, so stop reacting to it as such!)
I do give away lots of things for free - I post a therapeutic music experience (TME) that is mine alone (my intellectual property) almost every week. I have an idea right now that is not going to cost anyone (but me) any money at all. I present, I offer free webinars, I give lots of myself and my time and intellect to the music therapy world at large - and I have been criticized for it. Now (in a roundabout way), I'm being criticized for trying to earn money on my songs, visual aids, materials?
Wow.
I am currently trying really hard to start a music therapy business for myself. I have become a CBMT pre-approved provider (there are significant costs associated with that entire process), I have TME collections for sale, I have a Teachers Pay Teachers store where I am posting digital files for the low cost of $2.00 per file in an attempt to keep things low-cost for my fellow therapists, and I have an idea about traveling to assist others in completing music therapy related tasks. I've decided that my time, effort, and thoughts are valuable, and I am looking for the fine line between valuing what I can give to others and getting others to purchase those things.
Am I in it for the money? Sort of.
I guess I figure that I wouldn't volunteer my music therapy services to my clients, so why should I volunteer my music therapy services to fellow music therapists? At the same time, I know that I am a well-established therapist who makes a good living, and I can afford (right now) to cut my prices to something that a less-established therapist could afford. I would like to recoup the costs in time, effort, and money that it takes to produce what I produce and offer to the music therapy community.
Am I in it for the money? Not really.
I've been paying for CBMT fees, for website hosting, for postage, for all sorts of services for my website for 23 years. I've spent so much more than I have ever earned off my products, courses, and materials, but I still do it. This is something that I love, and I get lots of enjoyment out of it. I have invested so much of myself and my finances over the years that I have to make something of this investment so I can feel like I've accomplished something other than a time and resource black hole. Ugh.
Topics like these make me fired up and sad and plain old cranky. Just the thing that I need on my way out the door to an inclement weather day where I have to travel over 50 miles on snow-covered roads to do 10 sessions back-to-back with kids who have been through a long holiday weekend and staff members who have done the same thing. I'm leaving earlier than usual just to get myself to where I need to go. I will spend the entire time stressing about this post and trying really hard not to take the original post personally (it wasn't about me!), at the same time trying really hard to stay between the lines on the road. (Thank goodness for all the snow plow operators out there on the roads right now!!)
I am not going to offer everything that I have for free. I value who I am, what I think, and what I know works too much for that to happen anymore. In fact, I am actively working towards getting paid what I deserve for the resources that I put out into the universe. Maybe there should be no more TME Tuesday posts.
Okay, okay, MJ, you are starting to take things personally again. It's time to pull together all the stuff that you need for your stressful journey to work. It's time to get enough food and water so that you can be comfortable if you go into a ditch again. It is time to charge the cellphone so you can call others if you need to. Let's not add this imaginary stress to the rest of it.
People always want to avoid paying money for everything. We always are looking for a deal or for the freebie. It is not personal, it's business. (Isn't that from the Godfather? I know it from You've Got Mail!)
It's NOT personal.
Time to get going, MJ. Here we go...
There was a post on one of my feeds about how music therapists should just share their resources in an open source model so that all other music therapists could have access to those resources so they "didn't have to reinvent the wheel."
This brought me up short and has bothered me ever since I read it. (I really need to stop taking things so personally when the person who posts it does not know me at all - it wasn't directed at me, so stop reacting to it as such!)
I do give away lots of things for free - I post a therapeutic music experience (TME) that is mine alone (my intellectual property) almost every week. I have an idea right now that is not going to cost anyone (but me) any money at all. I present, I offer free webinars, I give lots of myself and my time and intellect to the music therapy world at large - and I have been criticized for it. Now (in a roundabout way), I'm being criticized for trying to earn money on my songs, visual aids, materials?
Wow.
I am currently trying really hard to start a music therapy business for myself. I have become a CBMT pre-approved provider (there are significant costs associated with that entire process), I have TME collections for sale, I have a Teachers Pay Teachers store where I am posting digital files for the low cost of $2.00 per file in an attempt to keep things low-cost for my fellow therapists, and I have an idea about traveling to assist others in completing music therapy related tasks. I've decided that my time, effort, and thoughts are valuable, and I am looking for the fine line between valuing what I can give to others and getting others to purchase those things.
Am I in it for the money? Sort of.
I guess I figure that I wouldn't volunteer my music therapy services to my clients, so why should I volunteer my music therapy services to fellow music therapists? At the same time, I know that I am a well-established therapist who makes a good living, and I can afford (right now) to cut my prices to something that a less-established therapist could afford. I would like to recoup the costs in time, effort, and money that it takes to produce what I produce and offer to the music therapy community.
Am I in it for the money? Not really.
I've been paying for CBMT fees, for website hosting, for postage, for all sorts of services for my website for 23 years. I've spent so much more than I have ever earned off my products, courses, and materials, but I still do it. This is something that I love, and I get lots of enjoyment out of it. I have invested so much of myself and my finances over the years that I have to make something of this investment so I can feel like I've accomplished something other than a time and resource black hole. Ugh.
Topics like these make me fired up and sad and plain old cranky. Just the thing that I need on my way out the door to an inclement weather day where I have to travel over 50 miles on snow-covered roads to do 10 sessions back-to-back with kids who have been through a long holiday weekend and staff members who have done the same thing. I'm leaving earlier than usual just to get myself to where I need to go. I will spend the entire time stressing about this post and trying really hard not to take the original post personally (it wasn't about me!), at the same time trying really hard to stay between the lines on the road. (Thank goodness for all the snow plow operators out there on the roads right now!!)
I am not going to offer everything that I have for free. I value who I am, what I think, and what I know works too much for that to happen anymore. In fact, I am actively working towards getting paid what I deserve for the resources that I put out into the universe. Maybe there should be no more TME Tuesday posts.
Okay, okay, MJ, you are starting to take things personally again. It's time to pull together all the stuff that you need for your stressful journey to work. It's time to get enough food and water so that you can be comfortable if you go into a ditch again. It is time to charge the cellphone so you can call others if you need to. Let's not add this imaginary stress to the rest of it.
People always want to avoid paying money for everything. We always are looking for a deal or for the freebie. It is not personal, it's business. (Isn't that from the Godfather? I know it from You've Got Mail!)
It's NOT personal.
Time to get going, MJ. Here we go...
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