Learning to share content for free
I used to be a regular writer on Medium.
Of course, when I say ‘regular’, I mean writing once in a while but keeping this space active.
Over time, I moved a large section of my writing focus over to my blogs, www.shailajav.com (where I share blogging and social media tips and strategy) and www.shailajav.in (which is a creative outlet for my fictional and non-fictional musings).
If I already have two blogs, why come back to Medium? What’s the intention?
To answer that I must point you to the profile of one of the most inspiring thought leaders in the online space, George Kao.
George Kao is an authentic business coach and every piece of his content is eye-opening, to say the least.
Currently, I am subscribed to his e-mail newsletter, have bought his e-books and follow him on his blog, his Facebook Page, his YouTube channel and of course, on Medium.
One person and so many channels! Why?
To be honest, I am a bit amused myself. Considering that he shares and re-purposes the same content across all these platforms, why not just follow him in one place?
There’s a certain expansive quality about Kao that is hard to put into words. He shares all of his content (except for his paid courses) completely for free and without copyrighting any of it.
For someone like me, who comes from a background of thesis research, this was a very novel concept. I dislike people who plagiarise and earlier would do everything in my power to ‘speak up’ about it.
But finding Kao changed something within me.
As a blogging coach, I have a fairly large pool of free resources available for every person who signs up for my weekly newsletter.
Earlier, I would change the password to the resource library every month. But about 6 months ago, I stopped doing that.
This means, if anyone signs up for my newsletter, they get instant access to my free Facebook group plus those resources.
They will continue to get access even if they were to unsubscribe from my newsletter in the future. The password won’t change.
Why did I do that?
Writing and creating content makes you realise a few things:
- Knowledge is power. The more knowledge you distribute for free, the greater you grow, as an individual.
- There is no such thing as a completely unique idea. Ideas are the same, floating around in space and touching people all the time. Only our interpretations of these ideas differ.
- My education, especially the last two years of it, when I did my post-graduate programme in Masters of English language and Literature, was given to me completely free of charge. I didn’t pay a single penny for two years of massive content.
I’ve learnt so much in this online space from fellow bloggers, blog coaches, courses that have changed my blogging journey. While some of it was paid for, a lot of it was given to me completely free of charge.
My blog, my newsletter, my free Facebook group and my free resource library are ways for me to pay it forward.
Do you create content for free? What are your thoughts on the subject? I’d love to hear from you.
