Value added

I've long been a believer that you can't give things away, not if you want anyone to care about them, that is. This theory was solidified back in the day when I was a doula.

You see, starting out, you have to bust your ass to earn your credentials and to make a name for yourself. In gaining the support of the local doula organization, you're required to take on a few clients for whom having professional support would be better filed under the category of need than desire. Read: low income, single mothers. As with anything, each comes with their own set of circumstances. Some couldn't afford to pay for the quarter they used to call from a pay phone to let me know they were in labour. Others managed to scrape together a small amount of money that measured more in appreciation than it did in financial gain. In fact, a lot of times, it cost me money to be at the early births I attended.

In hindsight, I approached it all wrong. I was new and I was itching to get into the game. I wanted the experience and I saw the opportunity to help and that felt good. When the topic of payment came up, I brushed it off and accepted every new client that came my way, often offering my services for free. Some women accepted that. Others insisted on paying me something, somehow, even if, at the time, they had no idea what. Here's what I learned: people only find value in things they have to pay for.

The women who felt they needed to repay me in some way or another, always appreciated what I was doing for them. They went out of their way to be courteous and thankful for my time and efforts. The women who got a free doula were often disinterested in their (my) preparations, uncommunicative and a couple of them never even phoned me to tell me that they'd already given birth until their babies were a couple of days old (after I'd devoted months to prenatal counselling and remained on call for them.) My work meant nothing to them because they didn't have to do anything themselves to get them. They had no value.

My point? I've come back to Typepad and I'm paying to do so. I wasn't digging the action over at Wordpress and Blogger is annoying, plain and simple. So, I'm back to my old haunts. By some miraculous turn of events, I wasn't even able to reclaim my old address. Here's hoping that the cost of this sweet space will add value to my possession of a new blog of my very own.

Comments

[victorylane]

Congrats to getting back where you want to be. Glad to be in the know. I totally agree with your point. Free stuff has no value, that's why it's free. I always take more advantage of something if it's paid for, at least for the most part.

For instance. If you score a hooker, and you drop $500 on her, you're going to be damn sure you get your money's worth. Likewise, if you get her for free after a drunken night at the bar, you'll get off, roll over and pass out.

Makes sense.

[NathanPralle]

First off, I had NO idea that you were a doula. That is so freaking cool I can't possibly tell you in mere words.

Secondly, the "only things that cost have value" is true...and not true at the same time. An exception to this rule is, for instance, Free/Open Source Software. Completely free, made by geeks around the world, given away for nothing, and yet...it's highly valued and runs many of the most important and critical applications on the planet today.

That being said, I've absolutely seen the phenomenon of, "if we're not paying for it, we don't think it's worth anything" in my contracting life and business life. There are lots and lots of people who have the mindset of thinking that higher price = higher quality in the computer world, which flabbergasts me. I try to give people what I consider to be a fair price for my services but if I charge more, they think they're getting better service, even though I've done the same thing. Blows me away.

Same way in the corporate world -- express to someone that you're installing a new system that costs the company $2.5 million and even if it's a steaming pile of crap, they think it's wonderful -- it must be, it cost so much! Weird.

I dunno. I try not to fall into that trap myself. Some kitschy crap you find in high-priced froofy stores is just that...crap. But because it has $38 on it, it's suddenly God's nipples. I'm trying hard to see the REAL value in it, not just what people have said it's worth.