Make Money Online (Without Destroying Your Reputation)

Summary

• When asking for money, there's a right and a wrong way to do it, and I can guide you through the process based on my own experience.
• Use the gift-ask ratio to balance between providing value and making offers, much like GaryVee's "jab, jab, jab, right hook" approach.
• The give-ask ratio has been well researched by big media companies, aiming to maximize asks without losing viewership.
• I recommend the tweak of "give until they ask you" to ensure your audience is ready for you to make an offer; it's important to give in public and sell in private.
• Depositing goodwill by giving makes it more likely for people to comply with your requests later; society operates on reciprocity.
• Building an audience is crucial as that is the real asset, not the content itself. Your audience compounds over time while individual pieces of content are temporary.
• Avoid making frequent asks in the beginning to avoid losing audience goodwill, which could be more detrimental than beneficial.
• Share transparently about your business and give away value for free to collect testimonials and build trust.
• For content, consider two ways to ask: integrated (naturally within the content) or intermittent (between pieces of content).
• The commercial cost is not money but goodwill; losing too much audience goodwill can be costly.
• For your initial business announcement, be simple and generous with a light ask, as I did when starting my personal training business.
• Hold off on full right hooks, as patience and holding back may lead to more significant opportunities later.
• Compounding growth in audience goodwill can lead to opportunities knocking at your door without hard asks, which can drastically increase demand and pricing power.
• Prioritize giving over asking, maintaining a ratio that favors giving significantly, to prevent diluting brand value and keep scaling effectively.

Video

How To Take Action

A good way of doing business is to focus on balancing giving with asking. Here's a simple action plan:

1. Give First, Ask Later: Provide value before making any offers. Whether it's through social media, blog posts, or podcasts, consistently give helpful information, tips, or free resources to your audience. This builds goodwill and trust.

2. Understand the Give-Ask Ratio: Aim for a ratio that leans heavily towards giving. For example, share valuable content three or more times before you make one small ask. This prevents you from losing the goodwill you've built.

3. Be Public with Your Giving: Share your knowledge and helpful tips openly. This way many people benefit, and they remember your generosity. When it's time to sell or make an offer, do it privately or subtly.

4. Grow Your Audience Over Content: Remember, your followers are your real asset, not just your individual posts. Your audience grows over time and gets more valuable, while content comes and goes.

5. Keep Asks Rare and Integrated: If you include asks in your content, make them feel natural and not too pushy. If your video is 10 minutes, maybe spend 30 seconds on your ask. For short content, like posts on social media, one in every ten could be an ask.

6. Initial Announcement: Make your first business announcement simple and generous. Offer something for free and just lightly ask for support or to check it out.

7. Be Patient with Full Asks: Hold back on big requests. Play the long game so when you do ask, it's more impactful. Over time, the compounding effect of giving can lead to more opportunities naturally coming to you.

8. Focus on More Giving than Asking: Always favor giving. If you need to make a living, make your asks sparingly, with perhaps a 30 to 1 ratio of giving to asking. This keeps the demand high and allows for potential growth in your pricing power in the future.

Start giving today, and use this approach to build a community that’s eager to support you when you do have something to ask.

Quotes

"I'd like to just change it to give until they ask you"

– Alex Hormozi

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"when you do it that way, your brand consistently is reinforced publicly and you continue to grow and expand"

– Alex Hormozi

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"if you consistently give and give and give, then what happens is your audience compounds"

– Alex Hormozi

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"the audience is the asset, not the content you make"

– Alex Hormozi

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"the strongest driver of pricing power and profits is supply and demand"

– Alex Hormozi