Stop Wasting Your and Your Audience's Time with Daily Hour-Long Free Videos!

I recently learned of a Facebook group where tutorials and tips were shared in video format. These videos were an hour long and I only learned about them because someone politely requested the person sharing the information to cut the content down to more bite-sized chunks. She thanked the person for the valuable, free content, but made a point that it wasn’t always easy to watch an hour of content on a daily basis.

You would think a few people would share that viewpoint, right? Well, instead the person who did the videos was shocked. Everyone in the group ganged up on this girl and anyone who supported her opinion.

People who didn’t watch the hour of videos daily were viewed as ungrateful and shameful.

Well, if you’re offering an hour of your time for free every single day, let me just say that it’s a waste. That instantly makes me wonder why. Nobody who runs a business would offer an hour of their time for nothing at all; not on a daily basis.

And when I watched the videos, there were no sales pitches at the end. There was nothing for this girl to gain from doing the videos.

Think about it. That’s an hour out of your own day at least. If you’re going to edit the video, that’s an extra 10-30 minutes, depending on the amount of editing. That’s time you’re not getting back.

The request to cut the videos down would make more sense for the girl doing the video. She could have done 15 minutes of information. Bite-sized chunks that would have worked for everyone in the group. No, not everyone has a commute to work to listen to videos. Not everyone exercises in a gym or pool (some of us go to fitness classes). There are parents out there who have kids to run around after.

If you’re not going to cut down your videos because you don’t view them as a waste of time (they still very much are a waste) then don’t attack someone for requesting shorter videos. Don’t belittle them because they have the audacity to ask for less of you for free! Asking for less for free is actually respecting your time, as well as their own. Belittling or attacking someone because they’re seemingly not grateful (that certainly wasn’t the case) is proving you have no respect for anyone’s time. And you certainly don’t know business.

There’s no need to offer an hour or more of your time for free on a daily basis. Especially not if you’re not creating a sales pitch at the end. You’re not going to grow a client or customer base afterwards. Fifteen minutes? That’s great and useful to grow your following and customer base. An hour is just a waste and could be better spent on actually growing your income.

Oh and those who were “grateful” for the hour of your time. They’re using you. They’re grateful because it means they don’t have to pay someone. They don’t actually respect you as a business owner. They’re just happy that they get a world of information for nothing. If you were really worth something, why aren’t  you charging for it?