I received the following email from John (not his real name) via the contact form on this website:

Subject:  Membership

Message: Not good that you are splitting the interviews into two parts…..paid and not paid.

Disappointing to say the least.

 

There's no question associated with the email but if it were a question, it'd be a fair one if John had of asked:

Why do you charge listeners to hear the full interviews each week?

I took John's email as a question and here's my reply in case you too are wondering why I would ask anyone to pay for podcasts which are meant to be free…

 

Hi John

I’m not sure why it's disappointing?

I have a full time job as a photographer.

I wanted to start a podcast 5 years ago and agreed with my wife, Linda, that if I was to take time away from our business, I had to create content (interviews) worth paying for.

The interviews were split and listeners were charged to hear the full interviews from day one. That was over 280 interviews ago!

I’m 100% confident that the interviews are worth more than I charge for them. You can read a few reviews and testimonials to clarify that statement if you like – both on this site and in iTunes here.

In fact, here’s a post from one Premium Member inside the Members Facebook Group yesterday:

NOTE: to add context to the rest of my reply, John is a videographer.

I’m guessing you charge for your videography services? Why do you do that – why not offer your services, skills and time free? It sounds like that’s what you’re suggesting I should do with the interviews I record?

To be clear, the interviews on PhotoBizX are not for entertainment but to help photographers build more successful businesses.

If a photographer listens and takes action with what they hear, anything I charge will be spare change when compared to what they get from the interviews and as a return into their business – just like Jemma above.

Over 1500 paying members can’t be wrong about the interviews I’m recording and splitting.

And yes, I save the best parts from every interview for members – they are my #1 priority.

If you want to see what it’s all about, the barrier to entry is only $1 to try it out for a month. Surely that’s not a stretch to see if the extra interview content is indeed worth paying for?

Hope this helps to understand why I split the interviews and why I charge for the content. If I didn't charge for it and it wasn't worth paying for, it wouldn't exist. I believe it's the same for you and your videography work.

Best regards and wishing you every success with your business and future.

Andrew

PS

I didn't send these to John because it felt like I'd said enough. Here are just two of the 120+ 5 star reviews from the Australian iTunes store for PhotoBizX.

If you go to this link, you'll be able to see the reviews in your countries Itunes store for the PhotoBizX podcast.