The Importance of Giving to the Community
Posted August 15, 2011 in Lifestyle
I’m a firm believer in supporting the community you’re a part of, whether it’s your actual neighborhood or your favorite online sites. A well-supported community gives in return and contributing to it ensures that the community will stick around longer than a few months.
Online, there are several ways you can contribute to your community no matter what you do as a freelancer. The trick is doing something you love, offering it for free and distributing it to everyone you can.
Giving back to the community leads to multiple benefits. You’re not only giving to the community–you’re increasing your professionalism, especially if it’s something very valuable.
Giving something to the community doesn’t mean you have to spend all your free time on it either. So what are some things you can contribute yourself?
Giving Ideas
Here is a list of ways that you can give back:
- eBooks–Whether you’re in a creative or non-creative field, you can write an eBook about anything. If you’ve got something to say that’s longer than a normal blog post, package it up in PDF and ePub formats and offer it up as a free download on your site. What’s great is that whether you target the eBook to your clientele or your colleagues, you’re still giving to the community.
- Themes–If you’ve got some skills in design and development, why not offer some free themes on your site? The WordPress theme seller, Woo Themes, offers several fantastic free themes besides their premium theme collection. Themes can be done for any platform, or even for regular HTML sites. Some platforms to consider: WordPress, Tumblr, Drupal, Shopify, CoreCommerce and Joomla.
- Plugins/Scripts –If you don’t have any design skills, but are great in the coding department, think about offering some free plugins or scripts. The open source community for code is simply fantastic and this is a great way to get your foot in the door to the community, all while helping it out.
- Stock–Some other fantastic ideas for giving back are photographs, icons, vector graphics and more. There are never enough free graphics online!
- Speaking–While most regular conferences pay their speakers, the Bar/Pod/Word Camps don’t, which is why most of them are free to attend. Offering to speak at these events for free is a great way to contribute and spread your knowledge around.
- Tutorials–People are always ready to learn and tutorials are a great way to teach them if you have a blog (or can guest post on someone else’s). It’s equally helpful if you respond to commenters and help them through the issues with your topic.
- Mentoring–Personally mentoring a high school, college, or even beginner to your field is a great way to give to the community. Not everyone is a quick learner on their own and mentoring gives them a hands-on approach to learning.
- Donations–I love it when someone is brave enough to ask for donations to further themselves in the field (usually by going to school or conferences). Most actually offer an exchange of goods or services that usually exceed the value of what you’re actually donating. Think of it as a home grown Kickstarter. I recently did this myself in order to get to the UK for a conference and was astounded at the amount of help I received! I never pass up an opportunity to help someone I know get somewhere, and neither should you! Every dollar helps.
Really, Why Do I Care?
When you’re first starting out as a freelancer, making free things for the community can often seem like a waste of time and resources. I can definitely understand why. You’re barely making ends meet to pay your bills and can’t possibly fathom spending so much unpaid time on a project. And that’s okay.
What’s really important is that when you get going with plenty of work that you try to take the time to give to your community. I bet you made use of tutorials, free graphics and books when you started, so why not contribute something as well to help a person who is where you were when you started? It’s a fantastic feeling to help someone out–and I’ll go ahead and admit the extra traffic and attention doesn’t hurt your business as well.
Think about how a client sees your site. If you’ve got a ton of free resources and articles on your site, as well as a fantastic portfolio, and the other guy just has a portfolio, who looks better in the client’s eyes? It’s always the one who takes time out for the community. While you shouldn’t ever give just to get back, I promise you’ll always get back more than you put in. ;)
Your Thoughts
How do you give to the community? Feel free to post links to the fantastic free resources you’ve created for your community.
Image by Daniel M. Viero
Related posts:
- Freelance Community News – Open!
- Learning When to Refuse Your Community
- FreelanceFolder News: New and Improved Community Links!
- Giving Back – Will You Help Us?
- Giving Away 250 Beta Invites To ThemeForest
About the author: Amber is a freelancer with over 10 years of experience and specializes in clean, semantic and valid HTML5, CSS3 and Wordpress development. She also writes a web development blog at www.amberweinberg.com and just launched a web app for developers at www.codesnipp.it.
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13 Comments
Aljiro
August 15th, 2011 at 9:08 amExcellent list. I am also in the process of re-launching my website. I plan on creating a giveaway very soon on my blog.
Thanks!
LeoAljiro
Website Solutions Provider
Gold
August 15th, 2011 at 9:36 amIf your really think about it the word “FREE” is applied to so many deals that claim freedom after you agree to pay shipping or give them information. So it takes your money or time to get it free. That is not free.
So a complete definition of what you mean by free would be helpful and appreciated.
Sal
August 15th, 2011 at 9:59 amI love social responsibility. I actually write a bunch of press releases for a few local non-profits in my community. It is a great way to keep up on what they are doing and take a task off of their hands that they would have to take time to learn otherwise. I also help them craft their story and spread their message on social media. It is a lot of fun and I have actually used some of the releases and SM excerpts as either fodder for blogs or as samples to show to other clients.
People want to work with people who take care of their community. Social responsibility is becoming, as cliche as it may sound, ‘the next big thing.’
Great post.
Brain
August 15th, 2011 at 12:45 pmWell, You’re absolutely right, social responsibilities are very important…
Leslie A. Joy
August 15th, 2011 at 2:22 pmThanks Amber.
I recently launched a workshop and gave away more slots to it than I planned-and honestly could afford-but I felt it was important to do so. I know I could have used the workshop when I started off-which is why I made it.
Thank you for making me feel better about my decision. :D
Kelli Wise
August 15th, 2011 at 5:50 pmI have a free workbook on how to write an elevator pitch. It was my turn to teach at my networking group, so I decided to turn my speech into a complete workbook. Then I decided to give it away. We all network & we all go to the same kinds of leads groups, so we all need an elevator pitch. If it can help someone get over their nerves or get some new business, then I’m a happy happy person.
Readers have used it in their BNI groups and one school is using it in their business classes.
Angie Bowen
August 15th, 2011 at 7:15 pmI completely agree Amber, being a contributing part of your community is beneficial to everyone. If it weren’t for the outstanding design community I probably wouldn’t be a designer now. So it’s the least I can do to give back to that community.
Catena Creations
August 16th, 2011 at 1:25 amI have done construction work for Habitat for Humanity and hope to get back into it later this year. I currently give a discounted fee to a professional organization for respiratory therapists — my son and I used to have asthma, and these people kept us alive and well. I also volunteer for my Chamber of Commerce by calling members once a month and assisting at events. Finally, I volunteer to take photos at events through the camera club.
I believe in giving back. Whether you give your time, treasure or talents, it’s important to give what you can to those who need help, and to thank those who have helped you.
Damiano Venturin
August 16th, 2011 at 2:39 amGood job Amber! Totally agree
Daquan Wright
August 19th, 2011 at 10:17 pmI like the part about giving back, because you were in their shoes when you first started. It’s been one of my greatest pleasures, I love teaching people. :)
It’s always good to do some personal projects inside of your expertise and release it for the community to share. I think every item on the list is solid.
Like how a professor helps students understand a subject, even though they certainly don’t have to. It fosters good will and people will remember that. ;)
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