Do you give away your products and services for free? You should.

In the Internet age, free has become a kind of currency. You can give away free copies of your e-book or video course in exchange for e-mail addresses. Those e-mail addresses then become a type of currency – currency that you can convert into dollars. It works better than you think.

Michael Hyatt actually has some good ideas for items you can give away for free. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good list.

The key to giving away something for free is to get something of value in return. When you receive something of sufficient value, then you really aren’t giving away anything. It ceases to be free. You are exchanging one thing of value for another.

Your product or service has value. Let’s say that you are a home inspector. Your services aren’t free. They cost a certain amount if you were to charge for them. That’s their value – to you and to your customers. But what if you offered a free home inspection to anyone who lists their house with your real estate investment service? Help an investor sell a house and you earn a commission, possibly even more than you’d have made on that home inspection.

You have to think creatively. What can you give away for free? And what can you ask for in return that has the potential to earn you more than the thing you’re giving away for free?

If you see it correctly, there’s value in every transaction.