[chc]

People may love the free course, but does it actually make previously unsuccessful people successful? I think the implication here is that the free course is essentially just there to get you pumped up for the paid course, and is not actually useful.

[bdunn]

It does. My business goal with my email course is to generate qualified leads for my course. My personal goal is to make people better off than they were before they started the course.

If the free course is nothing but the "sizzle" and a giant pitch for something paid, that's a problem. You're probably not going to get many sales for your paid course, and no one's going to refer others to the free course.

But if it's valuable independently of the premium course, and allows the reader to determine if it makes sense to go pro, then it's a win-win for all involved. At the end of my course, I ask people to reply back with what they got out of the free course and what they plan on changing as a result of it — I get a fair amount of awesome responses (which turn out to be great testimonials) from this last email: http://i.glui.me/1A3VNtx

[surreal]

I can vouch for this. Not with the emails, but came across bdunn's free blog and podcast 2 months ago. They earned me an extra $8,000 last month, and a better end product for my client. Spending a fraction of this to get more advice (the paid course) was a no brainer.

(Brennan, feel free to use as testimonial / ask me to elaborate.)

[bdunn]

That's great! We're actually running weekly profiles on people who have used my advice to help grow their business, and I'd love to feature you. Here's the link: http://doubleyourfreelancing.com/student-success-spotlight-a...