As frugal and savvy business people, we need to find information and tools for as inexpensively as we can, and free if at all possible. This kind of thinking prevents us from burning too much of our own resources and also keeps us in the “hunting” frame of mind, always on the look out for something to make our business brighter and better. There is, though, the other side of this coin: someone developed that free something for you to use. Was it a web app, seminar, blog post? Was it a workshop, podcast, newsletter? Or was it simply a useful link? Whatever it was, you benefited from the work and time of someone else, and have moved your business forward in some small, maybe even a large way. So read this twice: Someone else did the work and you benefited. How are you showing your love?

Here’s the reality: In order for them to continue to keep giving you useful free stuff, they must have enough paid work to make it happen. Just like you, they have overhead, bills, and costs associated with doing business. They juggle schedules, deadlines and demands. In order that they meet their obligations and continue to provide the free stuff you’ve come to know and love, they need to have the resources available to divvy up and slice some time away to work on that stuff that’s helping you. This means they need not only your thanks, but your support and recommendations.