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August 19, 2008
Well… today I am touching two important milestones in both my web life and real life!
First - I turned 43 today! It’s my birthday… go party… woohoo! Myself a group of friends have planned a week of deep sea fishing off the North Carolina coast in Long Beach for the week of Sept 1-6th. Kind of a guys getaway week to celebrate several of us now being in the midst of mid-life! No crisis yet though! :-) If you have never been to Oak Island NC, you are missing a wonderful little area, not yet overcome with tourism. Sure there is some, but nothing ike many other coastal areas.
The second milestone, I owe to you all, the readers! Today, the site reached 1300 subscribers to my daily ramblings! I truly enjoy helping others toward their own success and even though I don’t get to everyone as quickly as I would often like, and the occasional email drops from my radar, I love blogging about what we are all trying to achieve, financial independence!
Now for the Decision that Benefits All of Us
I had a reader ask me about charging for the BANS WordPress templates that are already freely available on the web. He didn’t ask as a challenge, he asked because he has started doing the same thing and wondered if there were any copyright issues, before he started selling his own works. I have always viewed the BANS coding side as my own work and invested time. Likewise, I have never provided the free templates on my own site and have encouraged everyone to go to the developer site and get the WP Template it from them. In the case of the BANS Chimera template, I actually spoke to the developer ahead of time to be sure I did not violate any of their licensing and released that with their blessing.
Well…
After thinking about it overnight, I do not want to send a message that I am making money off the work of others and I don’t think I should be charging any fees for the BANS side of the code on free templates. I know if it were my own code, I would not be thrilled if someone else was making a profit from it, even if they simply developed a way to make it work with other applications.
Going Forward
“Going Forward” - isn’t that such a corporate phrase reserved for big sales meetings? Well, going forward, all free templates that are converted will stay free on this site as well. I will still charge a small fee for the templates I code myself, but any free template elsewhere should also be free here. I have already made the change and its reflected onsite. I will still work to push out a free template at least once a week as well!!
If you decide you want a theme converted to BANS, at that point it just becomes a time issue and I will do my best to get it done in the quickest time possible. Just use the contact form above and let me know a time-frame you need it by. I will reply and let you know the current back-load of work. Of course, if you want it NOW, you can always choose the $49 option at the bottom of the templates page that helps me drop everything else and do it immediately.
Do you think this is the right thing to do?
Mark
26 Responses to “Milestones and Decisions that Benefit All”
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I look at it as charging for the service you’re providing….
Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Have a good time :)
Happy birthday, Good luck fishing!
A week fishing ? You’ll be a old salt if you spend that much time on the ocean. And beer logged too.
Happy B-Day & Thanks.
Happy Birthday Mark!!
I just celebrated my birthday on Sunday, a Leo as well.
I think you should continue to charge for your work, I would simply bring the price down to a level that still compensates you and gets traffic due to your low cost, just a thought!
Thanks for the well wishes everyone!!
Congrats to you as well Dan!! Happy Bday!
I understand the point you make (and I believe its a measure of the type of guy that you are that you make it!). I still think that you deserve some payment for the effort you put in and I really appreciate all the help you have given me.
Enough of the flattery - have a great 43rd - I hit 47 a few months ago and its getting a bit too close to the big 50!!
Mark - Happy B-Day!
My sister lives in Ashville and raves about the beauty of NC and all it has to offer. I plan to be visiting her next year, and will include Oak Island on my list of “places to see”
With the amount of free information you have provided to many of us who were just starting out, I couldn’t care less what you charged for your time and services. It should be considered an investment.
I understand though, because making money off of someone’s word is not cool - but we all know you’re a legit guy.
Have a great time deep sea fishing!
Ha. I never gave any of that a thought, you made the customizations, you should be able to charge for the BANS Templates. Most of the WP Themes were free too. I can understand that you charge for services, your site has grown. Everything can not be free.
@Gerry,
I’ll be hitting the 40 mark in a year and a half, so I can feel your pain with that feeling of the 50 mark.
Cheers to good health and have a great birthday.
Happy birthday Mark and Dan!
I understand your concern about profiting off others work but I agree that you have the right to charge for your time and perhaps your knowledge. You give away enough freebies that anyone who can’t afford to pay for a template are able to get started and move up to paying as they begin to make some money so you are helping a lot of people by offering both.
Enjoy your birthday!
Happy birthday!
I am in the camp that agrees it’s ok for you to charge a fee for your work. But ultimately the choice is yours.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Rochelle
Hey Mark,
Happy Birthday to you….
I hope you have a great break….sounds like fun!
In regards to charging, as mentioned above by other people I also agree that you should charge for your time. I would suggest that most of us wouldn’t have had a clue where to start in converting wp templates to include bans and have been happy to pay the very reasonable price you ask to be able to combine wp and bans.
Thanks for all that you do
Cheers
Shelley
Happy birthday Mark. You have the right to charge for your work. After discovering this site some time ago I have benefitted greatly as I’m sure countless others have, so I can’t see many dissenters on here if you do charge.
At the end of the day you will be able to gauge whether it was a good idea or not when you see how many orders you receive and how comfortable you feel with it. It would be great to say that we can all pay out of the profits we are making from BANS but unfortunately this is not the case for me as yet, but having said that the little I’ve made to date is, to a large extent, down to your efforts and assistance.
Don’t worry about the “4-3″ - it’s only a number!!
Totally acceptable to be charging for the BANS side of the code on the free templates for your work and invested time. I guess the developers of the free templates could request a percentage of your take, if you wanted to go that route.
Oak Island is indeed a wonderful place. My husbands grandfather owns a little house on the water (”the ol’ fishing cabin”) in Sunset Harbor and we try to visit the area every time we come to NC.
Happy Birthday and do take some time off and celebrate!
Mark,
You’ve answered so many questions for me and gotten me out of so many “pinches” that you could sell me a bag of ice even if we were in the North Pole!
Don’t feel like you have to start giving things away. The “support” that you provide FREEEEEE to all of us is worth way more than any template or product. I’ll remain a NSB fan and subscriber regardless of what you decide to do!
Eric
Happy birthday Mark!! And have a wonderful time with guys doing your thang. :) I will NOT hold it against you that you are the same astrological sign as my jerk ex-husband… LOL!
Thanks so much for all the help you’ve given. You’re an amazing guy. However you decide to configure your services will be the right way to do it. You have all the right instincts and whichever way you go will OK with me, not that you need my vote!
Alice
Happy birthday, Mark!
Thanks for all of your help and don’ t hook your buddies when you cast, OK?
Hhehehehehehehehe
Jeff
A very Happy Birthday to you Mark and have a great Party!!!
. .and I forgot the other half of my comment - I think its fine to charge. I’ve learned a lot and am benefiting and its non-stop information coming from you. Everyone likes free BUT if you stop and think about the time it takes you to do the videos and the templates . .I’ve been following you . .eagerly. . .since February -that has given me 6 months of FREEEEE!
All the best and happy birthday Mark!
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you…
I can understand your fishing trip very well. Me and 15 other go for a weeks fishing every year on the Great Barrier Reef (now that is paradise), and a year cannot go fast enough!!!
Keep charging for your work where possible, and have a great day!
Hey Mark….HAPPY BDAY…I hear 43 is the new 20 :)
Desmond
Mark - happy birthday YOUNG MAN!
All the best from Scotland.
Have a great year ahead and keep up the good work.
Keeping some of your offers free is really appreciated as I know i’ve spent out on things I’ve never managed to understand or got going to my advantge - so cheeres to you!
Trevor
Glad to hear everyone feels the same way I do - you have a right to charge something for all the hard work you put in - ultimately, its your decision!
Now - on to something more pressing…..While I’m so happy you are going fishin’ with the boys, I’ve got a question — Does my gift not warrant at least a little bit of press?! What the heck? BTW everyone, my gift was WAYYYYYY better! (get your mind out of the gutter - not that!)
Happy Birthday Mark!
Oak Island is great! We went there for a weekend last May for one of those “on the Beach” weddings.
I liked that is was so quiet!
Chuck
@ Everyone -
Thnaks a ton for all the happy birthday wishes and comments in regard to the fees for themes.
Also, in case anyone was wondering about the gift Kim found for me… If you are a racing fan, you know how hard it can be to come across tickets for ANYTHING at the Night race in Bristol. By FAR, one of the most sought out and hard to get seats at a NASCAR event!
Well… she did it! For five plus years she has tried to get them and she was able to get it done this year! Myself and one of my sons are heading out on Saturday morning! Thank you Kimmie!!
Happy Birthday Mark!!
Have a great time on your trip.
Your time is valuable, your service is valuable and worth paying for. The amount of free advice that you give balances out any fees that you charge for additional services.