Why I'm planning to make all my books and courses free in the future?

Writing sets the direction

Sometimes I need to write an idea to make it happen. This blog article is exactly that. For a few months now I've been talking to friends, like my mate Vincent, prototyping, to imagine what will the next version of this website and project be.

Now I want to write here a few of these thoughts to give me a push in that direction.

How it started

It's been 7 years now that this project exists. The Swiss Innovation Academy started back in the days because I wanted to move from consulting to teaching. But I didn't really know how to do that transition and didn't have the network to do it. So I said: fuck it, I will not wait, I'll build my own place where I can teach instead of relying on being invited, or playing the networking game.

So I looked for a simple and good enough tool where I could put courses, books, and resources. That tool was Podia. And seven years later it's still Podia.

I always had a mix of free stuff and paid stuff on this website. But most of what you can find on this website is stuff that I put out for free.

It's now 7 years later. And the dream I had to teach Service Design has become true faster than I imagined and in a bigger way than I imagined. I work now as a co-lead, with my mate Andy, for the Master Service Design at the HSLU, in Lucerne Switzerland.

Why now?

So this website really served its purpose. It helped me transition from consulting to teaching. It's now officially my job.

Today this website is still where my writing goes, and where I experiment with Service Design education resources. It's a tool that helps me reflect on my practice as an educator.

In all these years, I always had an ambivalent approach with the business model of this project. Sometimes I wished this project would pay all my bills. But most of the times, I was happy that this project just paid for its own bills and didn't cost me to run it, but didn't make "salary" money.

In fact, for the last 7 years I've always paid my bills with a mix of part time job and freelancing.

This website served it's initial purpose of helping me transition to the education world. And I don't need it to pay my bills.

My business model change: no more products to buy

That's why today I'm planning to set all the things that I sell on this website, on a free in the coming months. Next to that I want to give an option for those who want to help me pay the bills of running this website a simple way to do so. Just like one of those "buy me a coffee" buttons.

I like the idea of the "buy me a coffee", because it makes two things clear:

• This is not a donation to an NGO (even if this website could easily be one with the mission I have for it).

• There is no transaction here. You don't get anything in exchange, you're just offering a "coffee" to someone. It's a nice gesture, that's it.

With this new approach it means I can also put my whole books accessible for people to search in. And people can't just search the content that is free.

This creates an interesting shift for me where all this content I've created for years around Service Design becomes a huge open library of tips, tricks, tools that can help you better serve others.

And if you find value in that, you can always support my work by giving the amount that you feel fits for you and your situation.

Why not a subscription or Patreon?

I myself don't like that everything is now a subscription. So I clearly don't want to be the one making to others what I don't like that others do for me.

Plus the subscription forces me in a rhythm where I have to absolutely offer new value every month. Sure I mostly do it. But I still appreciate that I can take a month off if I want or need it without having to let people know about it.

What does that mean for the stuff you bought?

Nothing, just that now you'll be able to get other things that you didn't have the money to buy for free.

Will everything stay free for ever?

This project has changed a lot in 7 years, and I'm sure it will continue to change. What I could imagine for example, that I might in the future create a series of paid events where what you pay for is really the live experience and the guided learning structure.

So things will continue to change that's sure.

When will this come in effect?

This will take a bit of time, I hope to get this done this year. But take it as a nice gift that will arrive.

Backstage of this article

This article was illustrated on a refurbished Remarkable II tablet, and was typed on the same tablet with the type folio case. You can see the original note below if you are curious.