| Pay a Fee? |
Get it Free? |
| -When the item meets a specific, high-priority and you don’t have time to mess around with lower power tools (assuming you can afford to pay, of course).. |
When "good enough" really is enough. |
| If you think you will be ready to use the item at some point and can get a really great deal on it by buying it now. But beware of schlock items posing as "real deals" with phony-baloney urgency gimmicks to get you to stop thinking things through. |
When you’re really not yet ready to use the for-pay item. |
| -When your time means more to you than cash. |
-When cash means more to you than your time. |
| -When the tool will be used to help you perform a core task in your business and the for-free tools just don’t cut it. |
-For lower priority needs – especially those where you don’t have to make other people (e.g., your customers) happy. |
| -When the free tools simply will not get you what you need or want.
|
If you are exploring and haven’t yet settled on a product to meet your requirements. |
| -If you can make money by becoming a buyer first. (For example, some affiliate programs have this requirement.) |
When you can get a free "fuzzy tool" that gets you almost where you want to go with the more precise "pay a fee" tool. |
| If you have some strange need to jump on the bandwagon of various fads. |
If you are independent in your thinking and have little need for social approval on this matter. (Why would you ever have a social-approval need to buy something -especially if no one else is ever going to know if you did or didn’t. |
