Here’s a little problem for anyone who loves sharing what they learn.
You discover something wonderful. You want to tell everyone.
You find another thing. You share that too.
Before long, you’re writing letters, telling stories, making things, helping people, and generally having a marvelous time.
Then a rather practical thought arrives:
This is lovely. But how do I make a living doing it?
A slightly awkward question to ask when the whole point was to be generous.
Fair question.
There’s a false choice floating around the internet that says you must either give everything away like a saint or extract every last dollar like a pirate.
I’m not especially interested in either costume.
Although the pirate hat has a certain appeal.
What I’m interested in is the possibility of making useful things because I love making them, sharing a great deal freely, and occasionally inviting someone to pay for a deeper experience.
The exchange can be fair. The buyer can be happy. The creator can be paid. Everybody can leave with their dignity intact.
The invitation only works, though, if the other person gets to choose without being made to feel foolish for saying no.
Which brings us to an interesting little rule for this place:
We’re cool either way.
Not as a sales tactic. Because I believe a good relationship needs room for a genuine no.
As for the projects I’m developing beyond these public stories, I’ll talk about some of them in the letters when there’s something useful to share.
Until then, here’s a curious story about a starving crowd. It’s the kind of thing that makes a marketing person grin.