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by MatthewCCox

How to Take Advantage of Paulo Coelho

February 3, 2012 in Spirituality

Won’t people take advantage of me if I live within the gift?

This is possible.

It is more likely that people will respond by appreciating the gift and expressing gratitude.

I’ll write tomorrow about how to respond if you feel like someone is unfairly taking advantage of you.

Today, I want to look at one man’s experience with living within the gift.

Paulo CoelhoThat man is Paulo Coelho.

I’ve written about him before. I said his book The Alchemist
 spoke to me and his book Aleph
 yelled at me.

Since then, I have read every one of his books I can find.

Coelho doesn’t care if I buy his books, borrow them from the local library, or download them for free off a site that pirates his writing.

No, I’m not kidding.

He lives within the gift and all he wants in return is that people appreciate his inspiration. He knows that when people do this, they express gratitude. He knows this because he has experienced it.

I’ll let him tell the story.

In 1999, when I was first published in Russia (with a print-run of 3,000), the country was suffering a severe paper shortage. By chance, I discovered a ‘pirated’ edition of The Alchemist and posted it on my web page. A year later, when the crisis was resolved, I sold 10,000 copies of the print edition. By 2002, I had sold a million copies in Russia, and I have now sold 12 million.

Coelho understands that when we receive the gift of a consumable item, it is appropriate to pay for it. He says, “When you’ve eaten an orange, you have to go back to the shop to buy another. In that case, it makes sense to pay on the spot.”

However, an idea is different.

A new idea needs a while to take hold. Art is the expression of an idea. When we first encounter it, we aren’t sure about it. We mull it over. We decide we want to know more. We might download it for free. If it is something that really grabs us, we eventually want to own the source of that idea whether it be book, CD, painting, or another art form.

Therefore, Paulo doesn’t oppose the sites that pirate and provide his material for free. He actually hosts one of them.

Nowadays, I run a ‘Pirate Coelho’ website, giving links to any books of mine that are available on file-sharing sites. And my sales continue to grow — nearly 140 million copies worldwide.

He goes on to explain.

With an object of art, you’re not buying paper, ink, paintbrush, canvas or musical notes, but the idea born out of a combination of those products.

‘Pirating’ can act as an introduction to an artist’s work. If you like his or her idea, then you will want to have it in your house; a good idea doesn’t need protection.

The rest is either greed or ignorance.

Those who live within the gift understand there are market rates for their products and services. Those prices are not compensation. They pay the gift forward so others may experience it.

In addition, as we make gifts visible, other people see the benefit and want to receive them. The more visible our gifts become, the more people want them.

Does this mean we must give to everyone who crosses our path?

Not necessarily.

I’ll address that issue tomorrow.

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by MatthewCCox

Paying Everything Forward

February 2, 2012 in Finance

I have already heard from the naysayers who think “Living Within the Gift” and “Moving from Compensation to Gratitude” will only work if everyone does it. These people are looking for a special announcement before they make the change.

I suppose this may happen.

I doubt it will.

Here is why.

A sudden change to a new financial system will create chaos.

In addition, change doesn’t come from the outside. It happens on the inside.

Anything we can do to anticipate and prepare for the change will not only make the transition easier, it will actually make the transition happen.

Therefore, each person may contribute to this worldwide change in financial system.

Here is what I intend to do.

Pay It ForwardI will understand and accept the current market rates for products and services while recognizing the gifts that come my way. The utilities that provide electricity, heat, communication, and entertainment services to my home are gifts. I am grateful. I will continue to pay it forward by paying the bills in a timely manner so others may experience these gifts.

This is true for other “non-personal” services such as mortgages, which allow us to live in homes that we haven’t paid for yet, auto loans that allow us to drive cars that we haven’t paid for yet, and credit cards that allow us to enjoy experiences and products that we haven’t paid for yet.

All of these are gifts.

I will continue to express gratitude for them through making payments so others may experience these gifts.

When I receive services from individuals, I will recognize these as gifts. From the medical professional to the server at the restaurant, I will understand their gifts and respond gratefully.

When I provide products or services to my clients, I will offer them the opportunity to pay market rates for those gifts.

In addition, I will do something radical.

I will offer them an opportunity to adjust the price they actually pay. I will provide them with a written explanation of this concept. I will show my actual cost for providing the gifts, explain that their payment helps pay it forward so others can receive my gifts, and have a system in place to allow them to adjust the price up or down if they wish.

Even as I write these words, my heart, like a little kid, jumps up and down screaming with joy. It is something I’ve tried to figure out for twenty years and I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around how to do it.

As I said in my first article, I have Charles Eisenstein to think for the solution. He is the author of the book Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition.

This link goes to the chapter from his book that details the ideas I’m presenting here.

Eisenstein isn’t the only person to advocate this idea.

Neale Donald Walsch, author of the Conversations With God material, practices this philosophy. At one time, he provided the cost of each book along with the purchase price. I recently checked to see if he still does this and he doesn’t. He is, however, working to make the material available online. It appears this will be offered free of charge when it is complete.

I intend to practice this philosophy wherever I can. It will take a while to implement throughout all of our businesses, especially those online. However, our team has started the process.

I am not alone in this practice.

As I have become aware of this way of thinking, I have noticed that much of the internet subscribes to it.

In fact, it drives sites like Wikipedia, WordPress, and Mozilla.

It is so predominant that more than 7000 websites went dark for twenty-four hours a couple weeks ago to protest against two proposed laws designed to prevent piracy of copyrighted material. These laws, called SOPA and PIPA, were intended to stop the piracy of artists’ material.

Instead, many saw the laws as needless censorship of the internet by the government.They were seen as an attempt to prevent the giving of the gift.

Surprisingly, those who would seem to lose the most by having people take their products, like authors and musicians, joined in the protests.

I’ll tell you how one author feels about this in tomorrow’s article. It is a potentially controversial look at how one man is already living within his gift.

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by MatthewCCox

Moving From Compensation To Gratitude

February 1, 2012 in Finance

Yesterday, I introduced the concept of living within the gift. I said it is the basis for the new economy. If you missed that article, you need to read it to help you understand this one.

This concept begs the question, “If everything is a gift, how do I get paid?”

A close corollary to this is, “If everything is a gift, how do I know what to charge or even if I should charge for my products and services?”

Here is how I worked through these questions.

When I started my accounting practice, I wanted to charge what customers thought was fair. In fact, I initially requested payment that way.

This caused no small amount of confusion as each client said, “I don’t know what is fair.”

After muddling through a couple of months of this dance, I settled on an hourly rate for some projects and set prices for certain services. Some clients complained because the price was too high. Others said I wasn’t charging enough. I gave discounts to the complainers while raising my prices to market conditions.

I didn’t feel great about my pricing. I just saw it as a “necessary evil”

About ten years after I started my accounting business, I worked for a couple of years in the gourmet food manufacturing business. I learned a lot about product markup there.

I discovered the retail markup in that industry was ten times the cost of manufacturing. This allowed room for a wholesale price and included a percentage for paying distributors.

Ten times may seem like a lot. However, if the retail price of an item is three dollars, the gourmet food store wanted to purchase it for $1.50 and the distributor wanted to buy that product for seventy-five cents. If the cost to make the product was thirty cents, the manufacture only received forty-five cents, a 1.5 times markup. A gourmet food manufacturer had to move a lot of product to pay for the building and infrastructure to stay in business.

That experience helped me in establishing my pricing. I’ve found a system that works for me and my clients. Today, when I do business consulting, I always tell my clients to charge the most they can charge. High prices can occasionally be discounted. Low prices close business doors.

Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone is comfortable charging the highest price possible.

When clients discuss this issue with me, confusion reigns. No price seems “right.” This is especially true when someone is giving a spiritual gift such as healing or consulting.

In fact, old-school Native American medicine men aren’t allowed to receive anything but sustenance for their services, usually in the form of grains or livestock.

I believe the concept of living within the gift clarifies pricing for business.

GratitudeIt changes the paradigm from compensation to gratitude.

I like to get paid for providing services. There is a sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing I did a good job for the client and receiving a financial reward.

However, I love it when a client expresses gratitude for my services. I love it when that client writes the check without complaint. I love it even more when he or she tells me how they got great value for the money paid.

Notice, I like compensation. I love gratitude.

This paradigm shift requires each person, the businessperson (the giver) and the customer (the receiver), to move to a place of gratitude.

As the giver, I’m grateful for the gift I have to give. I realize no amount of compensation is adequate. Therefore, if I must set a price, it must be high.

As the receiver, I’m grateful because I received the gift. I respond by giving to the giver’s livelihood so the giver may continue to give to others. In other words, “I pay it forward.”

In fact, this is exactly what is happening in a small town South Carolina coffee shop where it has become increasing difficult for customers to pay for their own cup of coffee. People just keep paying it forward.

This paradigm shift to gratitude is already in our consciousness. We just need to learn how to use it.

I’ll tell you how I intend to use it in tomorrow’s article.

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