The potent paradox of giving to receive
Give it away give it away give it away now
You’ve heard it. Give to receive. By now though it may sound like minuswell, well thats how I hear it but its really “might as well”.
Meaning, we’ve heard give to receive for so long now its actual pronounciation and definition may have gone right out of the window.
But lets get into it.
I got put on to a classic book “The Go Giver A Little Story About A Powerful Business Idea” by Bob Burg and John David Mann. I listened to the audiobook. This book took me back to the actual meaning of the phrase give to receive and then added value on top of that classic saying and unlocked a major key to getting closer to the success I envision for my personal and professional life which is getting to these riches. I’ll explain my definition of riches in a second.
Within the story, a man is going through a temporary crisis at his job and is looking for a quick win but has exhausted all of his strategies momentarily. He looks for a savior in a well connected, rich and successful man.
He connected with the rich man but the interaction went much different from what the man in crisis expected.
Instead of some sort of quick save or hasty introduction to a company that will instantly pay him enough to reach his third quarter goal (which is the crisis he is in) he is ushered into a condensed mentoring session lasting a week where everyday he and the rich man go to lunch and meet. Before lunch they are served coffee by a woman who works with the rich man before they go over what he calls the Five Stratospheric Laws of Success.
The rich man at one point tells a story of how he started early in his career by purchasing and operating a hot dog cart.
People loved coming to his cart, and it wasn’t for the hot dogs.
He curated beautiful experiences for anyone who came for a hot dog at his stand.
He was pleasant, comforting and nice. He was welcoming with a terrific memory, remembering key points about his customers. Businessmen and business women would have meetings by his hot dog stand. He gave them his high quality time and service. So much so that he earned an award for one of the best outdoor eateries in the city.
It was that sort of giving that helped him amass his success down the road. He continued to give.
I often listen to OG speaker Jim Rohn. He was a network marketing motivational speaker. Upon listening to the Go Giver, it struck me. Jim Rohn would often say “service to many leads to riches”. In my thought book aka my journal, I wrote this down with a small addition “repeated high quality service to many leads to riches”. I found the connection between Mr.Rohn’s statement and a major point within the book, law 2, the law of compensation.
Back to the riches.
In my case, riches equal time + options.
We work for happiness and funding. We want the funds to cover the things we want to have or do to be happy. Happiness comes from having options, good options and the time and freedom to pick and enjoy those options as we like.
The Takeaway:
Give those who we come in contact with really, really, really good experiences from a place of selflessness and reciprocity will go into effect and give right back to us and the cycle will continue.
The 5 Laws of Stratospheric Success:
- Law #1 The Law of Value — Your true worth is determined by how much more you provide in value than you take in payment. Learn to identify what clients see as value that they will pay for.
- Law #2 The Law of Compensation — Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
- Law #3 The Law of Influence — Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.
- Law #4 The Law of Authenticity — The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.
- Law #5 The Law of Receptivity — The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.
Thanks for reading! I’m Eric and I write about how to design and start your new business. Check out my new course Fire Your Designer where I teach how to design your own logo and website in a day.
Happy Hustling!
