Imagine you go to a bus-stop and take out a ten pound note and shout to the people waiting….

Everybody will think you’re mad and ignore you.
Now imagine you took that £10 and posted it through your neighbour’s letterbox.

The next day you took another £10 and posted it again through your neighbours letterbox.

On the third day you took another £10 and posted it again through your neighbours letterbox…

On the 4th day you knock on the neighbor’s door and say…

Of course he will say YES! You’ve now just sold a £10 for £1

You’ve just earned £1

The value of the £10 hasn’t changed, but the perception of the giver has changed.

The £10 is now clearly worth buying because the previous £10 notes have been worth having for free.

The first thing to do with something really valuable is use it to make something more valuable…customers!
If you’ve got good stuff, then the first thing to do is give it away for free.

This means, don’t give away the piddling little stuff, don’t give away £1 cos its cheaper than £10 and you can afford it.

Nobody is impressed with piddling little stuff. Instead give away the big good stuff that shows you’re worth it. You know, like L’Oreal.

That’s what Twitter and blogs like this are good for. Stick something cool on it, show what youre worth, go do something for someone that’s really good-and do it for FREE-and you’re giving away your tenner and getting back REPUTATION as a result.
So that next time, you can sell your good thing as you’ve already tested its worth against people who’ve given you something more valuable than money, they’ve given you their time.

Not only do you now have customers, tested products and a reputation, by giving your ideas away for free you get in return by far the best thing…..NEW IDEAS.

Here’s Paul Arden from The World’s Best-Selling Book.

Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you.
Remember at school other students preventing you from seeing their answers by placing their arm around their exercise book or exam paper.
The problem with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves.
Eventually you’ll become STALE.
If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish.
Somehow the more you give away, the more comes back to you.
Ideas are open knowledge. Don’t claim ownership.
They’re not your ideas anyway, they’re someone else’s. They are out there floating on the ether. You just have to put yourself in a frame of mind to pick them up.

NB Don’t worry, this blog, associated twitter feed and associated tat under the ThinkPurpose banner, well that will always be free. The only thing i sell is my soul, Monday to Friday, and that’s worth tuppence.

NNB This is a story from Seth Godin. I’ve ripped him off again.