I recently discovered Everett Bogue’s blog, The Art of Being Minimalist. It’s a great blog; it reminds me of Karol Grajda’s Ridiculously Extraordinary, except a little more polished. The posts are kinda long, but they’re good. Everett wrote a post today reflecting on his 6-month blogging anniversary. One bullet point that struck me was:
9. Give your best work away for free. You can’t succeed in the digital age if you withhold your best work for paying customers only. Prove that you have the ability to help people by giving them everything for free, and your audience will support you by buying your premium product. People will support the value that they receive. Give your best work away for free and you’ll reach so many more people who can help you make the change that’s necessary.
I’ve thought a lot about the future of news in the age of blogs, and I think this is a crucial insight. It doesn’t completely answer the question of how to fund full news rooms while providing free content and minimal ads, but it’s something I think most traditional news organizations just don’t get.
That bullet, and some of the others more directly, are relevant to this idea in social interaction: do things for other people. There’s the inherent happiness that you get from just being generous, and also your good will frequently creates good will in those around you, and they will do things for you as well. Let me know how it goes.
