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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWHAT IS THE GIFT ECONOMY?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Gift-economy is a term that brings subjects to mind like; \u201csharing\/collaborative economy<\/a>\u00a0(Airbnb<\/a>,\u00a0Uber<\/a>)\u201d, \u201ctiny houses\u201d or \u201cfarm sharing\u201d. Those wouldn\u2019t qualify though because they have a set price.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n You and the client enter an agreement where payment is based on what they feel is reasonable depending on the results and the process. Of course you can provide a \u201ctypical\u201d amount so the client has an idea, but if they are happy, like a good tipper, you will be surprised at how it can work out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When I\u2019ve participated, the exchange has been service for money, with the exception of a carved sign and cutting board payment. Service for money is generally what this article will discuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not alone in this space. Here are three web-related companies operating under the gift-economy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The timing wasn\u2019t ideal for my first gift-economy endeavor. <\/strong>I was working a job that I barely tolerated in Rhode Island when my girlfriend and I decided we wanted to move to Vermont. Moving is expensive, so I looked to my freelance game: my game was sparse. Any extra money would be graciously welcomed padding as I looked for something steady up north. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our move coincided with my discovery of Charles Eisenstein\u2019s\u00a0work<\/a>, which is an antidote to cynicism about climate change, capitalism and dominant norms. This was my introduction to the gift-economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The concept; \u201cyou pay what you feel is right, I trust you. I\u2019ll work my services to your business, you\u2019ll trust me\u201d,<\/strong> resonated deeply and I was anxious to try it out. The refrain from using a contract was alluring too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pressure of moving and a new business model made me more nervous than usual about the proposal I was working on. It was a warm lead from a friend. Keith, the potential client, and I hadn\u2019t talked on the phone yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I nervously hit send to a gift based proposal for a website redesign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He called me immediately. At 9:30 AM, I walked out the back door of work to a frozen, zero-degree parking lot and hit accept. He was in. My gut decision was validated.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n He signed on quickly because the business landscape was changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His was irritated in the decline of customers not picking up the phone to place orders. More and more preferred online forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gift-economy made business personal again, breaking the Godfather axiom.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We went on to do multiple projects and became good friends. This is a byproduct of doing business like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once they sign on, there is immediately a huge amount of trust between parties.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You each take a leap into the unknown. Trust can come later in projects, but I can tell you that it\u2019s a very nice way to start!<\/p>\n\n\n\n When writing the gift proposal for Keith, I used the bulk of one of my standard proposals. Try changing as little as possible to reframe your proposal. Mine needed an adjustment, not an overhaul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These pillars stayed;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For more, here is a\u00a0great article<\/a>\u00a0on more details of running a gift based business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Broaching this topic can shake people up.<\/strong> It can call to question deeply held beliefs about how the world works. It\u2019s your responsibility to offer information and field questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I suggest having PDFs at the ready, like this\u00a0one<\/a>, and links on the topic, see below if you want to learn more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Videos<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I understand that. It\u2019s just one story of a freelancer and a happy client. I have lost many gift-proposals along the way and I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s a magic bullet to fix freelancing woes. Sneaking cautiously out of your comfort-zone or violently shaking things up can be good things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, it was a shake up, and in hindsight, an answer to the question, what can I do in a world that seems to be falling apart?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Please let me know if you try this or want to!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrust people \u2014 they\u2019ll surprise you.\u201d<\/p> \u2014 Ron Shaich, co-CEO and founder, Panera Bread (after opening several locations featuring gift economy pricing)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are other models of business being used out there in this wild world, beyond value-based-pricing and productizing services. I\u2019m going to explain one that I used, why I did so and then show you how. The gift-economy is one such model. WHAT IS THE GIFT ECONOMY? Gift-economy is a term that brings subjects to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freelancetofreedomproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freelancetofreedomproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freelancetofreedomproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freelancetofreedomproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freelancetofreedomproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freelancetofreedomproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freelancetofreedomproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freelancetofreedomproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freelancetofreedomproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}MY EXPERIENCE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTHIS ALL SOUNDS GOOD, RIGHT? BUT HOW CAN I TRY IT WITHOUT DISRUPTING MY WELL-OILED SYSTEMS?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
THIS MAY STILL SEEM WACKY.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n