Volunteer to Be Wealthy

A fool and his money are seldom parted.

Here's a lightly tested theory about business and life that I am trying out as my guiding principle. I will update this space with my experiences.

When most people look for a job or start a business, they begin with the question "how much money can I convince people to give me?" I think a far more profitable first question is "how much value can I give away?"

Here's an exaggerated thought experiment to illustrate the point. Suppose I decide I want ten million dollars. I think "I know -- I'll find a million people who are each willing to give me ten dollars." I start by posting this request on Facebook, hoping people will spread the word. That doesn't seem to be working, so finally I spend a million dollars on stamps, envelopes, and time, to send a million people letters asking for their ten dollars.

That may seem like such a stupid example that it made no sense to even bring it up. But actually, I think most new business ideas amount to pretty much the same thing. I still start by deciding I want ten million dollars. I realize that I'll probably have to give people something for this. I happen to be a programmer, so I think "I know -- I'll write a piece of software. Then, I'll let everyone know they have to send me ten dollars to use it. That will get everyone excited right out of the gate! I'll have a million customers in no time!"

In both cases, I start out by deciding to convince a million people to do something they don't want to do. Brilliant! What could possibly go wrong with that?

Instead, the profitable place to start is this: "How much value can I possibly give away to people? How can I, with my particular situation and skills, deliver the largest possible benefit to other people without asking for anything in return?" The power of this starting point is that it is far easier to convince people to do something they will like. And the more they will like it, the easier it is to convince them. (Yes, you still have to convince them. Or, better still, convince them to convince each other. People basically don't like change, even good change.)

"But wait", you say. "I actually did want the ten million dollars. Are we going to get to that?" Indeed we are. There is nothing wrong with receiving ten million dollars. The issue is merely that if you start there, you make your job a thousand times more difficult.

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there was a fairly geeky Harvard undergrad named Mark. He found himself obsessing over the question of how he could give software to people that they would absolutely, totally love. He tried some things that people didn't especially like, and then some things that they did like but that got him into trouble. Finally he found something they really, really liked. They began telling each other what a great thing it was, and they all got quite excited about starting to use it. It spread like wildfire, although at first Mark didn't even know how to find enough money to keep it running, much less make any profit from it. That caused some problems, but Mark's software became Facebook, and Mark now has tens of billions of dollars.

Choosing Your Customer

From what I have said so far, I may seem to be claiming you could get rich by standing on a street corner handing out hundred dollar bills. Nothing could be further from the truth! The approach to business that I am advocating still requires sharp strategy and great business savvy. Standing on a street corner handing out hundred dollar bills fails in two ways: you aren't intelligently choosing your customer, nor are you figuring out how you can deliver the most possible value to them.

Most people think someone becomes their customer by paying them money. That is a self-defeating way of thinking about customers! From that perspective, your relationship with the customer starts when you finally convince them to do something they don't want to do. That puts a brick wall across the starting gate.

Here's a better way of looking at it. Someone becomes your customer when they start receiving value from you. In fact, you think of them as your customer from the moment you decide you are going to deliver value to them. Sending you money isn't how your customer gets started. It is just a nice thing that happy customers do down the road to keep the process going.

And it is important to keep the process going. That is why you have to choose your customer very carefully in the first place. I opened this essay by mangling a common quote, saying "a fool and his money are seldom parted". My main point was that if you hold your money, time, and attention close and refuse to give them to anyone, you make your own life very hard. But this also applies to your customer: a fool and his money will not readily be parted, so make sure your customer is no fool. Also make sure they will end up having money or other value they could give you.

Can you Run Your Life This Way?

I think you can. I have begun to try. I will let you know how it goes.

So far I have framed this as a philosophy about starting and running a business, but I think it can work just as well for starting and running a career. Early indications are good. I'm not actually making my living this way yet, but I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Here's how I think this works. Focus your time wherever you think you can deliver the most value to a good customer. Do this as a gift, no strings attached, with no expectation of repayment or even gratitude. If you feel in the back of your mind that you are making the customer feel indebted to you, it totally screws this up. Instead, be clear in your mind and heart that you are giving a gift.

At this point, your goal is to build a strong relationship with a good customer:

• Choose a customer who you are uniquely in a position to help, a lot.
• Choose a customer who is no fool -- one who will be happy to give you money or other value in the future if they want more of what you are offering than it makes sense for you to volunteer.
• Choose a customer who will have something to give you in the future. (Charity is great too, but it is a different topic.)

Over time, here is how I think this plays out:

Don't wack your customer over the head with this philosophy at the very beginning. You might weird them out. Keep it light.

Gravitate toward your best opportunities to help good customers. Remember that, from your perspective, anyone you decide to deliver value to is your customer. You have to make good decisions about what your customer will value; if you get this wrong, you are just a nuisance. Sometimes it is helpful to ask the customer what they need or want, but don't overweight this in your thinking. On the whole, people don't know what they will value until they experience it. Also, if you give your customer something they already knew they wanted, your impact is quite limited.

Be careful about making commitments. Only commit to things you are confident you want to follow through with, and then meticulously keep whatever commitments you make.

Build relationships in which the value you receive from your customer is, on average over time, far greater than your cost of helping them. It isn't a matter of keeping score. Don't think that your gifts create a debt. Be happy if the customer gets ten times as much value as they give back. But if, on average over time, the cost to you is even a little higher than what you receive, then unless you start out wealthy this won't last long. Charity is great, but it's a different thing. Here, we are discussing good business.

Help your customer understand the right time to pay you. If you approach this in the right spirit, an outsider may correctly see you as a savvy negotiator. But your customer will know you are just helping them figure out how to get the most value you can sensibly provide them.

Ironically, if you are running your life this way, it is unnecessary for your customer to pay you when they need you most. If they have a desperate need for something you can provide, they can just mention it and it is a top priority for you anyway. Other than keeping prior commitments, you will drop everything to help them out, with no need for payment. The reason is that you astutely see it as an opportunity to deliver huge value to a good customer. (Of course they may astutely see it as an opportunity to strenthen their supplier relationship by volunteering a sweet payment. But that's their business, and none of yours. Don't get confused.)

The time when your customer really should pay you is when they want the value you provide, but they don't need it badly enough for it to automatically be a priority for you. It is their way of putting their thumb on the scale of your priorities. For example, they may have a job they'd really like you to do, but you aren't inclined to do it as a volunteer. It is a good use of your time, but you have other things to do that you would enjoy more, or places you could deliver more value, or a job you want to take to earn some money. So you gently help your customer realize they could pay you so you will take his particular job from them.

How Is It Going So Far?

It is a bit early to say. But I am having a lot of fun with it. Here are some things I am doing:

• In my job as a Principal Architect at LinkedIn, I work in the LinkedIn For Good team, helping make LinkedIn a platform for connecting skilled volunteers with non-profits. This is an actual job, not a volunteer gig, but it is fun and rewarding beyond what it pays.

• I am an investor and a member of the board of directors for a cool and capable space start-up, Astrobotic, which is racing to carry out the first privately funded lunar mission. Other than my investment and some nominal board member comp, I am just volunteering with them as a hobby, but I am being amply repaid in fun and learning. When was the last time you watched a major space launch from NASA's tent, or talked through the ins and outs of a customer's contract for taking their payload to the Moon?

• I have hired an AI researcher who I greatly respect as a private tutor, to help support his work while again being amply repaid in fun and learning.

Seems good so far. I will update this space to let you know how it goes.