Post by Alexis Yael for the Kindness in Business series.
Especially since so many of my friends – who I would like to take my classes and read my books – are not as financially lucky as my family.
But I believe in paying artists for their gifts. I believe in the exchange of money for inspiration.
But I also believe in kindness. And I know it isn’t kind to ask a struggling mom to choose between paying a phone bill and taking my class. It just isn’t. And that struggling mom is my friend. I want to read her poems. I want to see her photos. I want to be kind to her so that she can be kind to someone else.
I could “focus on a different customer base” (read: people with disposable income). And I believe that is a completely valid way of doing business as an artist. After all, I am a person with some disposable income and I take those classes! But my calling in business is to give back because I am able to do so. I am able to pay back the kindness that has been shown to me, so much in my own life (especially in my struggling-college-student days).
(I have a lot of kindness to pay back to the world. I have been deeply blessed by all the kindnesses that have been shown to me all my life.)
And so, last year when I launched my first e-course, I decided to give it an unusual pricing structure. I called it, “pay with a kindness.”
That meant my class (and all of my subsequent e-courses) was sliding scale. The buyer could either pay the suggested price (money), or pay with a kindness (either in part, or in full) instead of money. The only caveat that I had was that if someone wanted to pay entirely by kindness, I asked them to run their kindness project by me in advance.
And during that first class, the kindnesses that were paid blew me away. One friend ran a compliment thread on her FB page where she honestly and eloquently told everyone who responded what she appreciated about them. It was truly, deeply, inspiring. I saved her compliment to me in my “words of appreciation” folder and I reread those words (and others) when I am feeling down.
Another friend traded me her skills as an artist and drew me a class logo. Someone else made cookies for her upstairs neighbors (our kindnesses are uniquely ours to give).
My mom traded me a necklace that she made just for me. (Yes, my mom takes my classes and I love having her there!)
And some people didn’t pay with kindness, they paid with money. But a neat thing happened: the people that paid full price also started telling me about the kindness projects that they had started!
Kindness didn’t have to be an “instead of” payment, it could also be a “in addition” payment. My mind was a little blown when that happened, although in retrospect maybe it wasn’t so unusual. People want to be kind. It’s part of our deepest longing, to be given and to give comfort.
And accepting kindness in lieu of money isn’t entirely practical for physical goods. Prints and jewelry and printed zines have extra costs that need to be recouped. I understand. I grok. I can’t offer everything on a kindness scale, if I want to start offering prints and zines, going forward in my own business. I’m still working that out. Mine is still a fledgling business and I am not a successful business person by most people’s standards.
(I am not deeply concerned with success.)
And if your micro-business is already on a larger scale than mine is, it might be harder to implement a pay with a kindness policy. I am not a financial advisor. That’s not one of my gifts!
But maybe, just maybe, there is a kindness project waiting to be inspired by your request for an “in addition” kindness payment. Maybe there is a struggling mom or a struggling student who would really love to take your class (or read your book) who can’t afford it. Maybe your own kindness project could be to expand your circle – just a wee, tiny bit – to include those who are struggling. You could reach out to that struggling mom and ask her to do transcription or get you back to email zero in return for her spot in your upcoming class.
And maybe you are already doing that. Your being here, reading this, tells me there’s a huge likelihood that you are.
Because one thing I know is this: kindness attracts kindness. And those of you reading Kind Over Matter are already practicing kindness. What I am offering (I hope) is one more way to think about offering kindness in your business.
One more way to repay the kindness the world has shown me; one more way to offer kindness in return.
A thank you to all of us living in this beautiful, fragile world.
