Reciprocity.

Want to know one of the most effective ways to create reciprocity?

Mean it!

When we share some of ourselves, our ideas, our sentiment. The weird thing is we tend to get it back.

The human condition is hard-wired for reciprocity. It drives a lot of how we live, how we interact, so while the cost of our contributions and actions can be quite small. Our natural inclination to reciprocate can make the gains on both sides immense.

The caveat to that, however, is that our intentions can affect the perceived value of our contributions.

This is why those who want to hear from us should always interpret our service as a genuine act of kindness rather than trying to exploit their affection with costly gifts.

The natural instinct for us is to make and build what we are passionate about, and expect the world to automatically care.

But the truth is creating goodwill with those who matter to us doesn’t have to be costly in time or money.

It merely has to be intentional and without expectations.

So the alternative to the “ask”, is to first give…surprise those we care about and genuinely help those who might need it.

As creatives, the more valuable, substantial, and truly helpful our contribution is, the more we help to change hearts and minds. So this kind of reciprocity is justified by almost any cost.

It doesn’t take huge expenses to make an impact, but the hit we take by doing this is usually paid back multiple times over by the immense goodwill it generates from making people happy.