Sharing: How giving to others returns wealth and creates friendships
Bloggers get a lot of conflicting advice about monetizing the opinions and advise they cast into the internet ether.
“Give away your thoughts, build a following, and then charge for content”
“No, anything given away for free is by definition worthless; don’t establish yourself as worthless.”
“It’s not worthless if people are reading it, but would they pay for it if asked?”
“Just share your passion; your goal is to make the world a better place. But throw up links to what your readers might want to buy to help pay the bills and keep the train rolling.”
All this conflicting advice got me thinking about sharing.
Jordan Peterson has written a wonderful book called 12 Rules for Life that is making quite a splash in the online world. The book has twelve chapters, each one containing one of the twleve rules in the title. Chapter 7, “Pursue what is meaningful, (not what is expedient)”, says a lot about sharing.
Peterson shares an interesting story about a monkey hunter in the jungle. He constructs a jar with an opening just big enough for a monkey to insert its open hand, but too small to accommodate a closed fist full of food. He fills the bottom of the jar with heavy rocks, and then…
