I bought 30 copies to give away as gifts to friends and family

[Kevin V]

I was fortunate to share this story with Steve and a handful of other people at CGW#2. Also, Christian from Berlin mentioned it briefly on the mic at the workshop after working with me on an exercise. Here goes:

Personal Development for Smart People had such a positive impact on my life that I really wanted to share the book with close friends and family. "How could I share this with other people?", I thought. I could simply recommend it. Nah, no one would listen. I could send them a link to the book on Amazon and show them the good reviews! Nope, they still wouldn't pull the trigger in buying it, I decided.

What if I bought a bunch of copies? Hmm, that could be costly. How about I give it away and if they like the book they can pay me back? Nah. Ok, how about half? Nope. Ok, how about just a dollar? Nah that's lame too. So what about giving away the book as a gift, completely free of charge, expecting nothing in return? "If I can change just one person's life, then it would be worth any dollar amount. After all, I win/lose $300ish dollars daily in mere seconds playing poker", is what I concluded.

So I purchased 30 copies on Amazon (and made a list of people to give a copy to)... and to top it off, I FORGOT to select Amazon Super Saver Shipping at checkout. DOH! Ah, but I later learned that "accident" was actually a blessing, for I was able to receive the books much sooner than later to begin my journey of giving the book away.

Here is where the fun starts: There were three primary reactions to receiving the book as a gift

1. Positive: One of my friends jumped right in and read 100 pages the first night! He finished the book quickly and two weeks after receiving the book, he moved out of his house in San Antonio (realizing his parents were too negative and holding him back) and moved back to Austin on his own (where he actually preferred to live). Other friends who finished it quickly have grown so much in just the 1 month time frame of having finished reading the book. A second friend of mine is actually about to move out of his parents' house as well.

2. Indifferent / EXTREMELY slow to read (like still on Intro/Chapter 1 after 1 month!): These are the people who have remained stagnant. They're still at their current job, trying to figure out ways to better their lives, not knowing that they have a book right next to them that can help them see the light.

3. Negative: One of my "good" friends of 10 years snapped at me after giving him the book. First, he asked me "Is this book about Dianetics?" (Scientology for those of you that don't know). He went on to say how my positive mindset freaks him out, as if I was involved in some cult. And when I told him "Look man, you don't have to read the book if you don't want to" he snapped with "Will you ****in chill the **** out?! I'm gonna read the book! I've been into stuff like that way before you have!" [clearly superiority complex or desire to try to prove he's better than me] The old me would have said "Yeah, it shows" (he's approaching 30, marriage is rocky, unhappy with his job, etc etc unhappy all around), but I opted to just say "That's good, that's good."


It's not over!

1. The people who have read the book are now more consciously aware and have taken steps and action to improve their lives. For example, moving out of your parents' house to another city takes a lot of courage and forcing out of their comfort zones. Also, I connect with these people more and keep them in my life more. We are able to regularly discuss personal development/growth now. (BIG HINT for those who don't have friends to discuss personal development with)

2. The people who reacted indifferently/negatively I'm disconnecting from my life. These are the people who will just constantly complain about their miserable/stagnant/dull lives, not realizing the kindness and beauty of the gift I offered them with my hard earned money, thought, and heart. Little do they know that their ability to see the light is right on their book shelf (or wherever the hell they tossed the book!)

[Sonnenblume]

Wow Kevin, this is a very beautiful and inspiring story!

I thought about giving some copies away myself. Alas, a lot of my friends/family only read books in German, so I have to wait until March until a translated version is available.

Peter

[theorique]

Kevin,

This is a great story of using your gambler mind-set to take a calculated risk on helping and contributing to people in your life.

And who knows, even if the immediate 'target' of your generosity doesn't step up to the plate, the book could be valuable to their parent, child, sibling, friend or someone else in their life ("Well, sure you can take a look at that book, Kevin gave me the damn thing six months ago and I haven't looked at it since...")

Congratulations on an excellent idea!

-jack

[carenkh]

Originally Posted by Kevin V

The people who reacted indifferently/negatively I'm disconnecting from my life. These are the people who will just constantly complain about their miserable/stagnant/dull lives, not realizing the kindness and beauty of the gift I offered them with my hard earned money, thought, and heart. Little do they know that their ability to see the light is right on their book shelf (or wherever the hell they tossed the book!)

It's possible, though, that they won't always be miserable/stagnant, etc. - that they WILL grow - and that Steve's way of presenting information just doesn't resonate with them. Not everyone needs to vibe with Steve or the Truth/Love/Power paradigm as he presents it, to grow and change. There are many paths up the mountain, and they all lead to the top.

Often, too, people react strongly negatively right before they change, when they're faced with the truth for the first time. I've seen it again and again on radical unschooling forums. They'll lash out at the people writing, the forum owner, etc. and declare us all nuts... then they turn a major corner in their growth and self-awareness.

Food for thought!

[jacknick]

that's an awesome story!! I clicked it because I thought you were giving out free copies, but turns out this story is just as good, if not better! Now your life is getting better because the people around you live's are getting better. Awesome.

[Brutha]

I was fortunate to share this story with Steve and a handful of other people at CGW#2. Also, Christian from Berlin mentioned it briefly on the mic at the workshop after working with me on an exercise.

I swear I wasn't at the workshop

[Kevin V]

It's been nearly 3 months since I've given away 30 of these books, I'd estimate only 8-10 have been read. The other 20 or so are just collecting dust. Either the world is not ready for free books or the world is not ready for personal development

[Johnny Skosnik]

Hi Kevin, don't feel down about the effectiveness of your damn generous gift, if it helps just one person it's worth it. I've already derived much value reading your recommended "Way of the Superior Man". It's lead me into a relationship with one helluva women (we had a most enjoyable weekend together ). Keep in touch!

[themaster]

Damn, I was just in austin yesterday! I could have picked up a copy and then you'd have 21 books on a shelf collecting dust

Try and remember that change is a choice for everyone.. some people just aren't ready Also some people just don't like to be told the obvious.. even if it was they should do

[Kevin V]

Originally Posted by Johnny Skosnik

Hi Kevin, don't feel down about the effectiveness of your damn generous gift, if it helps just one person it's worth it. I've already derived much value reading your recommended "Way of the Superior Man". It's lead me into a relationship with one helluva women (we had a most enjoyable weekend together ). Keep in touch!

I'm glad you liked it! It was the first book I read right after PDSP and thought it was just as profound, though obviously in a different area of PD

Originally Posted by themaster

Try and remember that change is a choice for everyone.. some people just aren't ready Also some people just don't like to be told the obvious.. even if it was they should do

I know, I know, you're right! I've been working on NOT projecting my expectations and reality on other people!

[theorique]

Originally Posted by Johnny Skosnik

Hi Kevin, don't feel down about the effectiveness of your damn generous gift, if it helps just one person it's worth it. I've already derived much value reading your recommended "Way of the Superior Man". It's lead me into a relationship with one helluva women (we had a most enjoyable weekend together ). Keep in touch!

Kevin,
Seconding Johnny's thanks for recommending TWOTSM. (hi Johnny!) The text flows like poetry - it's definitely not a conventional "self-help" book out of the psychology / therapy mold, more like a mystical and spiritual text that still has very practical suggestions.
-jack

[The Unconquered]

Originally Posted by Kevin V

It's been nearly 3 months since I've given away 30 of these books, I'd estimate only 8-10 have been read. The other 20 or so are just collecting dust. Either the world is not ready for free books or the world is not ready for personal development

13% to 33% ROI is pretty good IMO. And who knows...more of those people may pick up the book as time goes on. If that's not a high enough percentage for you, maybe start a "free books" thread on here instead and mail it to interested folk.

[Kevin V]

Originally Posted by The Unconquered

13% to 33% ROI is pretty good IMO. And who knows...more of those people may pick up the book as time goes on. If that's not a high enough percentage for you, maybe start a "free books" thread on here instead and mail it to interested folk.

13% to 33% ROI is a pretty good way to look at it! I would hope interested folk could afford a $15 or so purchase of a book on their own though . Finding a way to give a lot of books for free to a lot of people has been a vision of mine, but I feel even still so many free books would go to waste. I have 5 books or so lent out to "interested folk" who still haven't even started reading.

[The Unconquered]

Originally Posted by Kevin V

13% to 33% ROI is a pretty good way to look at it! I would hope interested folk could afford a $15 or so purchase of a book on their own though . Finding a way to give a lot of books for free to a lot of people has been a vision of mine, but I feel even still so many free books would go to waste. I have 5 books or so lent out to "interested folk" who still haven't even started reading.

Dunno. I've heard several requests on other threads from people in Asia who'd love to get their hands on a copy -- it's not available there right now. And giving is best when nothing is expected in return

[Kevin V]

Guys, I failed to mention this before because I didn't think it was relevant at the time because I was blind to see the lesson.

While I was in the process of giving out these books to people, sometimes in conversation it would come up. Pretty much I would just briefly talk about how a book changed my life and I wanted to share it with other people.

I heard this reply from at least 3 different people: "Sounds like a pyramid scheme."

To lower conscious people, the possibility of someone giving away a book for free to someone sounds preposterous. A book that can change your life and make you more positive must also be preposterous!

This experience and other similar experiences I've had due to the type of mindset I've had helped me realize this: The more I increase my awareness and positivity levels, the more socially awkward and delusional my actions appear to a majority of lower conscious people in my current environment. I feel this is an experience many people who are on a path of raising their consciousness will encounter. <- Shared this idea from my CGW thread

[theorique]

Originally Posted by Kevin V

I heard this reply from at least 3 different people: "Sounds like a pyramid scheme."

To lower conscious people, the possibility of someone giving away a book for free to someone sounds preposterous. A book that can change your life and make you more positive must also be preposterous!

???

So strange. Presumably these people are already your acquaintances or friends, so if you assure them that you're not expecting anything from them in return for the book, what could possibly be pyramid scheme-like about it?

One possible thing that I might anticipate seeing would be defensiveness - "you think something's WRONG with me, otherwise why would you give me a self-improvement book?"

But a pyramid scheme? That's just weird. The only possible explanation that I can think of is that if you mentioned that you had bought a large number of copies, they might have thought that they were being recruited for your "downline".

[Marc Robertson]

That really shows how misguided their view on Pyramid schemes really are. You aren't asking them to pay a dime for anything. That eliminates any claims to Pyramid or Multi-Level Marketing schemes.

I imagine that the reluctance that you are seeing is simply that they aren't receptive to personal growth. If they aren't ready, they aren't listening, or reading in this case. If they are, they would certainly read it by now.

If I were in your shoes, I would consider the value gained by the receptive people would far outweight the lost value in the expense of the books and any negative social outcomes of this random act of kindness.

[sheffy4]

Originally Posted by Kevin V

It's been nearly 3 months since I've given away 30 of these books, I'd estimate only 8-10 have been read. The other 20 or so are just collecting dust. Either the world is not ready for free books or the world is not ready for personal development

Don't give up hope on those that don't read the book soon. I have done the same thing to myself even - I will buy a book that I think looks helpful, or insightful (novels in addition to personal development), and sometimes I won't read it for a long time. Then one day I will be ready to dive into it, and I am finally ready to listen to what the book has to tell me.

[Kevin V]

Originally Posted by sheffy4

Don't give up hope on those that don't read the book soon. I have done the same thing to myself even - I will buy a book that I think looks helpful, or insightful (novels in addition to personal development), and sometimes I won't read it for a long time. Then one day I will be ready to dive into it, and I am finally ready to listen to what the book has to tell me.

Yeah someone whom I gave the book to in Dec started reading the book a week ago and thanked me for it. Sometimes you just got to give it time. Also, I've realized that to some people Steve's stuff that he talks about is really higher-level content that they may not be able to comprehend. His book made complete sense to me because I've been living by a lot of ideals for the past 5 years that are very similar to his (i.e. NEVER get a job). Also, I've noticed that people still heavily trapped in the employee mindset don't resonate as well with the book as those with the anti-employee mindset.

[Cochonette]

Um... so what if they haven't read the book after a month, two months? When I was 16, a friend ordered a book from Amazon and had it sent to my address. Being a slow reader, but not really into nonfiction and not expecting it to be of interest, I didn't start reading it until a year later. It was an autobiography of a Zen priest. By itself, it didn't change my life, but it got me interested in Zen, and a year after that I read a book on Zen meditation that did change my life.

And most people don't have much care for reading, but they'll probably get around to it eventually.

[Kornel]

Kevin

Likely in this century,

No one corresponds by hand written letters or read paper books.
Nowadays, when you give a book as presents it's like calling out 'savage'
ever since the paper books, envelopes and stamps are all too old to fiddle with.

Steve wrote a book and twenty more books worth of material lays in his free Blogs.
All plain text and it's universal. Let's call it smart, just like you bought those 30 books
was a smart move. Above all, Steve makes money by giving away free stuff. It attracts
more traffic to his website, because everyone wants to find out about his business. RaD!

(Poetry question: Does it belong to the library or yours?)

Every book has a few blank pages just like a staircase has its landing.
I hand draw pictures and some lines on them. Sometimes I write on
the bookmarks too and those are marking my favorite chapters.

Let's not retire that good old book shelf yet.
Especially until we still have Smart People books
and those infamous Uncle John's Bathroom readers.

Kornel
PS.: I'm a visual type and to back up the meaning behind my post
I've just drawn a picture out of symmetric lines or sentences. Fun!