{"id":3297,"date":"2013-11-21T21:44:16","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T04:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/?p=3297"},"modified":"2018-12-06T08:30:20","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T15:30:20","slug":"why-i-give-it-all-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/why-i-give-it-all-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Give it All Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PayI got a thought provoking email the other day from Resistance member Tom Owens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With his permission, I wanted to share part of it with you:<\/p>\n

You've done bang-up work on your two blog posts explaining PWYW and how it's helped you.<\/i><\/p>\n

However...I think more than one person might pause. \"If he's still doing so well with this business model, why is he letting others know? Why not a trade secret?\"<\/i><\/p>\n

...In other words, why are you sharing this?<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I clicked the reply button in Gmail and thought about the question before responding.<\/p>\n

Why not?\u00a0 Why WOULND\u2019T I share this info?...<\/i>\u00a0 I thought to myself.<\/i><\/p>\n

To me, it went without saying why I was doing it. \u00a0It seemed like something that spoke for itself.<\/p>\n

But then I thought about that response (\u2018why not\u2019<\/i>) and realized it was a cop-out \u2013 it didn\u2019t actually explain why I was doing what I was doing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By responding with \u2018why not<\/i>,\u2019 I wasn\u2019t really answering his question.\u00a0 Instead, I was purposefully avoiding it.<\/p>\n

Before I hit the send button, I deleted the few short lines I\u2019d compiled and started from scratch.<\/p>\n

When I finished, I hit the send button and didn\u2019t think much more about it.<\/p>\n

The next day, I got a reply.<\/h2>\n

To be honest with you, I was shocked by his response.<\/p>\n

Not because it was offensive \u2013 it was the opposite, actually.\u00a0 I guess I just didn\u2019t expect my thoughts to be received this way\u2026 <\/i><\/p>\n

With his permission, I\u2019m sharing with you a portion of his response:<\/p>\n

\u201cyou should use ALL OF THAT in your next blog post. That's a perfect response. I have not seen anyone spell this out so well\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because of his urging, and because I believe sharing my 'why<\/em>' with you is important, I decided to share the email I sent him with all of you today.<\/p>\n

*note: this is basically the same email, although I did elaborate a little bit more on some topics to give additional clarification to those who are new to me, this blog and my writing.<\/em><\/p>\n

My \u201cWhy\u201d<\/h2>\n

I started this blog a little over a year ago.<\/p>\n

In that time, I\u2019ve written over 100 essays, published 15+ podcasts, written several guides, and published 2 books \u2013 everything is free + Pay What You Want to support my creative work.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been following along for a while, you know I write about the war of art<\/a>, the conflict of creation<\/a>, and why it\u2019s important we fight the inner creative enemy<\/a> every day to create our life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Life\u2019s work\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Your life\u2019s work is the cumulative results of all the things you\u2019ve done in this life (creative or otherwise).\u00a0 It\u2019s the compilation of all the projects you\u2019ve ever started, finished and shipped.\u00a0 It\u2019s your impact, your legacy, your story\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Life\u2019s work...<\/i><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about for me.<\/b><\/p>\n

And I believe, deep down in my heart, that on the last day of our existence here on Earth, when we breathe our last breath, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about for ALL of us.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be judged accordingly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I hope this doesn\u2019t come off melodramatic \u2013 it\u2019s not supposed to.\u00a0 If it sounds a bit intense, it\u2019s because it is.<\/p>\n

I believe everyone has creative work they'd love to do, that they OUGHT to do (because<\/em> they want to),\u00a0but life gets in the way. \u00a0Can\u2019t start today, today\u2019s the football game, or I need to pick up dinner, or I\u2019m so tired \u2013 I\u2019ll start tomorrow.<\/i><\/p>\n

Years pass and the ideas that were so inspiring once upon a time are now regret inducing memories.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What a shame.<\/i><\/p>\n

What a waste\u2026<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

But if I can help more people take action today to start building \/ creating \/ designing whatever it is they care about, and I can walk with them over the finish line to actually ship it to market...<\/p>\n

Well I feel like that's MY life's work. I get honest joy out of it. \u00a0In a way, it validates my existence.<\/p>\n

And I think the best way to help people is by being on the ground with them,\u00a0slugging it out in the trenches right beside them.<\/i><\/p>\n

As a platoon leader in Iraq, I did that on a daily basis, training my platoon and taking them on mission every day. I was a convoy security platoon leader.\u00a0 My job was to take a group of non-infantry cooks, warehouse clerks, and mechanics, and train and lead them in security operations for our daily logistical resupplies to neighboring bases.<\/p>\n

I was responsible not only for them (a task in and of itself), but as the convoy commander, I was responsible for everyone and everything moving from point A to point B.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s important to realize is that I was always there with them, for the training and for the missions themselves. And since I was one of them, the more 'secrets' I shared (tactics, techniques and procedures) the better off I was and the better off we all were.<\/p>\n

I treat entrepreneurship and art the same way. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

We ought to help one another out. Share our work. And share our secrets...<\/em><\/p>\n

At least if we care about great work<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And not just creating the great work ourselves so we get credit, but so there\u2019s more great work in the world, period.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

So yeah, that\u2019s why I\u2019m sharing this info.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019m writing this book<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why I give it all away.<\/em><\/p>\n

I hope that answers the question.\u00a0 And I hope my work helps you start, finish and ship your great work.<\/p>\n

If it does, let me know: your success is my success.<\/p>\n

Take care.<\/p>\n

- Tom<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Started, finished and shipped in Dunedin<\/a>, New Zealand. \u00a0Fuel: 2 double espresso's. \u00a0Soundtrack: Yeasayer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Writing Time: 3 hours<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got a thought provoking email the other day from Resistance member Tom Owens. With his permission, I wanted to share part of it with you: You've done bang-up work on your two blog posts explaining PWYW and how it's helped you. However...I think more than one person might pause. \"If he's still doing so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[237],"tags":[341,377,392],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}