How to Prime Your Marketing Pump: Give Away to Get Back

I was struck by a story in Grow Rich With Peace of Mind, one of Napoleon Hill's excellent, but lesser-known books.

It's about the curious incident of an insurance man who became rich after first giving away 90% of his working hours.

How's that possible? Here's how, from pages 78-79:

One of my distinguished students, Edward Choate of the New England Life Insurance Company of Los Angeles, decided to help his government sell War Bonds during World War II. He devoted 80 per cent of his time to this effort for which he received no direct compensation.

In addition, he gave 10 per cent of his time to counseling and training other life insurance men, his direct competitors. For this he neither asked nor received compensation. He used the remaining 10 percent of his time to sell life insurance on his own account.

One might think that a man who gave away 90 per cent of his working hours would ruin his business. Let us see. A life insurance man is considered to do pretty well if he writes $1,000,000 worth of insurance in a year. During the first three months of one war year, Edward Choate wrote more than $1,500,000 worth. Most of this was written in his own office, on the lives of men who sought him out and asked him to accept their applications. They were men who remembered him in connection with the services he rendered while he was giving away 90% of his time.

In giving of his time, Mr. Choate never hinted that he wanted anything in return. Yet such is the Law of Compensation that a return is inevitable. You may wish to look at it this way: every time you share your blessings with another, you become his creditor. Eventually, the debt is paid. Somehow, debts have to be paid.

This story intrigued me, as it may you. But is it really possible to give away 90% of your time and still earn a living? I don't know, because I've never tried. But I have given away 10% of my time and/or money for years. And I can tell you it really works.

Here's an example: A couple of cancelled projects left me with unexpected free time. So I decided to donate about 10% of my time next week to 3 good people in my network of friends and clients -- I'll be writing several letters and direct-mail pieces for them.

After telling each of these 3 people that I'd be doing work for them gratis, here's what happened:

• I was offered a free video email blast to a list of prime prospects for my copywriting (a joint venture made in heaven)

• I was offered an introduction to a multi-million dollar prospective client for my copywriting (they have desire and money to pay me)

• I was offered introductions to 2 executive who influence marketing decisions for dozens of my ideal clients (a networking goldmine)

... and then things really got weird:

• A lukewarm prospect suddenly emailed to say, "The check is in the mail"

• An ideal prospect who had "gone dark" for 2 weeks emailed to say, "Let's talk next week."

You get the idea. There's a bunch of new business and revenue in my pipeline that wasn't there 24 hours before I "primed the pump" by giving away just 10% of my time for one work week.

Now, make no mistake, I'm not counting any of these chickens until they're hatched. You can't put promises or introductions in the bank. And there is MUCH more to my marketing than giving away my services -- I mail 100-300 sales letters a week to generate leads, on top of all the referrals and add-on projects I generate from clients, the blogging, public speaking, article writing, etc. 

This is NOT another Pollyanna plea for you to "give something back." Please. If you're in business and you pay taxes, you already give back.

What this is about is the simple idea that, by helping others, you help yourself.

You can call it, "reap what you sow," or "get what you give" or even as Jesus said in Luke 6:38, "Give, and it will be given to you ... For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."

Whatever you call it, you've probably heard of it. But have you tried it?

If business is slow, one of the fastest ways to boost your sales is to boost your ego. Because sales is just like dating -- desperation is NOT an aphrodisiac. And a sure way to feel better about yourself is to help somebody else feel better, by giving them of your time and skills.

Try a literal tithing of your time this week -- donate just 10%. You'll put unseen forces into motion that enrich others as well as yourself. The more you give, the more comes back to you. I promise you'll be richer for it.

Meanwhile, are you an entrepreneur with clients, not customers? Are you doing at least $200,000 in revenue, and want to do better? If so ...

... I can show you more "profit hacks" like the ones you just read in this article. Get them in my next Free Video Training Session. It's for $200k entrepreneurs ONLY, please.

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