If you know me, you probably know how much I love the concept of “pay-what-you-want” and the gift economy. I’ve tried for a long time to promote these concepts.
I’ve made all my art available with such “free pricing” so essentially it’s available for free but is open to gifts or “donations”. I’ve tried doing language classes that are pay-what-you-want. I avoid setting a price whenever possible. That’s because I feel my time and energy is more valuable than any number could express. It’s also because I believe everyone deserves access to what they desire even if they do not currently have the means. I believe in the free flow of energy.
If you know me, you also know that I don’t like advertising much. I don’t like putting a coating on things in order to make them more palatable for a larger audience. I find that to be bland and insincere. I mean I appreciate what Naz Daily does but the way he talks makes want to report him rather than give him a like. There are good TEDtalks but I always want to pass the speaker a joint or something.
Even the way I’m talking right now, crafting sentences carefully so that you are able to follow what I’m saying with ease, even that is a stretch for me. This is not how I talk when I’m in the chat room, or even on Facebook and Twitter where I interact with all people I know in person. Like the free flow of energy, I believe in the free flow of emotion and ideas.
But....
I have to admit, I’m a bit disappointed with the results. It’s not that I’m not thankful, I’m so incredibly thankful for every upvote I’ve received, every student I’ve had, every patron who has supported me long term or short (most came from steemit).
I am thankful. But I know there are others out there who will appreciate what I’m about, and in sharing what I share I hope I can generate more abundance for myself and in turn pass it on to others.
I have other friends who offer things with free pricing or even for free. I always want to support them but I myself am still struggling to get by, even now that I have a full time job. They sometimes struggle harder than I do. If I want to support them, I need to be able to support myself.
So I’m reflecting on this concept of pay-what-you-want. Is it right for me now? Is it realistic to continue, considering my aversion to typical marketing and my preference towards “word of mouth” when I have no outstanding features like the ability to paint while standing on my head or play guitar like a drum.
The fact is we live in a society and I’m not trying to run away from that society. If I want to participate in society, shouldn’t I join in and do things a little more traditionally when the results are not to my liking? Shouldn’t I start a YouTube channel?? Shouldn’t I use marketing psychology to generate interest when I’ve had the same 10 “fans” (they are friends by now) for 2 years and my real life friends take little interest in what I’m doing.
Even if I want to say value is not always determined by the market, not always quantifiable, we all grow up in situations where this is not something worth considering. To do so seems to be going against a natural current.
It’s not as if I don’t believe in these ideas anymore, but perhaps I need to do things another way and not expect people to jump right in and participate in a mode of sharing that they have never even conceptualized. Perhaps pay-what-you-want will be more impressive once I’ve proven that I can do it the normal way. Perhaps then it will be more convincing as a great way to allow energy to flow once I already have more energy and abundance to share?
I don’t really know.
My Patreon has shrunk in support, and to be fair I haven’t updated it much but I update my soundcloud and steemit and it’s all free to access anyway. Patreon was really just a place to recover payment.
Should I play hard to get? Should I charge? Should I say my work is worth so and so a price rather than letting you decide? Should I make it available for free only to people who can’t afford it? Should I take advantage of human psychology even if I believe our psychology could advance beyond such cheap tricks if we became accustomed to different culture? Should I offer perks to subscribers?
Should I make my art a product in order to make money from it?
What do you think?
Take a look at my Patreon and tell me
I can’t bring myself to hide the fact that while this post is honest and sincere, it’s also a trick to get you to click that link. But whether to support or not is up to you. (Or am I just employing another trick to gain your trust? This kind of dilemma is why I love free pricing and word of mouth ;-) )