What Support?

There's plenty more where that came from...

You may not know this, but I'm not employed. I don't have someone who tells me to do things, then pays me for doing them. This works for me, since I generally find that people only pay other people to do things that they would rather not do, which means that they're going to be boring, disgusting, insulting, embarrassing, or otherwise distasteful. So, I have the huge benefit of being able to do something that I think is incredibly important and valuable.

I feel blessed that I get to be someone who does something I love. Of course, it's not all sunshine and roses. There is a huge drawback to pursuing this lifestyle: money. Well, lack of money, really. I don't get paid for anything that I do. Not one cent. I work all day, I give out and I pour into people's lives, but receive no financial compensation for it.

But wait, if you work all day at a job that you don't get paid for, how do you live? What about your rent? What about your groceries? What about clothes? What about – wait, you do use toilet paper, don't you?

No worries – I do pay rent, I buy groceries, wear clothes, and use toilet paper. And I do have to buy all those things myself. Where does the money come from? It comes from people who donate to me. Yep, that's right. All the money I spend in a month comes from people who give it to me out of the goodness of their hearts.

Amazingly, there are quite a few people out there who want to donate to someone like me. Unfortunately for me, I don't know very many of them. I'm always looking for people who have generous hearts, who are willing to invest into something that they won't get immediate returns from, and who understand that giving away money can be incredibly rewarding.

Being generous was something that I learned from a young age. I was always taught to give 10% of my income away – usually to church, but not necessarily. I found that there was something strange that happened when I stopped thinking about all the things I could get for myself with my allowance and instead let the money go somewhere I would never get it back. It didn't feel like I lost it. Instead, I felt like all was right with the world. There was a certain sense of being solid – of being real. I found that, though it was difficult, I could actually enjoy giving money away.

Of course, as I got older and started to have a “career,” things changed. I found that most of my money was already spent as soon as I got it. I still had a generous mindset, but when that check came it got divvied up into bills, groceries, gas, and every other little category. I found that if I wasn't intentional - if I didn't create space in my budget specifically for giving money away - it didn't happen. Even worse, often there were times I wanted to give towards some person or cause, and I just didn't have any money left and couldn't do it.

The more I looked at this, the more I realized that I wasn't spending my money wisely. If I was serious about changing the world by encouraging people to live extraordinary lives, then I needed to start putting my money where my mouth was. I decided that investing in people would be the best investment I could make. Not necessarily because it would generate huge returns directly to me, but because I would be making the world as a whole a better place.

When I started giving money away, I found that it brought me so much joy. The days that I hated my job and wanted to simply walk out of the office, never to return were tempered by the fact that I knew I would be able to help support some people who were doing real good in the world. It was the one thing about my job that really made me happy.

Of course, now I'm on the other side of the fence. I'm the one living off of other people's generosity. Sometimes, I feel a little awkward asking people for money. I mean, it's a little like begging, right? Most days, however, I remember what it felt like to be able to give, to have that chance to make a difference, and I remember what an honor it is. Then I think to myself: why not give everyone this opportunity?

I'm going to do a few posts about money, living off support, and the rationale and philosophy behind it. Hopefully it will be funny and encouraging, while at the same time inspiring you to be generous (or more generous) in your own life.