The gift is in the giving… even in business (a story)

The Gift is in the Giving
 
Earlier this week, I attended Worldz, which hands down was the best conference ever.
Think TedX meets Cirque de Soleil meets Dreamforce – yet intimate.
Just imagine the likes of Gary Vaynerchuk, Will.I.Am, Deepak Chopra, and countless heads of media, social good, and technology companies converging for two days of connection and brainstorming.
Since I’m in the book and online/offline training business, I’m always looking to find strategies to share with my clients to sell more books, book more clients, and make a bigger impact. So I want to share the strategy of how one organization wrote a book and became a bestseller by a ‘Pay-What-You-Want’ campaign.
First, let me give you some context.
The speaker Daniel Flynn is one of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs under 30. He is the co-founder of the social enterprise Thankyou, which gives 100% of its profits to funding projects that will help end global poverty.
Daniel is also author of the bestselling Chapter One that raised $1.44m in 28 days using an unorthodox ‘Pay-What-You-Want’ model to fund the future of Thankyou.
In his own words from his keynote:
“That’s why we launched Chapter One with no retail price. It’s pay-what-you-want. Pay what? What? A ‘pay-what-you-want book’ to sell throughout the world. That’s almost like child’s play. But we’re fascinated that, as readers, each of us could become mini social investors in future chapters (of the book) that we make, and maybe one day read about. In the first two hours (after launch), we hit $360,000 raised. In the first one month, we hit $1.4 million, and right now, it sits at $2.4 million. It became a bestseller.
The part that gives me goosebumps is that the airport bookstores in Australia and New Zealand wrote saying, “Guys, it hasn’t just worked. Chapter One has outsold every business book launch,” and for them, it was second to only the Harry Potter launch week. Some people have paid $5,000 for the book, two people, and some people have paid five cents …”
So, what does this story teach you? Do you have any tips on ‘giving’ as a marketing strategy? Movement?

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