Neil is known as one of the world’s top Internet marketers. He made his first million by age 21. He later co-founded two successful multi-million dollar web analytics companies, Crazy Egg & KISSmetrics, and is a successful angel and real estate investor.
Behind-the-scenes, every year, he spends 1,000+ hours (40+ free, 1-on-1 calls per week) and hundreds of thousands of his own dollars (staff to support his giving) helping aspiring entrepreneurs without the expectation of receiving anything immediately in return.
The Catch
If you’re like me, when you learned about how much Neil is giving, you asked yourself, “What’s the catch? What’s in it for him? Is he a full-time philanthropist now?”
There is a catch, but it’s not what you think.
Neil isn’t a selfless martyr. One of the reasons he is a very successful Internet marketer is because he is ruthless when it comes to one thing; measuring what works and doesn't work; and then acting accordingly.
The Business Case For Giving
Professionally, Neil’s blog, which he started 7 years ago, has 400,000+ unique visitors per month. He doesn’t have the exact numbers, but he knows that the people that he helps one-on-one disproportionately comment on his blog and share it with their networks. Talking to people helps him identify new content he should write, which leads to better content and ultimately more people sharing his writing.
Neil’s blog has generated new clients for his analytics companies, and it has built his brand enough to charge consulting clients up to $1,250 per hour. In his own words, “The money my companies and I make from my giving is much more than I spend!”
The Personal Case For Giving
Neil’s strategy is much more than a cause marketing strategy; It is way of living life.
After becoming wealthy, he quickly learned that buying flashy things like fancy cars and big homes would not buy him happiness or a meaningful life. He did realize that giving to others just like others gave to him was very personally fulfilling. As Neil gave more, he found that he enjoyed it more and more, not less and less.
In other words, once he reached a certain point financially, each incremental unit of time spent giving was more fulfilling than purely creating more wealth.
The Counter-Intuitive Reciprocity Style That Leads to Success
His data shows that givers appear at the top of most industries; ahead of both Takers and Matchers (those who give equally to what specific people give to them).
However, before you commit to a full-time giving, you should know an important caveat that appeared in his research; givers also appear at the bottom of many industries.
What’s the difference between givers at the top (otherish givers) and givers at the bottom (selfless givers)?
This chart helps demystify the two types:
Otherish |
Selfless |
|
Who They Give To |
Givers & Matchers |
Takers |
Self-Interest Awareness |
Yes |
No |
Selfless givers suffer from “a form of pathological altruism”. They help others to their own detriment; exhausting themselves in the process. Otherish givers feel better personally and receive more rewards professionally the more they give.
How To Put Extreme Giving Into Practice
Despite his current success, five years ago, Dhru was on the brink of burnout and financial ruin.
After 8 years as an entrepreneur, he lived with his parents, had little money, and had a stalled business. He had previously taken pride in being a college dropout, but he was having second thoughts based on prodding from friends and family to go back.
A major part of Dhru’s challenge came from how he approached extreme giving. Specifically, he was giving in completely unrelated areas of his life in ways that did not leverage his strengths, passions, or a sustainable business model.
“I would take on more things than I could handle because I had a hard time saying ‘no’. I would overextend myself because I was more concerned with how I looked. That brought on a lot of resentment within me for the help I provided others.”
For example, Dhru was heavily involved in event management for a non-profit despite events not being something he enjoyed or was particularly good at. He spent a large percent of his time running a popular health blog and holding health food gatherings, despite them being completely unrelated to his web consulting company.
“Every few months, I would totally crash with how many commitments were on my plate. I knew something had to change.”
When things came to a head, Dhru decided to stop ALL of his projects and take a 3-month hiatus.
When Dhru reinvented himself, he made extremely difficult decisions. He and his business partner / best friend wound down their web consulting company. He stopped his health blog despite its 400,000+ monthly unique visitors. He left the non-profit and stopped doing side projects. He decided to put all of his energy into his new business, the Clean Program.
In Dhru’s new incarnation, he changed his approach to giving and relationships. He focused on giving in areas that related to Clean and his passions. He got good at saying ‘no’.
Interestingly, once Clean took off, he was able to integrate a lot of the same people. However, instead of under many projects; it was all under Clean. For example, his former business partner, Nirav Sheth, founder of Annata Design, produced the Clean website. Former blog readers became employees and customers.
“I love meeting new people. I love helping people out. I love hosting people. Now, I do those in a more sustainable way with a primary emphasis on what I’m already doing and what I already have in the pipeline.”
Furthermore, extreme giving has been directly incorporated into Clean’s culture of radical customer support. Money that would normally be spent toward marketing is spent toward providing free intensive support even for people who haven’t purchased a Clean product. This support includes unlimited free wellness consultations, email support, and access to Clean’s online community.
Clean’s extreme giving is paying off. Today, the Clean Program has 50,000 customers per year (including celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Marianne Williamson) paying hundreds of dollars each for its high-end cleanse.
Ultimately, Neil and Dhru are not just interesting anomalies. They are harbingers of a new way of doing business that is personally fulfilling and professionally game-changing. As the quickly evolving world of social media greases the wheels of word-of-mouth, giving without expecting anything immediately in return when coupled with a strong business model is now a viable strategy for more and more businesses.
Michael Simmons is the co-founder of Empact, a global entrepreneurship education organization that has held 500+ entrepreneurship events including Summits at the White House, US Chamber of Commerce, and United Nations. Connect with him on Twitter (@michaeldsimmons) and his Blog.
