The other day I was surprised to get a package in the mail from John Wiley, the publisher of ‘Inspired Marketing’, a book I co-authored with Joe Vitale.

I opened the package and discovered our book has been translated into Polish.

What cracked me up was the cover… it’s just so zany.

What’s with the fork?  All the RED?  And what!? is that hanging from that pretty woman’s ear?

Let me assure you, the book is about marketing from inspiration, from the heart, not some Twilight tribute novel.

But hey, I’m glad to see the book’s continued success and availability in Polish!

You can see the English version in hardcover (and Kindle version!) at Amazon.com.  The cover is not as dramatic, but hey, if you only read English, the upside is you’ll be able to enjoy it

Hope you get a kick out of it as I did…

Here’s a goofy tid bit, fresh from the headlines:

Southwest Airlines booted Kevin Smith, controversial director of movies like ‘Chasing Amy’, ‘Clerks’, and more, for being too fat to fly.  For the record, I recently lost 40 pounds (see here for story) because I had, in my opinion, gotten FAT… so I can empathize with Kevin Smith.   I’m sure he was feeling pretty embarrassed!

Apparently, when flying standby on Southwest, he didn’t pay for the ‘two seats’ required (or they didn’t have two empty seats, not sure) when a passenger is unable to fit within the 17″ confines of a single seat on their planes, and was forced to leave the plane.  He was able to get on a later flight that day with a $100 coupon and a big fat ‘I’m Sorry’ from the airline.  Not satisfied, he’s now crucifying them in the media.

I can see his point, he doesn’t appear so heavy that I’d have thought he wouldn’t fit in a single seat…

BUT, if he didn’t, then it’s really kinda obvious that if he’s going to take up two seats he should have to pay.  I mean, recently I sat next to someone who was so large that they encroached over my side of the arm rest and I leaned away toward the window the entire flight to preserve some personal space.  I would have appreciated it if that person had bought two tickets.  And, I suspect they would have been more comfortable, too.

Reason I say this is that it is experiences like that when we are confronted with something we don’t want to deal with about ourselves that we can finally be motivated to make the necessary changes in our lives.  Seems like Kevin Smith has chosen to use his high profile to instead attack Southwest for their policy – and because he’s a smart, funny guy, they’re taking a beating.

Even tho Kevin Smith is a bright and talented guy, I gotta say, why should another passenger be short changed their seating space because their neighbor is oversized (whether due to obesity or simply body size)?  I mean, hypothecially, if a 7 ft basketball star were to try to sit in coach and take up a ton of space with broad shoulders and long arms and legs, wouldn’t it just make sense to not cram them in to a seat right next to one or two people around them?

I know, it’s not necessarily easy losing weight, and as far as I know there are many different causes of obesity, some even genetic – but this isn’t about being thin or obese, it’s about paying for the space you use and being fair to your fellow passengers.  Think about it – Southwest isn’t saying ‘lose weight’, they’re saying,’pay for the space you take up because it’s larger than our seats’. 

Honestly, I can’t see where Southwest doesn’t have a right to charge according to their rules.  If you are more than 17″ wide, you ain’t gonna fit in one seat, so you’ll pay for two.  Just like, if you have more bags than allowed, you have to pay an additional fee. 

But with Kevin Smith’s celebrity and a zillion Twitter followers, and now the news media picking up on the story, Southwest is under fire. 

I’ve always been treated well by Southwest and it bugs me that he’s thrashing them in the media and new media alike for something that, ulitmately, is his own responsibility. 

After all, folks who drive big fat SUV’s pay more for their gas, we pay a premium to Supersize our Fast Food – why not pay extra to SuperSize an airplane seat, especially on a full flight?

I guess it’s easier to lash out and blame others when one is embarassed, even if it might cost some decent Southwest airlines folks their jobs.

For someone who makes fun of people mercilessly in his movies, I think Kevin Smith ought to have been able to laugh a little at his own expense here and man up for the 2nd ticket and hit the gym when he got home instead of the Twitter ’send’ button.

Craig Perrine

Karl Rabeder, multi-millionaire turned 100% philanthropist

According to a story I saw linked on Yahoo News, a man who grew up poor and amassed a fortune of 3 million British Pounds (that’s $4,685,157 USD) just gave every last penny to charity. 

Reportedly, money has not made him happy as he expected, and he’s going to live a simple life in a hut far away from society’s quest for commercialism and consumerism.  Reaction posted ranged from ‘that guy is a saint’ to ‘what an idiot’ on the man’s unusual gift, reportedly to charities.

So what is your first reaction?

Imagine if you were this guy. Would you give away your money?  What thoughts or feelings come up when you really imagine giving away every last penny if YOU had millions?  Do you admire him?  Does it bother you in any way?  Before you read on, write down your top three thoughts or feelings right off the bat… don’t over think it, there won’t be a test

The way I see it, what he did is his business, but the reaction WE have to the story is a mirror to help see our money beliefs.

My reaction had a few layers…

First, I appreciated the bold gesture, the fact that he was so committed to something that he’d literally do the unthinkable for most people and give away his fortune that he made himself.  Gotta appreciate the courage.

See, I haven’t experienced extreme poverty and I’ve not become a billionaires (yet), but I’ve gotten to see a pretty big range.

When I was a kid, and several times as an entrepreneur, I’ve known what it’s like to be flat broke and rack up debt.  My first car cost $500 and I had to tie the the driver side door shut with a shoe string.  Then again, in my early twenties I bought a Porsche 911 and have had many toys like motorcycles and an RV, too. 

Almost ten years ago now, I remember having to scrounge for change in the cup holder of the car to buy McDonald’s drive thru for the family when my only client’s check bounced and overdrew my account massively.  It feels pretty lame when you opt for ‘no cheese’ on that burger because the extra money would put you over what ya got in your hand full of change, know what I mean?

Intellectually, I get that money doesn’t actually buy happiness, but the idea of being broke still wipes the smile off my face and stresses me out.  As a father, that kind of ‘broke’ just is unacceptable now and I don’t recommend it to anyone.  Realizing I feel that ‘fear’ of lack of money is an example of the mirror I talked about and it’s a belief that doesn’t serve me because it implies that resources are scarce.  I know fear can be a powerful motivator and many successful people I know say that ‘never wanting to be poor again’ drove them to their achievements.  That’s a big enough subject for a whole other post… but let’s just say for now it’s better to clear scarcity beliefs out.  We tend to get what we focus on, right?  So focusing on fear of being poor is a ‘poor’ strategy.

These are tough times for many, so my next reaction to this guy giving away all his money was, ‘I hope he doesn’t regret that – perhaps he forgot what it was like to be poor.’

Then, I thought – ‘hey, this is a world full of opportunity and this guy could easily create new wealth again if he chose to.’  This isn’t the movies and the credits don’t roll at the end of the story with the guy walking off into the sunset with just the clothes on his back and a smile on his face.  He’ll have many choices to make and his future is unwritten (not to mention the fact he may get a great deal of publicity for his story).

Which made me wonder, ‘why was he so unhappy with his fortune that he felt the best solution was to give it away entirely?’ 

I’ve traveled around the world, had fine wine, seen unforgettable sights, met incredible people, none of which I experienced when I was broke.  Becoming successful, meeting successful entreprenuers, riding in a Rolls Royce, living in a big house and having nice toys doesn’t suck.  A few years back, I took my family on a RV trip across the country that I never could have afforded earlier in my career… and that life experience was priceless, but quite frankly, quite pricey, too.  It’s just a fact that greater wealth and money paved the way for me to have those experiences, and I cherish them.

My dream is not to become super rich and go retire on the beach

I don’t relate to the idea of success as a ‘destination’.  I see life as a journey of one level to the next, ever moving forward.  No matter what one achieves, it is the doing of it, not the achieving that makes the experience worthwhile.  Having spent a few years in corporate America, I can relate, though, to the idea of getting out of a high paid rat race no matter what the cost because it was sucking the life out of me.  But it wasn’t the ‘money’ that was the problem. And I guess that is where my reaction settles in with this guy’s story. 

For me, the lesson is that we give too much meaning and power to our feelings about wealth and money.  Like I blogged about a few posts ago, the idea that we’ll be ‘happy’ when we become ‘rich’ is a myth and this guy rose from poverty and found that out.

Now, in my opinion, he’s about to experience the other side of that myth – that it is noble and virtuous to be poor, that money is the root of why he wasn’t happy. 

It was his ‘expectation’ that was the problem.  When he was poor, he ‘expected’ he’d be happy with more money.  When he got it, he was disappointed.  And now, he ‘expects’ to be happier without the money.  Is he gonna be right this time?

For me, it is the people in my life and the relationships and the memories together that give life meaning.  Sure, big business paydays are exciting – but my dearest memories all center around family and friends.  And those memories range from all kinds of different life experiences, with and without money.  My life didn’t really change when I got my first Porsche or my first brand new motorcycle – in fact, I relate to this guy’s disenchantment with ‘things’ because it was a surprise to me that those things didn’t have more of a lasting meaning.  But the birth of our sons, raising the boys, memories with my father traveling around the world, growing up with my mother in Vermont, and my sister having her daughter, my friendships (old and new), all jump out at me right now as defining experiences I’ll never forget.

So here’s what I would say to Karl Rabeder if he asked me about giving away his fortune…

‘You’ve been Punk’d, Karl!’

And so are we if we don’t take a look at our own money beliefs.

Regardless of his grand gesture, Karl’s life appears to be a roller coaster in progress with highs and lows caused by buying into society’s myths about money and happiness.

Sure, his gift will likely do a lot of good…

But, I think he would have created more good had he used his talents to create more wealth, give more in the future to charity, help invest in micro lending, venture capital to help OTHERS become more successful so that THEY can give more, too.

Why just give away millions in one shot? 

Over the rest of his lifetime, he could give away many, many millions if he used his gift to create more wealth.  Instead, in one dramatic gesture, he gave it all to charity in ONE gift.

While that’s good, and there is certainly nothing ‘wrong’ with doing so, but the fact is charities exist to give away money, they don’t generally create it.  So logically, mathematically, in his hands, he’d have created a bigger value for the world had he kept a more active role in the creating and giving process. 

His true gift, his ‘golden goose’, is his ability to create wealth and generate ‘golden eggs’.  Would it make sense to ‘keep the goose’ and give away more and more ‘golden eggs’ over time?  Imagine the jobs he could have created and the positive example he’d set for the community… had he not just given away all the ‘eggs’ and killed the ‘goose’ by shutting the doors of his business.  From that perspective, his giving away every penny wasn’t the best way to create the maximum ‘good’.

The way I see it, now that he is penniless he’ll find that his grand gesture will at some point fade away into his past and in the years that come, he’ll have to find new ways to derive meaning and a sense of value for himself.  Just as living in a mansion ‘got old’ for him, living in a ‘hut’ will, too – and perhaps a great deal sooner than he expects.  I don’t think life is about one big moment.  It’s about every moment, the perpetual ‘present’ we live in.  And when he discovers that being poor is not the key to happiness, I wonder how ‘happy’ he’ll be. 

I’m not worried about him, though, because I also know that if he gets sick of living in a hut, he’ll no doubt create more wealth.   Who knows what he’ll be inspired to do next. 

My point here is that growing up poor didn’t make him happy, getting money didn’t make him ‘happy’, and getting rid of the money won’t either, because money is just a means of exchange.  

Having been broke and also successful, I can say having more choices is what money brings - all that really matters is that you make choices that are in line with who you are, what you value, and that is the path where happiness is found.

Helping people certainly feels good – and it’s true you can help people without money, it seems irrefutable that you can help MORE people if you have more resources.

There is such a bias in our culture that ‘rich people are bad’, ‘money is evil’, and it’s ‘noble to be poor’ –  and these beliefs literally rob people of making choices that could make their lives and the world so much better.

If we blindly hold Karl Rabeder up as a hero for giving away everything, or if we condemn him as a fool, either way I think we risk buying into cultural myths that are the true ‘root of all evil.’

How we react to his decision, though, has given me a wonderful opportunity to look at my beliefs and hopefully, help you do the same.  Maybe that is Karl Rabeder’s greater gift for us today.

What do you think?

Craig