There are things that happen in life that don’t make any sense at all.

You hear someone describing what just happened with words, language, sound, but time had already stood still. Everything that your ears are picking up on is just blurred noise.

He died.

Those words can’t possibly be real.

They don’t come any slower or clearer.

You know its what you heard. But you didn’t really hear it.

Did you?

Remembering Matt

My wife, Julia, heard the words from one of the administrators at her workplace, a group home organization for individuals living with severe Autism.

His name was Matt, a coworker who handled all of the maintenance requests at the various houses where the residents live. Matt was a father of 2 young boys, around the same age as our kids.

Whenever I would pickup Julia at work during the day, or bring her some food or a caffeinated beverage, I would usually see Matt. He was always in a good mood, as far as I could tell. Happy to be working. Happy to be serving. Happy. He would smile and wave, and his joyful aura was contagious.

A beautifully humble man that worked hard to serve not only his family, but to serve the residents with Autism, and his coworkers.

Matt loved life.
Matt loved his family, his wife and 2 boys.
Matt loved God.
Matt loved the people he worked with.
Matt loved the least of these, the people he was meant to serve in this life.
Matt loved his neighbor as himself.
Matt loved.

Is there anything more fulfilling in life then to have and to give love?

Have you received love in this life?
Have you given love in this life?

Matt’s not here anymore.

His physical person is not able to anymore.

But you…

You’re still here.

Love.
Love.
Just love.
Just love with every cell in your physical existence.

Saying Goodbye

Matt drowned in a terrible riptide accident on Monday.

His kids were in danger. They were getting pulled into the dangerous current, and they needed rescued.

He sacrificed his life for theirs.
He left it all in the forceful riptide.
He left it all in that space.

Because he loved.

He loved his kids so damn much.

They were everything.
They were beautiful.
They were perfect.
They were a part of him.
They were helpless and they needed him.

And so he swam.
And swam.
And swam.

And it was enough.
Enough to save those precious, beautiful boys.

But it wasn’t enough to save himself.

He was lost.
He gave everything in love.

Your love, Matt, is eternal.
It will never fade.
It will never be lost.

Thank you for what you left for us to remember.

Love.

Making a Difference

We can get really wrapped up in the “how” to make a difference in this life.

How do we love?

We’ll over-analyze, and strategize and try to put just the right plans into place so that we can get “there”. You know, the place where we can finally make a difference in the lives of other people.

It’s “out there”.
Someday.

We’re making progress.
Making all the right moves, or struggling with all the wrong ones.

But, our choice is pretty simple.

When I pulled into that parking lot every day, Matt had a choice. He could remain tuned into his work, keep his head down, or he could see me, smile at me, and allow me to see his love and his joy.

What would you do?
What do you do?

Every day.

You see, making a difference in this lifetime is not a roadmap, blueprint, or formula.

You don’t have to build a business, social enterprise, non-profit or launch a website, kickstarter or NY Times Bestseller to make a difference.

Making a difference is being present.
Making a difference is loving.
Making a difference is sacrificing.
Making a difference is serving.
Making a difference is allowing the real you to shine through… not the you hiding behind the masks and the stone cold heart.

I help people build heart-centered businesses.
I help people incubate purpose and passion based products and services.

But I’m here today to tell you that you don’t need any of that to make a difference.

No Flight Formula necessary.

Put down the how-to manuals, the e-courses, the mastermind groups, and the blogs, podcasts, forums and Facebook groups for one god-damned minute and look around you.

There are people you can be present for…
people you can serve…
people you can love…
people you can smile at and show joy to…

You might be the one and only opportunity someone has to see and experience love today.

So just be love.
Make a difference and be love.

Matt’s Sacrifice and His Challenge to Those Left Behind

Matt worked hard, applying his gifts and skills to a place that most of our society writes off, ignores or is just not tuned into. He served the beautiful people struggling with autism…

some of whom cannot use the toilet…
some of whom cannot manage to get food to their mouths…
some of whom cannot communicate with words…
some of whom many would find hard to love…

He loved these people.
He loved this place.
He loved his work.
He loved the opportunity to sacrifice and serve.

He wasn’t there for the money.
There are jobs for his skill set that pay more.

He wasn’t there for the lifestyle.
There are opportunities out there for more flexibility, time off, and travel.

And so, while so many of us in the entrepreneurial space online are chasing after the money, lifestyle, purpose, and happiness looking for ultimate fulfillment, let us consider one important thing through Matt’s life…

Matt found happiness.
Matt found fulfillment.
Matt found purpose.
Matt found love.

Matt chose happiness.
Matt chose fulfillment.
Matt chose purpose.
Matt chose love.

Matt’s ultimate sacrifice and last breath, while getting his kids to safety, was a choice.

Matt chose love above all else.

Matt’s Riptide and Choosing Love Above All Else. was originally published in The Age of the Tribalpreneur on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I am not a commodity to be traded on an open market.

I am a gift.

And it’s about time I come to grips with the full scope of who I am, the strengths I possess and the spark that I bring to the world.

I hope I can inspire you to do the same, because I believe the same truths about every one of you.

You are beautiful.

Despite what feedback you’ve received from the world.

Some of you have been told…

• You are worthy of a minimum wage job.
• You are worthy of being laid off.
• You are worthy of having to work 80 hours, multiple jobs to make ends meet.
• You are worthy of living off government dependence.
• You are worthy of a struggle to earn income with your small business.
• You are worthy of stress and a difficult life of survival.

In fact, what the world is really trying to tell you is that…

You are not worthy.

You are not worthy.

You are not worthy.

You are not valuable.

You are not beautiful.

You are not a gift.

Today, my entire purpose is to tell you that what you’ve been told, or have been feeling about yourself, is wrong. In fact, all of this nonsense about lack of worth, unworthiness, is a lie.

And if you are working a minimum wage job (or low wages for that matter), or you were laid off, or you are working multiple jobs and long hours, or you are dependent on government assistance, or you are just struggling to get your business cash-flow stable, there is nothing wrong with you. None of this changes the gift that you are.

How do we end the cycle of struggle?

How can we start valuing every life on this planet as a gift?

How can we draw out and activate the gifts within ourselves?

How can we ensure that every single life is getting its needs met?

The answers begin with a shift. Let’s call this shift abundance.

Letting Go and Falling Into Abundance

Leaps of faith are not foreign to me. As an entrepreneur I know you’ve experienced them or at least dreamt about them too.

In the past, my leaps of faith were all about trusting myself. Leaning into what I believed I could do or accomplish.

Those leaps are important. They strengthen us. They mold us. Often, they transform us, especially when we fall flat on our faces, and are forced to look at the world and ourselves differently with new perspective and life experience.

There is another type of leap though that is even scarier… but more exciting at the same time.

It’s a leap into the great spirit of the universe, where we can humbly say that it is not our own power by which we fly, but through the enormously greater power of something beyond ourselves.

Can we trust that this greater energy force, comprised of all of the interconnected beautiful life, motion, quanta, and all that is, will be there to not only catch us, but propel us into flight?

Check out these definitions for the word abundance:

large amount: a more than plentiful quantity of something

affluence: a lifestyle with more than adequate material provisions

fullness: a fullness of spirit that overflows

What is our greatest fear about ourselves?

That we are not enough. Right? We are not enough.

• We are not strong enough.
• We are not beautiful enough.
• We are not worthy enough.
• We are not valuable enough.
• We are not enough.

Resistance meets us in this place, and will drive it like a nail into our coffins.

One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned has been that whatever resistance is selling me, the truth exists in the opposite. The truth is walking through resistance into acceptance of the reality of what we are, and what is right in front of us.

• We are enough.
• We are abundantly strong.
• We are abundantly beautiful
• We are abundantly worthy.
• We are abundantly valuable.
• We are abundant.

So the leap of faith I am describing is letting go of the lies about ourselves not being enough, and entering into the truth that we are an abundantly gifted life force, that inhabits an abundant and plentiful universe. This leap requires a shift in mindset and a shift in how we live and love moment to moment.

How to Price and Value Your Gift

When we operate, live and love out of this place of abundance and beauty, but yet live in a broken world that quite frankly, was built on the backs of slavery. (and please don’t misunderstand me — I don’t mean to diminish the atrocities of horrific slavery that exists in the world, or has existed in the past) There is an element of master and slave principles at work within any kind of hierarchical structure where not every voice is heard, and not every life is valued equally. This is where our current economic system is rooted.

An obvious example of this at work in the economic system we live in today is the CEO earning 100x (sometimes more) than the employee in “common labor” force earning minimum wage. Why is it OK for one person to live in extravagant luxury, while another worries about whether he has enough fuel in the car to get to work, or enough food in the house to pack a lunch, or can’t stop thinking about how he will respond to the bank’s notices about impending foreclosure? We can justify and explain this away any way our minds will allow us to be comfortable with, but the harsh reality is that this is an injustice, and is not a naturally easy pill to swallow.

We are all beautiful and gifted people.

When we come to grips with the fact that the universe has enough to abundantly supply every life with basic needs, and even fulfill many desires within each of us, then we can only be left with one question…

WHY? Why are so many basic needs going unmet?

I, for one, reject this story. It’s not OK.

Which brings me to my own personal commitments…

• I vow to look at every life in this universe as beautiful and gifted.
• I vow to look at every life in this universe as valuable and worthy of having their needs met.
• I vow to do everything in my power to use my gifts, strengths, skills and talents to serve the needs of others.
• I vow to love my neighbor as myself.
• I vow to be a voice against power, greed, control, bullying and slavery.

As I look over my personal commitments, and evaluate my gifts as an entrepreneur, activator, and incubator, there is really only one appropriate response.

I will no longer view my life’s work as a transaction and commodity. Attaching an American dollar cash value to my gift cheapens it, and entangles it with the structures and systems that discourage trust, relationship, openness, community, vulnerability, and love.

I have no choice but to see it and value it as what it really is… a gift.

It didn’t come from me.

It came from something greater than me… something beyond myself.

And so I let go.

My gift is yours.

My gift is free.

Getting Our Needs Met

Can you trust?

Do you trust?

Will you trust?

Those are the questions that make this leap the scariest… and the most exciting.

What if there’s nothing to catch me?

What if there IS?

If there is, then we are truly entering into an age of consciousness and connectedness that will quite literally change the world. This movement of love and concern for each other, an outpouring of gifts, and the intention of looking beyond our own needs and into the unmet needs of the universe is profound.

My family and I enter into this with the full intention and expectation that our needs will be met.

We believe with everything that we are that we’ve been carried, held up, and propelled into flight, and we have no reason to believe that this spiritual force intends to let us go now.

So, how exactly does this work? How will our needs be met without charging money or invoicing for the work that I do?

Gift Economy or gift offering business models are 100% sustainable through an exchange of gifts. When you receive an incredible gift from someone, and see the love they poured into it, you feel an onrush of appreciation, gratitude and thanks, and then what? You want to reciprocate and give back, right?

While the gift giver gave out of love from their heart, and had no specific expectations of receiving anything in return, you feel compelled and moved to also give. Love and gift giving are viral in nature, and there’s nothing weird about that at all. It’s a deep part of who we are, and its unfortunate that we’ve spent decades, centuries even suppressing an expression of love through gifts in our work and businesses.

What’s really interesting and special about a gift offering based posture, is that now you’ve given people an opportunity to give back to you from a place of generosity and abundance.

Your posture in the relationship is very different than the traditional invoicing for product or service where everything is contractual and expectations are set in stone. By offering your product or service in gift posture, now you open yourself up to potentially receive above and beyond, if the recipient of your gift is feeling especially generous. And in some cases, when the recipient of your gift does not have cash to gift back, they may choose to gift you through their own art, work, or passions that might serve one of your needs without having to involve currency.

Maybe This Will Convince You

Not convinced that the “gift economy” is right for you?

I understand. The principles and ideas at work here take time to process, marinade, and sometimes require special, rare ingredients of circumstance, life experience, and spiritual activity before it all makes sense. My story is not your story, and we all have different paths and journeys that bring us to different forks in the road at different times of our lives.

Now that the seed has been planted, however, your awareness has been raised, and as stories, ideas, cases and people pop up into your life, you might just be surprised at the level of “pull” you may experience.

I’ll admit, a year ago, when I met my friend Ron Czecholinski, I was highly skeptical about his “radical thoughts” that I wrote off as impractical. This continual push toward a “more beautiful world” (via Charles Eisenstein), a new economy and a new story just seemed so lofty and so unattainable.

Then I remembered my own words, and the words of those that inspired me to write “The TRIBE Builder’s Manifesto”. Every movement begins with ONE…

ONE Idea…

ONE Leader…

ONE Community.

ONE represents possibility… hope… and a call to action. Who am I to not respond to the greater call being placed on my heart? Who am I to be selfish enough to ignore the needs?

So, I put these “unattainable” and “lofty” ideas into action.

I sought out stories of real people making gift offering businesses work… right now, in our economy in 2014.

I met a new friend, Adrian Hoppel, a web designer in Philadelphia who is seeing a 20x increase in new business leads since converting his business to a gift offering. Adrian’s also reported higher earnings, and higher earnings per “client” than he did prior to the switch.

I began great conversations with Tom Morkes who’s most recent work was dedicated to developing a book and course on “Pay What You Want Pricing” (PWYW) business models. Tom is uncovering and reporting on many successful case studies of gift economy and PWYW pricing implementations, with an average increase in earnings across the board between 20%-60%!

I read the incredibly gifted work of Charles Eisenstein and learned so much about what Sacred Economics looks like and what possibilities and hope we truly hold for a “more beautiful world” in our generation.

I started recognizing shifts within household brand corporations like Zappos (shift to holocracy organizational structure) and Panera Bread (experimenting with Pay What You Want pricing), and have seen massive strides toward their valuing every person as a gift.

My path continues to intersect with more and more people who are either currently having tremendous success in gift economy business models, or are highly interested in the conversation and learning how to do this for themselves.

Who wouldn’t want to live out of purpose and activate their gifts?

Who wouldn’t want the world to recognize them for the value and beauty that is seemingly trapped within?

I’ll conclude by inviting you to simply open your heart to new possibilities… new hope… for a new story.

You are enough.

You are beautiful.

You are a gift.

The world is ready for you to begin offering it as such.

If you know someone in your life that could use some encouragement in the gift that they are, would you take a moment to share this article with them?

This movement is spreading like wildfire, and we need people like you to keep it alive by spreading the message of hope.

Next month, a cooperative team that I am proud to be a part of will be launching the world’s first business incubator that intends to provide coaching, support, mastermind groups, workshops, and resources for people ready to launch heart-centered, gift based businesses that are open to possibilities for collaborative enterprise and new economy. You can learn more about The Flight Formula business incubator at http://www.tribe.ly.

My Name is Jason Spencer
and I believe in the gift that we are.

Jason lives with his fiance’ Julie, and two kids, Jordan and Jorianna in the mountains of Asheville, NC. To find out more about Jason’s Internet Marketing (Web Design, SEO, and more) gift offerings, you can visit http://jasonspencer.vision. He also blogs about a new entrepreneurial movement, TRIBALPRENEURSHIP, that includes heart centered business, gift economy, and collaborative enterprise at http://www.tribe.ly

and Why They’re Not Paying Attention (yet).

The question brushes up against our deepest core needs as humans.

Our need for significance… and meaning.
Our need for community… and love.
Our need to activate our gifts… and to be ourselves fully.

Why isn’t anyone paying attention to what I’m trying to do in the world?

Nobody shows up to read my posts.
Nobody shows up to buy my products or services.
Nobody shows up to join my list.
Nobody shows up.

Welcome to the club.

There are aspiring businesses, bloggers, writers, artists, coaches, products, and more just waiting for their chance to be seen. Oh, what it would be like to just be recognized and seen!

It is here, in this place of waiting, where heart-ache, disappointment, self-doubt, and frustration can lead any entrepreneur down a dark and slippery slope. The slope that lands in so many questions.

Should I give up?
Am I wasting my time?
Do I really have anything worthwhile to offer or say?
Onto the next thing?

But wait.

Please wait.

We need to talk.

There is something outrageously and wildly beautiful, right here, right now, in this very place you are in.

If you move too fast, you’ll miss it.
If you scream too loud, you won’t hear it.
If you give up, and move on, you’ll skip right over it. (again)

It’s your heart. Can you feel it?
Slow down.
Breathe.
Now. Can you feel it?

Right there. Inside.

That’s your answer.

I can send you 1,000 links to books on Amazon.
I can send you 1,000 links to blogs and articles.
I can send you 1,000 links to products, courses and training materials.

But, none of it matters, until you set it free.

Your heart, your story, your beauty — all of it — needs to be free.

And when it is… watch out.

The world will move.
The planet will shift.
The universe will conspire.

Your audience will know, and they will recognize what you’ve begun. They will see you alive, fully and wholeheartedly you, and suddenly they will believe…

Because you give them hope.
Through the freedom they see in you.
Because you inspire them.
Through the awakening they recognize in you.

Because you will lead them. Help them. Lift them up.

TRIBE Builder, Rise Up.

You are the One they’ve been waiting for.

My Name is Jason Spencer and I Build TRIBES

Special Invitation

Thanks for reading. I would like to personally invite you to join me in a FREE 24 Day TRIBE Building Challenge, 1,000 Raving Fans Before Christmas. Limited Time Only — Running December 1 to 24. See you there — I look forward to your growth! And if you enjoyed this article, and it helped you in some way, please recommend and share!

Imprisoning the most beautiful part of YOU.

She writes it on her skin.

In blood. With a fucking knife.

Just because you’re not cutting, doesn't mean you’re immune. The voices haunt you too.

The lies.

The deceit.

The sabotage.

Maybe it’s the dead end job you complain about. Or the politics. The relationship. The marriage. The bills. The bank account. The ________.

Is it really someone else’s fault? The blame… It‘s got to fall somewhere, right?

You’re not happy.

You’re actually not even sad.

You’re fucking numb.

The numbness set in so long ago, you don’t even remember the last time you cried. It must be years now.

Laughter? Forgotten.

The sickness… it’s taken over.

You trade your time for a roof, some wheels, and food to keep your heart beating and lungs breathing.

If there’s anything left, you feed the numbness. Mindless entertainment. Endless scrolling of the feeds.

Stories. That are not your own.
Stories. That are not even real.
Stories. That allow you to escape your own.

Love has been locked away long ago. It’s still there, but its behind the walls. They are strong… impenetrable.

This is a description of average.

This is what normal looks like.

What the hell has happened to us? Are you serious?

Where did this come from?

Oh yeah.

The lies.

The deceit.

The sabotage.

The powerful voices come to us as kids…

“You’re not beautiful.”
“You’re not enough.”
“You don’t have what it takes.”
“You have nothing to offer.”
“You are not strong.”
“Your voice doesn't matter.”

Can someone explain to me why we waste so much time on English, Arithmetic, memorizing facts you can look up on Google, and playing social popularity games, and spend ZERO — ZERO fucking time revealing the truth about ourselves as adolescents?

Someone has to set the record straight. There are lies. And there is truth. These competing voices were at war at some point… its likely that one of them has already won within you.

Are you numb?

Or are you alive?

I blew up the walls around my heart.

Want to know what I found inside? Scary shit.

Scary because it was unfamiliar.

It was foreign.

Beauty.
Strength.
A gift that I have responsibility to share.

The lies are intentional.

When we are numb, there is no beauty… no strength… no gift… and no responsibility. It’s the easy way out. You’re walking. But you’re dead.

Blow up your walls. Let someone in.

The responsibility I found within me? To call out the walking dead. To inspire and watch the beauty rising out of the ashes leftover from the war over your heart.

Revive the war. You’re worth it.

And damn it, this isn't just about you. There are needs in the world that could really use your strength right now. How dare you ignore that responsibility. It’s pure arrogance.

Allow the voices to compete again.

And listen to the truth about yourself. Every single day.

“You are beautiful.”
“You are enough.”
“You have everything it takes.”
“You have a gift to offer.”
“You are strong.”
“Your voice is powerful and it matters.”

My Name is Jason Spencer and I Build TRIBES (download The Tribe Builder’s Manifesto at http://www.tribe.ly)