What a powerful word – FREE! You can hardly listen to a TV
or radio newscast or commentator or go a day without watching or listening to
commercials or reading a print or Internet ad or promotion or listening to
anyone campaigning for an elected office in a “FREE” World country without
hearing the word F R E E and related words like freedom and liberty. I dare say
that it has likely surpassed the word “love” by a long shot in its many
definitions in common usage. And I would suggest that in popular American
vernacular it rivals another “F” word in common language. Naw! On second
thought, I think the more crude “F” word far surpasses the Free “F” word in
daily use. Not a great commentary on how our language is slipping. However,
that’s part and parcel of the “freedom of speech” we hear repeated so often in
this second decade of the 21st Century.
It is said that the word “free” is the most powerful word in
our (and probably any) language. Certainly, in marketing it has always been
considered the most important word. A few examples include “free shipping,”
“buy one and get one free,” “free trial,” buy this book and get $1,000.00 of
free bonuses,” “free luxury accessory package if you buy today,” “free hors
d’oeuvres during Happy Hour,” “free
breakfast buffet,” “free wifi,” “free local calls,” “free air travel with
earned mileage points,” and this list can go on and on. There is a certain area
of the human brain that must be brain dead. It think it’s called the “Free
Lunch Lobe.”
I especially loved the Video Professor who tells you to “Try
one of my video training programs FREE, just pay the shipping and handling.”
Let’s see, a CD-ROM disc can be manufactured for well under $1.00 per unit. The
postage at current rates can be less then $1.00 if appropriately packaged. So,
if the shipping and handling charge is $10.00, The Video Professor had $8.00 to
cover the cost of TV infomercial time (in non-prime time blocks and in bulk),
order taking costs, fulfillment costs and profit. So, if 100,000 “free” CDs
were shipped out each week and only $1.00 of the $10.00 was gross profit the
result is a 5.2 million dollar annual gross profit from a “Free” product. But,
if you look into the background of the company, it made a lot more money then
that and it’s marketing program was more in depth and misleading.
The bottom line is that I believe the “Free Lunch” and
“Something for Nothing” mentality is a form of mental illness. I must admit
that, like virtually most people, including the most intelligent folks in our
society, I have wandered down this pathway. I guess the real examples are those
wealthy, uber intelligent parts of our community who are conned by the sharpest of con
artists. And the ultimate coup de grace is when a professional con artist is
out conned by another con artist. Everyone seems to be looking for the great
“Freebie.”
Are You Free?
So, the word FREE and its relatives, freedom and liberty,
are powerful words. They are also diverse in meaning. This is another unique
challenge of the English language i.e. a single word, with many meanings. If
you have never looked them up before, I recommend you look at these definitions
here in the Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary – Free, Freedom and Liberty.
Living Free isn’t about free stuff or free lunches or
something for nothing. Living Free is about “enjoying personal freedom: not subject to
the control or domination of another” and “not determined by anything beyond
its own nature or being: choosing or
capable of choosing for itself” – taken directly from Merriam-Webster’s
definition of free.
The question, “Are you free?” is at face value, very simple.
Just three words that are as simple as M.Scott Peck’s three opening words in The
Road Less Traveled, “Life is difficult.” They both seem straightforward and
most people with a grade school education can read and comprehend the words.
However, how many people ever delve deeper than the face value of the words to
uncover their true meaning for their own lives?
There are so many of these seemingly simple words we use
throughout our human experience that may be easy to articulate in everyday
spoken or even written communication, but what is the deep meaning of each of
these words in actuality? When we say I love you to a father or a mother or a
sister or brother or a cousin, aunt, uncle, grandparent, child, grandchild
girlfriend/boyfriend, husband/wife, best friend/pal/buddy, co-worker, military
comrade or members of an audience we are entertaining or speaking to, does the
word “love” have exactly the same meaning for all of them? Obviously it
doesn’t. Do we use it because we mean it? Do we use it because we can’t think
of another word that better describes our feelings? Do we use it because it’s
simply a commonly used word in each of these relationships? What do we really
feel and mean?
Free needs to be defined the same way. Again, I am asking
you, “Are you free?” How will you reply to me? Sure, you’re free because you’re
of the age of majority and no longer live under your parent’s roof or rules.
Sure, you’re free because you get to choose what your want, if anything, for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. You get to choose where you live. You chose your
boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife (if you’re in a culture that doesn’t
subscribe to arranged marriages).
But, on what basis are you making all of these choices? Did
you choose your current occupation because of everything there is to
potentially do in the world, this is your absolute first choice and you wake up
each day joyfully looking forward to whatever you do in your occupation? Do you
have the opportunity to do all the things you want to do in your free time? Do
you have all the free time you desire? Are you living in a place that brings
you contentment, peace and happiness? I could go on and on asking these kinds
of questions, however, the bottom line is this, are you absolutely living the
life that results in a near constant state of joy, happiness, peace and
fulfillment? Can you honestly answer ‘yes’ to that question? If you can you are
among the very few in the world who can so respond.
Freedom, The Dream & Network Marketing
Most people are so far from what they really, truly want in
their heart of hearts. What we want and what we compromise for and accept are
usually very different things. The problem is most of us don’t know the
difference. Thirty plus years ago I spent about five years in the Amway
multi-level marketing business. For those familiar with that business, my wife
and I attained the level of Direct Distributor. I will not say that we were
successful in that business, but we got a lot further then the millions of
people who never came close to attaining that level. Supposedly, we had an
independent business. However, I had been in my own independent businesses for
about twenty years by that time, mostly part-time since I was a student or in
the military.
In this supposedly independent Amway business I was taught
that I was to “edify” (the word used regularly) or illuminate my upline (my
sponsors and those above them). I could only buy training materials through
them and at prices they prescribed based on my level in the business. Buying in
bulk or anything that corresponded to traditional business practices had no
bearing. Was I free in my “independent business?” Not if I had someone
controlling how I ran my business, where I bought my materials and how much I
had to pay for them. Negotiation had no standing in this “independent”
business. I was usually in disfavor because I still went around them and ran
this business as I ran my other businesses. Accordingly, I received little
support or direct encouragement from my upline.
There are two parts of multi-level (a more contemporary term
– network) marketing business. There is the product or service that is sold or
provided to retail customers. This is supposed to actually generate the cash
flow that is the engine of any business. The second part is the recruiting
aspect. This is where one supposedly makes the “big money” that is dangled as
the carrot. Once you become a distributor/dealer/representative/associate of the
main business, you then recruit more people just like yourself to create an
organization under you to generate larger and larger volumes of cash flow, some
of which flows back into your pocket through a bonus pay out structure of some
kind.
We would hold “Opportunity Meetings” or set up one on one
presentations to present the business opportunity to people we deemed as likely
prospects or recruits for our sales organization. Once you were able to set the
prospects at ease and build a rapport, you went into the dream presentation.
This is where you helped them uncover some of the dreams that generally went
unspoken. This was because they typically had jobs working for someone else
doing things they didn’t enjoy doing, but they had to do to cover all the bills,
expenses and debt they had accumulated to live their supposed (in the U.S.)
American Dream lifestyle. But, did we really care about what they REALLY
wanted? No, we actually didn’t. What we wanted to do was implant a vision of
what they could have like Cadillacs, motor homes, huge houses, and many
vacations on the beaches of the world all year long. We showed them how easy it
could be.
Reality Check! There are no free lunches and there are no
something for nothing deals. If it seems to be too good to be true, it
virtually always is. The vast majority of the people, who bought into the Amway
program never made any money from it, didn’t last in it very long and often
left with negative attitudes. What escaped them was that they had to WORK at
it. They still had to do their regular jobs, pay their bills, take care of
their homes, kids and other obligations, plus make extra time to sell products
(which few of them did), recruit and train people, expend money to attend
training seminars and motivational rallies and deal with something new –
REJECTION.
They wanted dreams we implanted and weren’t their own and
they wanted freedom, but they hadn’t defined what that freedom looked, tasted,
felt, smelled and sounded like. Many left the business with new insights and
ideas they gained and put to future use. I can’t speak for my former wife, but
for myself, I left the business with a huge amount of new insights and
education in human nature, sales, organization and other facets of business.
But, that’s only because I chose to gain from the experience. A few people
earned anywhere from some decent money to fortunes. However, from what I know
of those who made the huge money, they worked constantly and were not free, at
least not by my definition of personal freedom.
Working Free Helped Define Living Free
Defining personal freedom and being able to honestly and, in
your own mind, accurately, answer the question “Are you free?” is of paramount
importance. Unless you know in your heart of hearts and in your conscious mind
exactly what you want and need to be free under YOUR terms, I venture to say
that it’s impossible to achieve it.
I read a book about 25 years ago that I’ve mentioned in this
blog before. The title is Working Free: Practical Alternatives to the 9-5
Job by John Applegath. This book is out of print, but is usually available
used on Amazon. This book affirmed many of my ideas and philosophies of
generating a living in today’s society. The book is now thirty years old
(published in 1982), yet virtually everything in the book, conceptually and
philosophically, is just as relevant today as it was back then. I finally found
the author living in Durham, New Hampshire after a twenty-year search and spent
a couple days visiting with him and talking about his ideas. He, personally,
had fallen onto some hard times and was dealing with some mental health issues
that were under control. I gained a great deal from him. Working free is a
component of living free. If your work life controls your lifestyle including
where you live, how you live and the freedom to do what you want when you want,
you are not living free.
Nature or Nurture
While we are certainly products of our genetic make-up
including our physical attributes, mental acuity, talents and such, we are also
products of our environment. This is often termed “nature and nurture.” We, of
course, have absolutely no control over the genes and DNA that mapped out who
we would become as human beings upon conception. And, unfortunately, we had
little control over who we would become through our environmental conditioning
(nurture) once we were born. Why some are born into the poorest of situations
with what would appear to be the least opportunity to lead a highly successful
and fulfilling life or why some are born into great wealth and opportunity,
yet, ultimately fail miserably in life is a mystery.
Talent in business, science, music, art, athletic prowess,
etc. does not seem to be distributed by anything other then random distribution.
Interestingly, some with great talent and intelligence who fail miserably in
life blame their environment and conditioning – whether from poverty or from
privilege. While on the other hand, those who rise up and become great often
credit their environment, the very same environment of poverty or privilege.
I can only suggest that Napoleon Hill was onto something
when he made his classic statement, “Whatever the mind of man (or woman) can
conceive and believe, it can achieve.” I don’t believe anyone can live free
without having a dream. I also don’t believe that anyone’s dream is impossible
if they believe in it absolutely and commit to it. The dream leads to freedom
and true freedom lives in our hearts and our minds. That’s why so many of the
prisoners of war during World War II, Korea and Vietnam survived. That’s what those innocent people, who may have wrongly been convicted of crimes that
put them in prison, use to keep themselves alive and hopeful that they’ll one
day breathe the air outside the prison walls. We see it in political prisoners
like Nelson Mendela and so many others.
Born Free
Living free is as natural as breathing air, drinking water
and consuming nutrients. There was a non-fiction book and an award-winning
movie titled Born Free with a title song by the same name. The first verse of the song goes, "Born free, as free as the wind blows; As free as the grass grows; Born to follow your heart." The book and movie were about an orphaned lion cub raised to a lioness by an
English couple in Africa and ultimately, released back into the wild to live
free.
Sure, the story was about a wild
animal. But, at our most basic level, human beings are animals. We are born, at
the instant of birth, as nothing more or nothing less then a free, wild animal.
But, due to our superior intelligence and ability to reason, we immediately
begin the conditioning process to hone us into civilized people so we can learn
to pollute the Earth, exploit its resources, create weapons of mass destruction
so we can wield power over each other and entire groups of people and
countries. We steal, lie, cheat, plunder, rape, corrupt, murder and create
massive numbers of laws, rules, regulations, create dependencies, foster envy
and jealousy, spy on one another, snitch, etc. All of this because we are
“above the free living animals.”
To be fair, we have certainly done
many very positive things as human beings. But, at our most basic and primal
level, we all still, somewhere deep inside our lizard brain, desire to live
free. For all, but a minute percentage of 1% of the world’s population, that
kind of living free will never be realized. As the old Virginia Slims cigarette
commercials boasted at the peak of the Women’s Liberation movement, “We’ve come
a long way, Baby.” But, has it all been the right way?
None of us want to give up our
computers, iPad’s, smart phones, texting, Skyping, credit cards, high-speed
interstates and cars, air travel, luxury resorts, supermarkets with some 40,000
items to choose from, designer jeans, air conditioned, spacious, luxurious (by
most world standards) dwellings, etc. Do any of these things actually mean
we’re living free(r) or are we ever more controlled and beholding to someone or
something else?
What if another giant asteroid
should hit the Earth or, God forbid, some nut case punches in the launch codes
and pushes the Red Button and launches a nuclear holocaust. It would likely
destroy much or all of the world’s infrastructure, manufacturing, health care
system, food production, transportation, communications and governments. Would
any remaining survivors be able to survive? We would be back as close to living
free as the wild animals we originally were.
No! I don’t dwell on such doomsday
scenarios. At least, during the remainder of my life expectancy, I don’t
anticipate either of these two scenarios. But, have we misplaced our most
basic, free-spirited humanity somewhere along this path of tens of thousands of
years of human development and evolving civilization? Has it been replaced with
so much “stuff” that we feel we can’t survive without having the latest and
greatest iPhone 5?
I’m not sure I can even begin to
contemplate the answer to that. But, I do know that somewhere between that
primal lizard brain kind of living free and worshipping and selling my soul and
spirit to the almighty government and god of “stuff” there is a comfort zone I keep striving for that I call living free? And each time I’m asked the
question, am I free, I am able to better define it for my own life. So, I end
this where it began with the same question . . .
Are you free?
