Burrito-Based Pricing™
It's going to revolutionize the economy as we know it
Two years ago, when I was in the midst of my Gift Economy experiment, I set up a rather silly checkout form. At the time, all of my courses were available on a "choose your own price" basis, and I wanted an easy way for people to compensate me on the back end if they valued the work. So I set up a checkout that would let anybody, at any time, for any reason, buy me one or more burritos. That's how Burrito-Based Pricing™ came into existence.
In the 18 months since I ended that experiment, I've mostly forgotten about this funny artifact. I never really mention it, and no one ever uses it. Until today. Much to my delight, Burrito-Based Pricing™ has been used not once, but twice over the past 24 hours, and now I'm thinking I should revive this thing. Not only does it make me smile, but I think there's an intriguing business case to be made for it, especially for "true fan" style business like mine.
The person who bought me said burritos (hey Julia!) had been going through my UngatedOS workshop, which came along with a pre-order of The Forest. She wanted to give me even more money than she already had, because she loved the workshop so much. And just like that, I'm now going to be fed for the next few days.
This feels especially interesting as I start working on The Forest. This product will probably always cost around $100 up front. I want it to be super accessible, and a no-brainer purchase. But I also expect the people who take The Forest seriously will get many tens of thousands of dollars worth of genuine value out of it. Value is such a weird, vague, overused buzzword around these parts, and my goal is to move beyond it being a synonym for "actionable information" or whatever. What I'm really after is creating a permission structure that sets people free from the Internet Marketing/Creator Economy Industrial Complex. My goal is to help people trust themselves, come alive in their work, and build lives of joy and connection. This is the type of value that's mattered most in my life over the past few years, and now I'm hoping to pass it forward as best I can.
Anyhow, if I succeed in doing all of that with The Forest, there are going to be people who want to give me money beyond what they initially paid. And that seems like the perfect opportunity to use Burrito-Based Pricing™. Not only is it fun and delightful, but it's potentially poised to create an ongoing revenue stream that will keep my burrito-loving heart happy for years to come.
I came across you recently on Substack and you speak my language. I love it and will be jumping into The Frontier soon. I'm curious - you're aware of Tad Hargreave from Marketing for Hippies? His work makes my heart happy too. Plus he's an awesome human. If you haven't formally met, and you'd like to, let me know and I can e-introduce you! 😀
When you talk about your pricing strategies and such, I am all ears! Love it. When you talk about leaving Substack and such, I do not have much interest. Peace out! FYI - I think about leaving Substack as well, but I do make a bit of $$ from it and I enjoy the challenge of writing here.