I read last week on Boing Boing about Javanese batikers who aren’t interested in copyrighting their work. What? They don’t want exclusive protection for their intellectual property? Whyever would someone do that?

I think I have some idea.

Traditional copyright often seems to be all about money these days. It might be about other things, too—but wow, it is sometimes hard to see anything else through the fog of money. I think money is awesome, personally. But it is not a substitute for real life, or living in the world. It’s not a substitute for the exchange of energy that occurs when someone makes something beautiful or helps someone else solve a problem. It’s not a substitute for human connection or meaningful work.

Besides the fact that you can make money doing what you love without necessarily having to protect it with exclusive copyright (which I believe, unequivocally), there’s a separate point here about doing what you love because you love it—not for the rewards, which can be wonderful, but for the experience, which is beyond price.

You can line this up with any number of specific explanations of why you do what you do. The batikers call it gratitude for God’s work. Burners call it radical self-expression. Tolle calls it being in the Now. If you like cliches, you know that it’s all about enjoying the journey, rather than aching for the destination.

It’s why many coaches and gurus ask this question: If you didn’t need the money, what work would you do?

That’s because the work isn’t about the money, and can’t be about the money if you’re going to succeed. We talked about it in the Tribes Q&A ebook, too:

Selling goods (such as concert tickets, albums, or T-shirts) is NOT what makes you a living. Connecting people and giving them a place in the world IS. There is a huge difference between focusing on one and focusing on the other. Making a living—making money—is only a pleasant side effect of doing this right. But it is a side effect that happens all the time.

We do what we do because we want to make a difference. We want to be happy; we want to make someone else happy. We want to create something from nothing. We want to have quality and meaning in our lives. It’s not about how much we can manage to get paid to do it. It’s about making sure that we can do it.

That’s the only reason money enters into the equation. It’s an exchange of energy and value, that’s all.

Oh yeah, and one other thing…

I decided that for the foreseeable future all Idea Blueprint Girl consulting calls scheduled on Fridays will only cost half of what they normally do. I want to make sure that someone who wants to work with me doesn’t have to reject the idea out of hand because of the cost—and this will help. If you can’t afford my rates, that’s your day. (I might change the day later—but for now, it’s Fridays.)

I’ll schedule as many calls as I can on those days without completely exhausting myself, so if that thrills the bejeezus out of you, grab a slot.

So what if you have no money?

That’s okay too. Tomorrow morning I’m going to open the first Idea Free-For-All thread at That Idea Blueprint Girl, and it will stay open all day. Once it’s up, you’ll be able to find it on this page. If you have projects to cook up and problems to solve and want to do some ideastorming, stop by and share your questions—we’ll find solutions for you.

See? No exclusive copyright, no exchange of cash. Works just fine!

You’re about to witness a late night rant. Let’s see how coherent it turns out, shall we?

I’ve actually been going about this all the wrong way.

I’ve been putting off important parts of my life “until I have more money,” but I’ve been discounting the very mechanism that continues to bring me money, month after month, even when I am down to a week between me and the Big Scary Abyss of Doom, the very mechanism that has never failed me so long as I maintain confidence in it.

That mechanism is real, undeniable need.

Sometimes I call it “desperation.” (I do not recommend that mechanism. Please use a different one whenever possible.) But it’s not hopeless the way desperation is—it engenders action, not despair. My best work (my most amazing feats of daring and success) happen when they absolutely need to.

And whatever you call it (even if you say “desperation” but don’t really mean it), there’s something to be said for having a working mechanism. I’ve been examining my life for a method that turns my “three week margin” set point into a “three month margin” set point, and continues to improve from there. The whole time, the whole time, it’s been right there in front of me. So let me explain how this works:

Let’s say I have $2500. Awesome! $2500, I say to myself, that will pay most of this month’s bills. It will get the rent paid and we’ll be through to the 15th or so. Fantastic!

Then I will go to the dentist and the dentist will put on his Bad Face and say “OMG!!1eleven, you need a root canal!” And I will say “WHAT!?? I DO NOT!” and the dentist will say “OMG!!1eleven you SO DO and it will cost ELEVENTYBILLION DOLLARS.”

Then I will pass out.

Nightmare, anyone?

When I wake up, I will say, “Well crap, I guess we have to pay them eleventy billion dollars. Write the bad dentist man a check.” And then (probably after I obtain painkillers for my pending root canal) I will go about deciding how to make more money. Because, well… I have to. Whining, fearing, arguing, none of this will help, so I mostly don’t bother. I just fix it.

Sure, I’ll be nervous. Sure, I’ll feel some trepidation and worry a little about whether I can do it. But mostly (because I’ve done this a ton of times now and I know that it always SOMEHOW works out) I will enforce a sense of confidence and determination, and I will get the thing done. Even down to the wire, all kinds of excellent things can happen to turn things to my favor. The trick is to plan well and make them happen much sooner than later.

And I can do that.

I don’t know why I can’t do that when I DON’T need the money in the next three weeks. I’m still working that part out. It’s a fascinating process.

And in the meantime, there are things we “need.” Not root canal need, but state of mind and organization need. Like bookshelves. Incredibly useful and legitimate business expenses that I’ve been putting off, a whole list of them. Groceries (those are nice, I like those). And we haven’t really bought new clothes in, gulp, probably a few years now. (Hell, they don’t even have to be NEW. Just new to US!)

I’m not talking about hauling off on a daily sushi binge; I’m not talking about spending a great deal more money than is usually in our budget every month. I AM talking about increasing that budget gradually, planning for it, and proclaiming myself capable of dealing with the additional margin. Why on earth not? Many lookers-on were skeptical that Marty could quit his day job and we could both survive perfectly well working for ourselves. Listeners shuddered when they found out that we added a big monthly car payment right around the time he quit. Oh yes, and then our rent went up!

Would you like to guess how many times we’ve actually been unable to pay our rent? Go ahead, guess.

ZERO. (Was that what you guessed?)

How about how many times we’ve had to negotiate a payment plan with a utility company because we couldn’t send them a check?

Nope.

Never happened.

We’ve gotten rid of bills here, added other ones there. And we keep paying them. And 99% of them have been paid on time, every time. That doesn’t sound to me like two people at the brink of destitution. It doesn’t sound to me like people who are incapable of improving their lot in life. It doesn’t sound to me like people who must be content with the boxes they’ve been dropped into.

That sounds to me like two people who can get what they need, when they need it, because they’re capable, courageous, clever—and alliterative, an attribute you must never underestimate. All I have to do is buy the things I need when I need them, and create more income to cover them. It won’t be hard—especially if I plan well, take it in reasonable increments—and especially after the money is spent. Then there’s no going back. I’m great with the Point of No Return, man.

I am not crazy. These are not crazy ideas.

YOU can do this, too. All you need is to make the decision, be brave, and carry through. Almost ANYONE can do this. I’m not even sure I need to use the word “almost.” If you look deep enough inside yourself you’re going to see the same things I’ve seen. Tremendous will power, infinite creativity, true ability to put yourself wherever you want to be. I don’t doubt it for a second.

Anyway, after we pay April’s rent, I’m probably going to buy a freaking bookcase. Or something else on the long list of things I’ve been putting off.

Think about it.

PS. HEY! YOU! Yes, you. I hope you don’t think this is a good excuse to do something incredibly stupid with your budget. I’m talking increments here, people. I’m talking confidence and increments. Be reasonable. But be BRAVE.

PPS. Oh! No, no root canals. That was just an example. Incidentally, though, that exact brand of spur-of-the-moment root canal has happened to me in the past. It was scary; we got through it just fine. I don’t expect any more root canal escapades, honestly; I stopped eating sugar and started drinking just gallons of green juice. I’m probably in pretty good shape.

PPPS. Our scenario assumes, of course, that “eleventy billion” is less than $2500. Just pretend.

I guess this might sound crazy.

Marty and I are still scrambling to figure out how to pay December’s bills once it arrives. We don’t have anything set in stone yet—we don’t have any kind of safety net. Two huge projects are pretty much over, pending announcement, and I have more hanging on. And one or two of them are massively important, and will continue to require my full attention for… awhile. Some lengthy period of time. And there are going to be more.

I’ve been working… eighteen hour days. Yes. I’ve been working eighteen hour days. I get up at 5am and then I get to bed around 8:30 or 9. I work pretty much the whole day, though I take breaks for food (sometimes) and occasionally we put in a movie (though I never get very far into it before I’m back at my computer checking on something).

But I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier.

I just feel… Fulfilled. Valid. Real. Vital. Satisfied, and at the same time, still hungry. Not particularly stressed, not worn out—although there were certainly moments in the last three and a half weeks when I was pushing it. Mostly, I just feel good.

I’ve been practicing Shiva Nata every day, but not for quite as long as I’d like. My practice sessions have been getting longer, though, and that makes me happy (and anxious to find out what it will be like when I can do even more). Marty’s been doing push ups. Lots of push ups. We’ve been eating almost all fruit & vegetables because we found out that, even organic, they’re cheaper than what we used to have on our grocery bill. Way cheaper. We’ve had a learning curve for keeping produce in the fridge and making it last long enough to eat (instead of be forgotten about, and then thrown away). But it’s a neat learning curve.

We go out to eat once in a blue moon. We’re functional hermits, and we haven’t seen most of our friends in weeks (at least). We’re working harder than we’ve ever worked in our lives. It’s not that we don’t love our friends and want to spend time with them. It’s just that this is important, and feels… significant. In a way I can’t describe. This is what we are supposed to be doing, right now.

I know it sounds like I’m a good candidate for the nuthouse, but this is the best my life has felt so far. And it feels like it’s going to get better.

Today Marty and I talked about money, and how it’s scary to be pushing this thing when a “sane” person would have given up two weeks ago. I said, Anyone else would have stopped trying already. But if we’re brave and keep going, even when it’s scary, we’ll make it. Just because people don’t try doesn’t mean the prize isn’t there. It just means fewer people get to it.

And somehow I have no doubt in my mind that we’ll get there. I don’t know when I became this person. I don’t know when I became clear about the future of me. I don’t know when I started having this much faith in myself, and in those around me, and in the universe that turns on my axis.

I don’t know when it happened, but my god, it feels great.

I’m sitting and working and thinking about dinner with Marty, and I come across a post that informs me that another friend has lost his job.

“Oh my god,” I say, horrified and unnerved. “Everybody’s getting laid off.” There’s a moment of silence—we know it’s happening. We knew that something like this could start. It’s worrisome and we don’t know what’s going to happen next. I can’t help but think of the people who suddenly have to figure out what to do next, how to pay their rent. Some are better prepared than others. Some have been expecting it. Some haven’t. Marty and I are scrambling like crazy to find income for December’s bills, but he’s been at it for almost three months already—and I’ve had much longer. It hasn’t gotten “easy” yet, exactly, but I’m used to having to actively create my next paycheck.

Suddenly it hits me. My eyes are like big, incredulous plates. And I say, “We have a head start!”

We’re already moving. It’s not perfect, but we can use it. And it can get so much better from here, if we stay on our toes, keep caring about the people instead of the buck, and give our audience something that really fuels them. It’s a good situation to be in. We’re lucky. No one can fire us but us.

I am still unnerved… but now I really have something to think about.

I haven’t posted about the most recent Usual Error workshop yet because of SXSW and getting sick (argh!), but something interesting just happened that I thought might amuse some of my readers.

I was just making up a balance sheet to see where all my finances stood. And I labeled all of my color coding with “Numbers have to go up” (raising the amount of money I make) and “Numbers have to go down” (lowering my monthly bills).

And then I had a funny thought. And I went in. And I changed it. To “Numbers want to go up.” And, “Numbers want to go down.”

And… I don’t think I know how to explain it… but I have a feeling some of you already get it… so… isn’t that… interesting?