Table of Contents:
1. Looking Badly and Risking Rejection: Dressing Up Like a Bum and Asking for Change (Video | Written Story | More Pictures)
2. Sharing the Gift of These 30 Days with One of the Guys Who Inspired It
3. How Has Witnessing This Journey Changed YOU?
4. My Next 30 Day Trial: Manifesting Financial Abundance

Looking Badly and Risking Rejection: Dressing Up Like a Bum and Asking for Change

Video

Written Story

I wanted a big finale for this 30 day trial so I decided to look like a bum and go out there and ask for some change and see what happens. And wow, it was kind of like a life changing experience.

First I just made up some funny signs and got my roommate to take some photos of me on the side of the road while cars drove by.

Then my roommate went to the Sprint store to get a phone and I decided to stand outside of the strip mall and hold up this sign.

At first everyone just walked by and didn’t say anything. But then this car drove by with a mother and two daughters and the daughters just LIT UP when they saw me; you could tell it was just something so out of their normal experience and they were just so happy and so intrigued by the prospect of seeing a homeless person or a poor person (or whoever I was in their mind) and they came running out with ice cream cones in hand and they each gave me a quarter. And they were so happy to give them to me and it felt so good to receive.

Then another lady was passing by and I said, “Hey want to help stimulate the economy?”

And she said, “Let’s see, I don’t usually carry any cash or change.” And she began digging around in her fanny pack.

Then I added, “You gotta start from the bottom up. It’s like Trickle Down Economics, but the opposite.”

And she pulled out a handful of change and gave it to me!

Then a minute or two later a guy from one of the stores came out and said “Sir! You can’t be out here asking people for money. You gotta go.”

So I just said “OK” and packed up my things and went and sat down on the edge of the sidewalk. And a few seconds later (while I was actually texting my roommate to tell him what was happening). This guy came up from behind me and gave me $3 in cash. And it was the most unexpected thing and it just felt like pure compassion. And I don’t know if I’ve ever been on the receiving end of that kind of compassion, in the sense that it was totally an act of compassion. There were just no grounds for it other than that he wanted to give and help a stranger out. And that’s what made it so much more pure than receiving money on my birthday or having someone lend me money. But this was just somebody who didn’t know me. I’m just some guy on the street—he didn’t know my situation; he didn’t question me or anything. He just came up to me and gave me three dollars.

Then as he was leaving he came back and gave me an ice cold water. And he said “Here, bro. You thirsty?”

And I said, “Oh man. I’ve got a water in my bag, so if you want that you can have it.”

And he said, “Nah, man. This is ice cold you gotta have it.”

And I just gave him the most legitimate heartfelt thank you to him. And then I started to feel almost bad because potentially I’m being deceitful in what I’m doing because I’m not as poor as I made myself out to be. But at the same time, what an experience to see life from a totally different perspective and to be seen as somebody who’s totally different. And it made me wonder, what ways can I make a difference? How many other stranger’s lives can I touch; both through the experiments that I’m doing and just getting out to the world and connecting with people and making a difference in a strangers life. And now that I know how big of a difference that can make first hand… It’s just an inspirational experience that makes me want to pay it forward and just give to a stranger without any expectation of wanting to get anything back, and just let that energy flow freely. And it just felt so good to experience that from the receiving end.

More Pictures

Money Made

Location, Location, Location!

If you know any beggars looking for a sweet location tell them to check out the parking lot of the Sprint Store on 78th and Layton. Made $5 in less than five minutes before being asked to leave.

Trying to Solicit Drivers

A Sign That I Never Got a Chance to Use

Sharing the Gift of These 30 Days with One of the Guys Who Inspired It

Earlier this year I read Seth Godin’s amazing book Linchpin. A book that taught me…

that the hard part of being an entrepreneur isn’t being the best at something, it’s being willing to be made fun of.
that what the world needs now is emotional labor (the kind of labor that can’t be outsourced).
that I am an Artist and my Art (the work) is doing the stuff that scares me, not the busy work that made me feel productive.
that real Artist’s ship: The world doesn’t have a talent shortage; it has a shipping shortage.
that, “You can spend your time on stage pleasing the heckler in the back, or you can devote it to the audience that came to hear you perform.”
and countless other things.

So in the final hours of this 30 day project I decided to reach out to him and share my profound thanks / the highlights of everything I experienced.

Subject: The Ultimate Linchpin Experiment

Hey Seth,

30 Days ago I decided to give my lizard brain the ultimate ultimatum: Face my fears of rejection and looking badly every day for 30 days straight and blog about it every night… or I’m going to commit suicide (no I’m not mentally unstable, nor was it a cry for help, it’s simply a no-holds-barred commitment to change). I’m currently in the final hour of Day 30 and am using these precious few minutes to send you a thank you for how much your books have changed me.

By liberating myself and my Art from the shackles of using what other people might think I’ve been able to ship a blog post every single night and touch countless lives with my raw honesty and openness. I wrote over 40,000 words (close to 60,000 if you include my comments to readers) and shot over 4 hours worth of YouTube videos, increasing traffic to my website 5-fold. Some people chose to leave my life, others curiously drew closer, and people halfway around the world went from strangers to friends to true fans. And I’ve decided to work harder to create a more beneficial experience for those true fans rather than diverting my energy with interruption tactics in hopes of reaching more strangers.

Giving myself permission to do these things has allowed me to safely explore my extremes and report back what I’ve learned. Some of the highlights include:

Pitching my consulting services to a grocery store manager while food shopping, publicly sharing every scary/embarrassing thought I could think of, trying hitchhiking, giving away free “spiritual brain massages” at the mall (and getting shut down by security for it), creating two new services and getting volunteers to test them, hitting on a waitress in front of everyone I was eating dinner with, hitting on “classy chicks” in the club with a Sonic the Hedgehog T-shirt on, making about a dozen offers to people, getting blown by a guy I’d just met on a public street in my car (because “Why not?” and who cares what the neighbors think), learning to ask for help, putting a candy cane where the sun doesn’t shine because it was the most embarrassing thing I could think of doing to myself, and peeing myself intentionally (twice) to free myself from the prison of what other people think, spraying Bitter YUCK (the worst tasting substance in the world) into my mouth just to see how I’d react on film, and dressing like a bum and asking people for spare change (pictured above and below).

At first glance it probably seems like a long list of things no one would want anything to do with; but my willingness to explore these extremes is also a unique gift that has exposed a lot of people to the fears of their lizard brain and given them a chance to confront it.

Typically an email like this would count as my daily dose of risking rejection, but this time I’m not asking anything from you. This is simply a gift (wrapped in strange packaging) that I’m forwarding to you with the promise that this won’t be the first you’ve heard from me. I’m going to continue shipping blog posts daily and living my life one public experiment at a time. Everything I’ve done has flied in the face of status quo and challenged the beliefs of those who’ve come into contact with it. While it’s tempting to go back to living a “normal” life, I remember some of your closing words from Purple Cow: “Society rewards you for standing out!” And I think society could use a few more crazy people like me (especially sane ones who actually have something valuable to say).

Your Art has changed the way I see the world. Your Art has inspired me to change the way other people see the world. The willingness to do emotional labor and ship my art daily has forever changed the way that I view work. Now I’m to do the work, the work that changes the world…

Your True Fan,

Joshua Jeffrey James Clarence Billings

How Has Witnessing This Journey Changed YOU?

Now that the 30 days are complete, I want to know how this experience has changed your life.

Questions that might help prompt you:
1. How do you see things differently?
2. What are you no longer afraid of?
3. What have you been inspired to do/say/feel/think?
4. Have you grown closer to anyone because of this?
5. Farther away from anyone because of this?
6. Do you see your future differently?
7. Do you see your past differently?

You can leave feedback either anonymously or by name, and let me know if you’d rather I just keep what you share to myself or if I can share it as a testimonial to let other people know if reading some of what I shared might be worth their while.

Send an Email: You can email me at: Josh AT JoshuaBillings DOT com (with no spaces and @ instead of AT and . instead of DOT) or simply use the Contact Form for this site.

Leave a Voicemail: Or if you’d prefer to speak your truth rather than type it out, you can call me and leave as long as a voicemail as you’d like at (262)510-0049 (for the next several days I’ll let all calls go to voicemail for your convenience, if you actually want to get a hold of me, just call twice in a row and I’ll pick up if I’m around).

Talk to Me on the Phone/Skype: Or if you’d like to tell me in an actual conversation you can call the above number (twice, so I know you want to talk and not just leave a voicemail), or contact me via Skype (username: JoshuaBillings.com ).

Create a Video: Or you can shoot a video and upload the file to a video sharing site (I’d recommend YouTube, or Veoh if you want to shoot one video longer than 10 minutes) or MegaUpload.com (if you want to send it to me privately).

My Next 30 Day Trial: Manifesting Financial Abundance

Manifesting Abundance: Can You Completely Overhaul Your Financial Situation In Just 30 Days?