six years ago i was fat as a wale.

i started running, lost 1/3 of body weight and hired a coach so i could finish a sprint triathlon.

i also fund out that a bit of exercise and a bit less of fat and sugar is healthy.

i really did not know this. it was amazing how i didn’t learn about it before.

also my parents and friends did not know. we just did not.

what have we been learning in school?

my next reaction was to start a sports club and tell others about the same stuff i figured out:

do a bit of running, avoid some bad foods, and maybe you will live longer and better.

i started by joining in my friends and it soon grew beyond that.

fast forward five years later and the club grew to three countries and total of some 120+ members.

we even had some ok results like some top 30 at ironman world championship, local championships and records. it was fun.

but…

i was doing all this work on my own without any money… and worst of all i was giving it all for free.

i do not care much about money, i am really bad about it, i always was.

sometimes in my life i made a lot of money, mostly i did not, but it was never my goal to make money.

i like making nice stuff. thats really all i care about and usually this brings me money by accident.

if i was more money oriented i should definitely organize my life different, but i am not.

i am slowly learning about the money half way through my life but im still doing it wrong probably…

hopefully it is an improvement anyway.

but my lack of profit was not the problem, the problem was i was giving stuff for free.

people just do not respect stuff if its free.

in my club for 10 euros for life membership you would get access to unbelievable amount of knowledge, advice and contacts.

actually people who knew how to use this really benefited. for some it was a life changer. but only few.

more general reaction was puzzling.

i could divide reactions into three:

1) apathy with polite formal support, but no real action

2) frustration that they do not get more, but still within tolerance

3) really extreme requests which i had to decline, then followed by extreme frustration

there was no really supportive action.

conclusion is that things should never be offered for free – people just do not respect it.

some services can work like this – like health maybe as people will always go to a doctor if they are sick.

but even in health we see an example of so much prevention being offered and people just do not respect it.

this experience is parallel with my attempts to sponsor non-profits which also turned into waste.

i am amazed that cutting 10k euro expenses for a non profit organization is really not motivation enough to work on something.

i can only conclude that people just do not respect free stuff.

paying motivates people and makes them respect what they get.

giving and getting stuff for free is a waste of time.