That’s a beautiful story about your yoga teacher. Of course, it requires her to already be comfortable, and it’s still a beautiful relationship to have.

Im commenting to add the model my yoga teacher uses. She’s quite comfortable financially and opted to offer the proceeds of every class to a family in our community. She uses an honor system and sliding scale, asking $5-$20 per class. We can attend class w/o paying, marking it on the attendance sheet and paying when we can.

This keeps me from missing classes when money is tight and makes me want to contribute more. Because it feels like that… like a contribution.

Usually, I pay $5 a class and then, once in a while, I just throw $50 or $100 into the basket (when I have it). I do this because it feels right to me.

@Karl- Absolutely- taken responsibility for your sliding scale is what it’s all about- as long as you aren’t off loading your money issues onto someone else. And then you can say no- yah!

Although what Tad is talking about is different- because in the situations he describes, he won’t ever say no, even if someone doesn’t pay anything. But, it’s different than the situation you’re describing.

@Evan- Definitely I hope you did listen to the interview- because he’s not really talking about “sliding scale.” It’s something else entirely.

I love the idea of the sliding scale.

Especially because I’m dealing with health and it is hardly fair that health only be for the wealthy.

Which would mean that the product will probably be more popular with the poorer people.

I wonder if it works for those starting out rather than those with a market already (Radiohead and so forth). Or for those where a standard price isn’t established (eg. info products).

Looking forward to the MP3’s and checking out Tad’s website.
Evan´s last blog ..Vulnerability and Safety

Yes, it’s hard to say no, but that’s on me, not them.

Great Interview!
Karl Staib – Work Happy Now´s last blog ..Reader Dilemma – Would You Lie?

This is a model that we’ve been using at Watershed Community Wellness. In particular, Brandt Stickley uses what he calls the “Gift Economy” model to run his shifts at the clinic. http://www.charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=2097

I still have my reservations about it, but am totally on board with the basic concept. Where this interview really lit up for me for me is when it became clear that Tad doesn’t do it for all of his income. I appreciated that he noticed that it’s easier to do this for parts of your business that won’t add a bunch of extra work for you.

It seems eminiently reasonable to me to do it for particular facets of my business – for instance, classes and workshops (Qigong, seasonal health, etc) as opposed to my actual acupuncture and Chinese herbal sessions.

I think if you, as the person offering, have another source of income and aren’t relying on the income from the “Gift Economy” or “Pay What You Can” stream, your gift can be much cleaner and maybe it doesn’t create the same energetic stress on the relationship. It truly is simply a gift. This feels very different than the normal sliding scale situation.

On the other hand, if you really need a certain amount but are simply afraid to ask for it, there will be that weirdness.

Just my thoughts…

Eric
http://watershedcommunitywellness.com
Eric Grey´s last blog ..Stripped to the bone