How To Leave a Legacy*

Man, I am loving these mixes. I can already tell it’s going to be way harder to choose two than I thought. The competition is fierce!

Someone asked me a great question last week that I wished I’d included in the FAQ’s. Here it is:

What if we wait to sign up to see if we win the contest, but then it fills up and then we don’t win but we can’t sign up anymore because it’s full?

She may or may not have asked this question with tears in her eyes.

People will do anything to win, man.

Anyway, the answer is that I am advising all of you overconfident mixmasters to just sign up already to reserve your spot and if you win, I’ll refund your fee. Otherwise, you really might not get in, and then we’ll both cry. You because you lost and me because you gave me a mix with Jay-Z on it. So sign up already and stop putting all your hope in Sufjan Stevens. We’ll both feel relieved.

A few of you have said that you are doing this contest because you have no way of paying for the workshop otherwise. I totally get that. These are tough times. I am honored by every single expression of interest in one-on-one coaching or in the workshops that I have received, and I do accept payment plans. My rates have gone up in 2010, but if you contact me before February 27 (the hubby’s birthday) I’ll hook you up with last year’s rates. I’m a giver.

Also, I am fascinated by the rationale behind saying no to something because of money. Money is never neutral; we always bring our own baggage and previous experience to it. And, everyone’s relationship with money is different. This is a good thing, or else we would all buy our purses at Target.

It’s our inconsistency with money that so intrigues me. For example, last week I went grocery shopping and decided not to buy a yummy-looking desserty-something at Trader Joe’s because it was “frivolous” at $4.99. But, later that same day, I justified buying two shirts and a pair of pants at Ann Taylor Loft because they were 40% off the sale price. The total was $67.30.

I won’t join AAA because $72 a year is too much, but I have an $80 shirt from Urban Outfitters in my closet. Oh, and one from Anthropologie that was $69.

I don’t like paying for fancy dinners. But my family eats at California Pizza Kitchen so often that I’m sure we could eat at home more and then go out to nicer places and still spend less than we do now on eating out.

None of this is new. I remember when my husband bought us tickets to see the musical “Les Miserables” onstage for our first anniversary. I thought they were too expensive. We had a big fight at intermission that we still laugh about every year.

I know a bit about marketing, and about why we buy what we do, and value what we value. And I can’t get over the fact that so many of us spend more on what we drape over our bodies than we do on investing in our souls. Some of us devote more resources to what we look like on the outside than to who we are becoming on the inside.

I’m not necessarily saying that there are good or bad choices here. I’m just saying that whenever I find myself contradicting myself, it’s a sign that I need to pay attention. If I say I’m trying to save money but drop $50 on tapas and wine with my friends on Saturday night, then I should probably look at that.

Here is where you probably expect me to encourage you to look at your spending and realize that you can totally afford this workshop. And, full disclosure, I do think that is a good idea. It will be more than worth it, I can tell you that. (Oh, that’s right, I already did. Right here.)

But what I want to challenge you to do is something even more dramatic. Something that will affect more lives than your own. Something epic.

I want you to think about sponsoring someone else to get some MOXY. Someone who might need it even more than you do, but for whatever reason, maybe money or possibly something else, wouldn’t sign up for it on their own. I ask you to think of that person—whose name is springing to the front of your mind even as you read this—and to give them a workshop, or a one-on-one session or two. Give it as a gift.

A gift that can’t get ruined at the drycleaners or broken after coming home from the store. A gift that lasts longer, and has more value, than a mere possession.  A gift that will affect many more people for good than most Christmas presents did this year.

If you can’t think of someone, let me know. I know lots of people, and I’d be more than happy to apply your gift to someone who could really use it. I’d be ecstatic to do that, actually.

Obviously, I’m invested in The MOXY Project. Helping people like you to find and release and celebrate your unique inner mojo is what I’m all about. If you want help with that, go here. Or here.

Maybe you feel like you want what I have to give right now, maybe you don’t. But I can assure you that there are people who want it and can’t afford to pay for it. I know many of you live in San Francisco or Chicago or Denver, and you just can’t spare the time to come out here in March. This is a way you can help someone else who could. If you’re up for this, please leave a comment here or on the site or e-mail me at michele@michelemollkoy.com. We’ll hook you up.

What if you had an opportunity to invest in other women, in a way that wasn’t available before? What if you could literally endow another’s future, along with yours, thereby raising up two or more in the true spirit of MOXY?

What if……..what if…..…what if. What if you gave?

*The idea for this post came from Sonja Egeland Kelly. She’s a professional giver.