Gaining $250,000 Effortlessly?

Published January 21st, 2008 by Thom Scott

After church today, my father-in-law and I got talking about The Go-Giver. Dad is a CPA; though the firm he founded, he’s been serving small businesses for over thirty years, and he started recounting stories he’d seen over the years that exemplify the principles in The Go-Giver. (He was also one of the first people to read the book.) One of these stories was so compelling, I had to share it here.

Dad had a client who owned a small neighborhood convenience store, back in the days when convenience stores were neighborhood fixtures where locals did most all their everyday food shopping, before the large supermarkets took over.

One of this man’s customers was a little, elderly lady who didn’t seem to have any family or friends to look after her. Although he had no delivery service, this shop owner started delivering the woman’s groceries himself. Whenever he did, he would also see if there were any little repairs or other odd jobs she needed help with. In other words, he went out of his way to give to someone who could seemingly offer him no tangible benefit in return.

Eventually, the lady passed away—and gave her entire estate of $250,000 to the store owner.

The man was dumbfounded. He hadn’t been helping her out with any agenda. He certainly had no idea she was worth that kind of money. He just saw a need and gave, in whatever way he could.

Now, I’m not saying, “Go help every little old lady you can find, ‘cause you never know when one is gonna leave you money.” I share this story as a great example of how giving works. When we give, we can reasonably expect a return on our investment—but it’s not up to us to determine who or what will be the source of that ROI.

Have you experienced stories like this yourself?

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