People love options. A second year analyst has the option of __going to Business School.__ A single person keeps their dating options open by __staying in the gray zone.__ And a savvy trader purchases a stock option on a company that is grossly undervalued – effectively __leveraging their investment.__ In this post, we’ll look at two different types of options: __a cold email__ and __a simple Loom video__. We’ll see two real-world examples of how these __small acts of care and kindness__ (~15 minutes) opened up endless possibilities of revenue, job opportunities, collaboration and friendship. And we’ll show you how you can add these tools to __your portfolio of $10K Work.__ ## Meet Matthias, the king of feedback Here at RadReads, we’re always running free events – bootcamps, trainings, tutorials, interviews, and community mixers. The events attract hundreds of participants and we’ll occasionally get a nice email saying, __“Great event, really enjoyed the part about [topic X].”__ But in September 2020, after our free events, I started getting really detailed emails from a recurring participant: [Matthias Frank](). The emails were detailed, extremely helpful and both graceful and polite. Here’s the first one, in response to a prior iteration of the $10K Bootcamp: I knew nothing about Matthias (for some reason, I assumed he was an older German gentleman), but these feedback emails kept coming. Matthias caught typos, gave us ideas for new [Notion templates](), and even offered recommendations on how to reorganize entire sections of our curriculum. And they always toed the fine line of __being helpful without being overbearing__. ## The power of a Loom video Fast-forward to a month ago when I gave a presentation to the Ness Labs Community, about my friend [Anne-Laure Le Cunff](), dubbed __The Empress of $10K Work.__ After the presentation, I tweeted (into the abyss) about the design of my slides. You see, I’m passionate about design. But I also suck at it. An hour later, I received this 14 minute Loom video from [Nate Kadlac](), a designer who I’d been following (but have never met). It was accompanied by the pithy note: __“Hey man, just for fun.”__ __I was floored.__ I had seriously considered paying hundreds (_thousands?_) of dollars for this type of consultation. And here it was __sitting in my Twitter DMs for free.__ Furthermore, Nate was gracious enough to go back and forth as we designed an upgraded $10K Matrix together. ## But is this really $10K Work? __“I’m not sure if this is $10 work or $10K Work,”__ Nate ponders at the outset of his 14 minute video. And it’s a very legitimate question. The truth of the matter is we all get a ton of messages each day. And if your life is spent on the Internet, multiply those messages by 100x. So both Matthias and Nate were taking a small risk, investing a small (yet _not insignificant_) amount of their time for a very __uncertain and delayed payoff.__ We can re-frame their cold outreaches in two ways. First, they invested in small options for themselves. They probably didn’t expect much to come from it, but there was a possibility of deepened interaction. But more importantly, they both demonstrated __genuine acts of kindness.__ You can see from __the depth and care__ in each of their messages, that they are passionate, invested and simply __want to be helpful.__ It’s crystal clear that they didn’t send these messages with __any expectation__ , yet probably said to themselves _“Hey, ya never know.”_ They each (presumably subconsciously) took [a portfolio approach]() towards $10K work. ## The serendipity engine Let’s cut to the chase. Being kind and helpful is $10K Work. You just can’t do it all day, because you’d __never get anything done__ and would __[burn out]().__ So what happened with our two generous protagonists? I’m rushing to sign up for Nate’s [Approachable Design Workshop]() in June. And if you are a non-designer who wants to level up your design skills (like me), I’m convinced it will deliver boatloads of value. __I’ve experienced this value first hand.__(And hopefully this unofficial endorsement to 30,000 RadReaders will drive up his sales!) And Matthias? It turns out that he isn’t a 60 year old German man. Nope, he’s a Millennial lawyer who happens to love the Internet. His insights have been so helpful, that I’ve offered him __a full time job at RadReads__. Unfortunately, he’s demurring (for now), since he just completed the German equivalent of the bar. But the offer stands in perpetuity (and he’s currently an Intern). ## You never want to compete with… One of my favorite aphorisms is: > “You never want to compete with someone who’s __having fun__ and __genuinely cares.__ “ So my challenge to you is to send a $10K email that __genuinely comes from a place of love and care.__ It could be to possible mentor, client, recruit, editor or random Internet person who’s work you admire. Don’t expect anything in return, but consider it a seed planted. You just never know what may ensue. _Want to spend 4 weeks designing goals, systems, and reflective practices to master your $10K Work?_ _Enroll in[Supercharge Your Productivity]() today, our next Cohort starts on June 1st._