Becky Blanton is an American journalist. At one point of her life, she got tired of her job and decided to try something different in life. She left her home, slept in her van and travelled around the country for a year. Unfortunately, the plan did not go so well when Becky lost her freelance job on the way. Her adventure turned into homelessness, and she struggled to make ends meet while she was still drifting on her van.
She tried to look for a new source of income, but it was in vain. As her resources were depleting, basic needs like food had become a problem. She tried to save more and spend less on meals, but money was still not coming in. It finally got to the point when she was forced to go through a period of two to three days without eating anything at all.
Becky needed money desperately to survive, so she started seeking money. She looked for it anywhere and everywhere. Becky looked for uncollected changes left in parking meters; neglected nickels dropped on a street; and dirty coins which no one wanted to pick up. Becky never gave up every dime she came across, and magically, she was able to support herself by gathering this unwanted money and eating minimally every day.
Slowly Becky started to discover that there are certain repeating patterns in her quest for free money. What was funny is she was able to find five, ten, twenty bucks a day consistently by looking in those spots which she calls the “catch and holds” spots. One example is milk crates stored on the side, it acts like a fishnet for money, and there is money that blows around is often there. It is because it is presumably not convenient to retrieve money out of those places, and it is easy to leave some over if one is not paying attention.
Another pattern that she found are places where people do not have their attention on their money. Busy spots like a bus stop where people are pulling out change and stuff out of their pocket, there’s noise around, they don’t hear the change dropping. Similarly, when people are using the toilet, change often falls onto the ground, and no one hears it or is even willing to look around down there.
Armed with this unexpected discovery, Becky started to pick up free money in public places consistently. She began to be able to make a living out of it, and support herself through her journey. Many years later, she even spoke at a TED talk to millions of audience and shared her experience as a professional “money picker”.
It’s like the old axiom, “The harder I work the luckier I get.” The funny thing is it’s not just hard effort, it’s not that you have to be seeking money for 12 hours a day. What Becky was doing was that she was able to observe from her experience and find the right spots. By analysing the past and find the locations which were consistently yielding more money. It’s what businesses do too. By working in a more focused and intelligent way, you can be very deliberate in putting yourself in the right place at the right time. You will start seeing results.
REFERENCE: Blanton, R. (2009, Jul). The Year I was Homeless. Online video retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/becky_blanton_the_year_i_was_homeless
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