The Experiment: My intention was to do 1,000 good deeds across North America
Some of the things I did which were rejected... because people will too often work against their own best interests:
1. Offered my web site (free of charge) to a competitor who made illegal copies of my booklet. She refused to take my phone call.
2. Tried to sell my completely furnished mobile home to a single mom-to-be for 20% of asking price. In response, she sued me.
3. Built a company (Handy Ande) to hire the unemployed. Nobody wanted to provide their information so I could bring them work.
4. Offered $100 Handy Ande franchises to single moms who needed income that would allow them to work at home. No takers.
5. Tried to tithe 10% of my income to my condo association. In response they told me I couldn't earn income.
6. Held a no-fee essay contest to give away my condo to an American couple who were trying to emigrate to my town and needed a home. Not only did they not enter, but disparaged the home to others who could have entered the contest.
7. Offered my landlord 12 months of public relations services ($25,000 value) to overcome a 15% vacancy rate in exchange for 1 month free rent she was offering to new tenants. Not only did she ignore my offer completely, but she charged me more than $130 for carpet cleaning that wasn't necessary, after I had the townhouse patched and cleaned before I left, and paid a $500 nonrefundable pet deposit when no damage was done.
8. Offered another landlord 2 months of public relations services for $5,000 to help him recoup $120,000 he spent on a web site that few knew about. He said he would rather spend $5000 on a vacation and just accept the loss.
9. Offered services and books to homeowners who would let me park in their driveways overnight. No takers.
10. Offered free de-hoarding services for a month ($5,000 value) to a homeowner to help her triple her profits on the house she wanted to sell in exchange for letting me park in the driveway and have access to water and electricity. She blew me off.
11. Offered to repair and stage an empty home for greater profit to a homeowner who needed to sell the home, in exchange for a place to stay for the time I was working for free. My offer was ignored.
12. Arranged for a TV antenna replacement for the non-working one on top of my condo building at my expense so residents of 108 units could continue to have free cable TV. Management forbid me from being generous and saving residents a combined $15,000 expense per year.
13. Offered to pay the condo association monthly rent on a free parking spot, one of only a few my van would fit in and be able to back out of. They refused, denying themselves more than $700 in income.
14. Offered licensing rights to my booklet, No Surprises: 365 Critical Questions You Need to Ask Each Other Before You Marry, to a leading financial talk show host who often talks about marriage failure. Told me he doesn't have time to review books and I should learn about book publishing. (I've been publishing books 15 years longer than he has.)
15. Held a contest for several months and promoted it on Twitter and my web site to award a free public presentation at my own expense anywhere in the US and Canada and the sponsor could charge the public anything they wanted, pay me nothing and keep all the income. Could have meant $10,000 in someone's pocket. No takers. (The contest offer has long expired.)
16. Offered free rent to a couple and their 3 pets in my 3 bedroom townhouse so the wife could continue getting her master's degree in exchange for their keeping the house clean and cooking dinner so I would have more free time to write. They declined, told me I was crazy to pay such high rent, and then she had to take 2 jobs she detested to be able to pay the rent. I would have saved them $7,000 and provided more conveniences than they had.
If you want to know the details, you'll have to advance order and read the book. You can use the convenient PayPal payment button below: $9.95
If you prefer to send a check or money order, here's my mailing address. Please make checks payable to Andrea Reynolds, 2501 West 12th Street, Suite 647, Erie PA 16505.
FAQ | Personal Advice | Justice Services | Payment Options | Buy my books | Kindness Project | Results for Clients | Blog