Web designer Adrian Hoppel has spent a decade working in the "toxic" corporate world and has gained more than he ever thought since getting out of it. Picture: Facebook Source: Supplied
A MAN who gave up working for a salary says it's the best thing he's ever done and that offering his services as gifts has actually made him "richer" than ever.
Web designer Adrian Hoppel, who decided working a traditional job was "toxic" began operating within a "gift economy" about two years ago.
And while it may sound unrealistic or hard to believe that someone doesn't charge for their services, Mr Hoppel reckons he's got more work than ever.
Instead he says that what he has gained is far more valuable than any wage or salary.
Writing in his blog, the family man reveals how working 'in gift' doesn't mean he works for free but rather shows "people trust me to build them a website, and I trust them to support my work as they believe fair."
In other words, he builds a website for someone as a gift. The person receiving it thinks about what the finished project was worth and chooses something fair to give back to him.
That could be in the form of cash, material items, advertising or even invitations to events.
"There would be no contracts, no negotiating, no pressure," he explains.
To him, trust and helping each other became his goal and purpose without worrying about profit margins or return on investments.
"Establishing a community who believed in me and what I was doing became the goal, without worry over profit margins, because eventually I received the most important gift of all: a true faith in people to be honest, fair, generous, and supportive," he writes.
Mr Hoppel, who had worked in the corporate world for more than a decade, toldThe Huffington Post , he had the big role, the fancy title, expense accounts and fancy suits, but that he felt hollowed out and bitter.
Having always wanted to work for himself, he said he finally made the move to begin working in the gift economy after reading Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein.
While admitting the ideas blew his mind, the concept of working in a gift economy was scary because he feared people would take advantage of him - but he was proved very wrong.
While most risk is placed on the buyers of a service, Mr Hoppel made the decision to put all the risk onto him which meant people could in effect not give him anything in return for his services.
Thinking it may end in disaster, he only told his Facebook friends about his project thinking he would only do one or two websites a year in this way.
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