Wife dragged me to a dinner party last friday…

When my phone rang at 1 PM, I already knew what was coming down the pipeline:

"José, Marcela and her husband invited us for hamburgers today at 8 PM."

And I was like…

"Brenda, can I call you back in a sec?"

(Truth? Inside I was thinking, "Hell no. I'm exhausted. Got mountains of biz to handle. Not a chance I'm going.")

Of course, she knew exactly what I was thinking but said, Ok, anyway.

Fast forward...

After wrapping up some work stuff, I called her back and said, "Alright, let's go."

And off we went.

Now, you might be thinking I'm about to complain about some boring dinner party where I had to make small talk about the weather.

That's what I was expecting too.

But that's not what happened at all.

Not. Even. Close.

They're actually really nice people. A husband, a wife, and their daughter. She's Dominican. He's Chinese (born and raised here in the Dominican Republic).

While we were vibing, the husband started telling us about Chinese New Year celebrations.

Turns out, his family and friends are very wealthy.

And his friends? Also wealthy Chinese families living here in the DR. They all link up for these massive celebrations with traditions older than your grandma.

That's when he told us about the first time he invited his wife to celebrate Chinese New Year.

She refused…

"What am I gonna do there? Speak Chinese? I don't even know Chinese!"

She said, no, no, no.

But he insisted.

"I know you'll love it. And if you don't, we won't go next year. Deal?"

She agreed (grudgingly), and off they went to China.

Here's where it gets interesting...

There's this tradition among his circle:

They give gift…

So during this celebration, gifts were flying around the room.

Big gifts.

At some point, they gave everyone a raffle ticket.

And guess what? His wife's number was called.

She won a TV. (Yeah, an actual TV. Not making this up.)

She was hyped and sprinted up to claim it.

Then, a little later... she won cash.

Like $500 or so.

And then?

Someone just handed her an envelope with even more cash.

She was over the moon. Talking about how she was going to spend all her money. Suddenly wanting Chinese New Year to happen twice a year.

Crazy, right?

But here's the deeper point to all this.

It's all about giving.

The way these Chinese families live is simple:

Those with more... GIVE.

Those with less... RECEIVE.

And I couldn't help but think:

Man, this sounds exactly like what I learned growing up Catholic.

Give bread to the hungry. Water to the thirsty.

These families live by that same code.

And get this…

It didn't stop there.

While we were smashing burgers, our friend (Chinese dude) whips out his phone and goes:

"Let's do a raffle."

So he spun a digital wheel app on his phone with everyone's names.

The first winner?

Got a giant coffee maker. Like, 30-cup size. The winner was shocked. (She couldn't believe it… neither could I)

Then he spun it again. Another winner. Another prize.

And then...

The only person who hadn't won anything yet was my wife.

So what does this couple do?

They disappear into another room and come back with a hair straightener for my wife.

And what did my wife do?

She gave it away to one of the other partygoers present.

She said she wanted to pass on the good karma. (And hopefully, get it back even bigger.)

Now…

Why am I telling you all this?

First, because it's true.

This went down yesterday.

And second...

Because there's a lesson here that applies to everything we do online.

When you give more (in real life, in business, in content), you get more.

So you want to grow your online presence?

Give more. Share more. Help more.

It'll come back to you. Every. Single. Time.

Oh, and by the way...

I structured this story using some techniques I learned in my friend Ed Latimore's YouTube scripting course. He gave it to me for free. And now I'm writing to you for free.

And in my next email, I'll break down some of the techniques I learned in his course.

Talk soon.

Tu amigo,
Jose