You Can’t Dwell in Free and Create Abundance
One of your jobs as a business owner is to create abundance in your business and your life. After all, why else would you be in business for yourself? Owning a business requires a lot from you. You have to do all these things:
- Be clear about what you are offering
- Price it competitively
- Market your business
- Do a great job of working with your customers
- Take good care of yourself
- Treat your team members well
- Make sure you hold and share the vision for your business with team members and prospects.
If you are in the habit of giving away a lot of your knowledge and time for free it will be very easy for you to start feeling dismissed and not appreciated for what you do. Free is a sinkhole. A lot of your energy goes into giving your time and expertise away, but not a lot of energy comes back to you. You’re hoping, of course, that free will lead to sales. But that’s only hope, and as my friend Dan Morris says, “Hope is not a marketing plan.”
Create Abundance in Your Business by Taking a Stand Against Free
One way to shift your energy and to start feeling appreciation is to take a stand that you yourself will note and contribute to what you receive that benefits you, even if it is free. This creates a forward energy and a mindset within yourself that we have a responsibility to thank those who have benefitted us with our own time and money. It creates an energy of abundance and changes your mindset around money.
So here’s an example of what I mean. The other day Bill and I benefitted from a free wagon tour of one of the preserves here in our county. The event provided us with a covered wagon so that we didn’t have to hike the preserve’s trails, free water, 2 guides, 2 preserve rangers, and about 4 hours of guided adventure where we learned about Florida’s prairies and got to see a few rare birds and animals. It was very fun. And it was totally free. All we had to do was show up, get on the wagon, and enjoy ourselves. The naturalist and botanist were sponsored by the Manatee Fish and Game Association.
We met interesting people on the wagon, learned a lot, and enjoyed a perfectly beautiful, sunny, 80 degree winter morning. It was all good, and it benefitted us. Therefore, it only makes sense for us to note and contribute to those who freely gave to us. So when we got home here’s what I did.
- Sent a thank you to Manatee County for the two ranger’s time
- Sent a thank you to the Manatee Fish and Game Association and made a donation to their causes for sponsoring this event.
- Gave a shout out on social media to the preserve, the two guides, and Manatee County
- Sent a thank you e-mail to the naturalist and botanist.
- Shared pictures of the morning on social to help spread the word about the work that’s going on at the preserve and how it benefits Florida’s citizens and animals.
- Added Around the Bend Tours to my list of Manatee County resources for visitors.
- Bought an annual pass to the preserve to help Manatee County with its programs there.
The Energy of Thankfulness and Appreciation
All these things create an energy and a mindset of appreciation and thankfulness. That’s where I want my mind and heart to be whether it’s a personal thing or a business thing. Because, you see, there’s really no such thing as free. If you live on the side of free you are a taker, and that’s constantly creating a negative energy around you. If you delight in free you delight in taking energy. You can’t built a business on taking. You can’t build an abundant life on taking, either. If you cultivate an energy of appreciation and thankfulness, that energy will come back to you. If you live in the energy drain of free, that energy will come back to you.
The Create Abundance Quick Challenge
If you are of the mindset that people should offer you what you need for free I invite you to change that mindset. Step up to invest in what you need, and expect others to invest in what they need from you. Create a forward energy of thankfulness and appreciation. Donate when someone or something benefits you. Express your thanks. Let people know the goodness you receive from them, and that you are appreciative of it. If you adopt this mindset consistently you will change your life over time.
One way to start this energy of appreciation is to make a quick list of who and what has benefitted you just in the past week.
- Block out half an hour of your time
- Send thank you notes to those who have benefitted you
- Send a quick email to express your appreciation and how you benefitted
- Share a shout out on social
- Send a small donation to someone who supported you.
Show your support and appreciation. Create that positive, forward energy and watch how your mindset and your business change over time. Create the energy of abundance in business and you will feel supported and appreciated rather than scared and small.
Wanting to live in “free” is really a fear based mindset. You can find out here about how fear takes a big bite out of your life and your business.
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