Radio Facts:
Take Care of what YOU need first, otherwise, you will always struggle
(Podcast at the bottom) Recently while having lunch with a business colleague she said something that stuck with me.
Her words were “the other day I went back to my office and I knocked everything off my desk that wasn’t bringing me a profit.” that was incredibly powerful to me. And I kept thinking about that statement.
There are several ways to look at this … you can say I’m getting rid of everything that isn’t making money but I always think a bit deeper and what I was thinking is anything that isn’t bearing fruit of course AFTER YOU plant the seeds. It is just as frustrating when someone feels entitled to get a return with no investment as it is to make an investment and get no return. So I want to make that clear.
I related her statement to what it takes, for example, in running a business. Something that I am very familiar with. You have to be extremely cautious about planting seeds and not getting a return first and foremost that comes from the team you put together. Nothing can be more toxic and destructive to a vision than a team member who is negative, entitled and disruptive, needing constant supervision and a babysitter for their BS. Over the years, in trying to help people who have not worked at a corporation for a while, it becomes incredibly evident in many cases why they can’t find work. As the old adage goes, One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. The only solution, stop trying to be someone else’s problem solver and be done with it
When you run a business … and a true sign of success is that people and situations are constantly coming at you three hundred miles a minute. You’ve got 500 emails daily to answer and the most important emails are the people who want to support your vision, However, those emails are few and you get many more requests from people who want you to grow THIER business and brand and they’re bringing nothing to the table in the process.
They want you to be the vehicle to their success destination. You have to know YOUR value, obviously, they do and you can’t help everybody. There are many ways that you can help those in need without allowing yourself to be used in the process. Volunteer or donate to a cause that YOU are passionate about, that the first way to pay the universe back. Return favors but don’t overextend yourself, know when to stop.
To me, that is what I took as knocking everything off your desk that wasn’t bringing in a profit.
if you plant a seed and there’s no return stop nurturing a dead tree. It’s not worth your time and effort if you don’t plant the seed and think that you’re only entitled to returns then that’s very selfish and nobody owes us anything we have to actually plant the seeds first.
If you often find yourself overwhelmed know that your team plays an integral part in one’s growth in business and life in any situation as well as how you allocate your most valuable asset … your time. This is Pennies from Kevin
