Abundance is such a great word. It is a much better concept than zero sum games where the winner takes it all and the loser has to fall. It is possible to consider winning in a world where we only peddle win-win situations.
Your best new customer is your old customer. This is because a successful positive transaction gives both parties the willingness to repeat something that worked well before and that is expected to work well in the future as well. This is how you build a reputation, network, and relationships.
I’ve had a personal experience with a local businessman who worked in real estate development. This person handled his business in a very peculiar way that is beyond stupidity or self-sabotage but goes well into business suicide. Imagine a business owner whose every business transaction is a hit-and-run one time transaction where he takes advantage of others willingness to make concessions on the first deal in the hopes of a long term mutually beneficial relationship. It’s the raid their camp and burn the bridges on your way out sort of deal. The ensuing loss of trust, law suits, and bad reputation catches up with his business as soon as he finishes a couple of projects at the most and then suddenly no one wants to do business with this man. The next step which he’s done multiple times for as long as I’ve kept track is to close shop and open up for business under a new company name in a new city with a fresh market and with new business partners. He is a con artist more than a legitimate businessman but he’s still in business as far as I know and he’s still making millions I kid you not.
Although I am completely baffled by the amount of time he’s managed to stay in business doing the same tricks over and over, I’m completely convinced that he’s bound to end up in ruin if not in prison. If he’s made millions exploiting the good will of others, I am convinced it was at the expense of making hundreds of millions or billions in profits instead. And how far a person can really go in the world if they’re turning every potential ally into a lifelong enemy.
This is an extreme case scenario and a cautionary tale of exactly what not to do if you want to thrive in the world. Your best bet is always to treat everyone you meet as a lifelong partner in a mutually beneficial relationship where you both gain from each interaction.
This is what a creator does for their audience with valuable content and art that overdelivers on quality and value so much it makes every sale a bargain. Building a reputation for producing high quality work will bring in more business than your time and resources can sustain and soon enough a bidding war for your time and attention will raise your standing fees in exchange for your work, content, consultations, products, or services.
When you’re starting out on a path of mastery, at one point or another you might be in contact with a master mentor. You will not be able to create a relationship with your mentor if you expect you’re going to invest nothing in return for valuable advice, techniques, tips on what common mistakes you may do, and the best manner to navigate creative and professional obstacles on your way.
People who are at the top of their field and who are the most sought after for their work and their help have very little time to mentor others for free. Although they are often quite generous with their time but to a limit. You are going to get farther with the solicitation of their help if you create an apprenticeship relationship with them.
An apprentice is learning by doing. An apprentice learns as he or she lends a hand in a useful way that saves the mentor time and attention to focus on something of a higher level of skill and creativity. The master profits by having the trustworthy help of a dedicated competent helper. The apprentice profits by seeing the master at work and absorbing their wealth of wisdom firsthand.
The most profitable relationships work this way. This is even more true with your friends, family, and spouse, and children.
It’s of the utmost importance when it comes to your relationship with yourself. Your relationship with yourself should be one of abundance, love, friendship, forgiveness, and good will. You should always have positive beneficial conversations in your own mind. Never put yourself down. Feed your mind with healthy thoughts and emotions and challenge it to grow constantly. You should honor your body with good nutrition, exposure to nature, and exercise. if you treat your mind and body well they will pay it back in folds.
I will also take it further to say that your relationship with time is also one that should be of positive value in both directions. If you invest your time well, your time will pay you back in abundance. If you steal from your own time, time will not be kind to you. Time is a benevolent father if you treat it with respect and reverence and an exacting judge if you treat it with disdain and malice.
There’s always more than enough for everyone out there. Scarcity is an illusion and a sickness of the soul. Free yourself and open your heart to the abundance in the universe and the universe will provide.
Quod Preabet Universum
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