THE LAW OF SCARCITY vs THE LAW OF ABUNDANCE Im going to share a powerful story with you. When I was just 21 years old. Where I faced a critical point in my business that required me making some immediate changes in order to get the results I wanted. Hopefully this story can help you as an entrepreneur as well. So there I was, sitting at a Starbucks coffee table one hot summer day. I was 10 minutes early for a business meeting with a prospect. She was driving over 45 minutes to come here about my business opportunity. Back then we called this showing the plan and it was something I did almost every day. But here is the backstory that is so important. In order to make it to that coffee shop that day, I had to catch a bus across town. I was on the grind back then, and this sounds crazy, but I didnt even have enough money to catch the bus, even though it was just a couple bucks round trip. I was dressed up in a $30 3-piece suit that I go from the Salvation Army. I called it my Salvation Armani! And I had a little cheap briefcase with a flipchart in it so that I could show people my business opportunity. It was blazing hot that day, and for some reason I was struggling in my mind with how I was going to pull off this business meeting. I decided to try something that I had a feeling wouldnt work, but was worth a shot. When the bus driver pulled up, I simply begged for him to let me on. I told him a story about how I had lost my bus money, and told him I really needed to get to this appointment. It was worth a shot right? Well, I guess bus drivers here that kind of stuff every day. Because he was swift with his reply. No. And he drove off. Okay, so here I am, in a 3-piece suit, walking over a mile on a hot sunny day just to get downtown, where I could catch a different bus all the way across town for this appointment. But I still had no money. And heres where it starts to get humbling. When I got downtown, I had 15 minutes before the last possible bus would come that could make it to my appointment on time. What did I do? I started spare-changing. I was walking up to anyone and everyone, asking for money, so that I could catch the bus. I was dressed nice. And I thought at least someone would give me money. Sure enough, I got the money! BUT... I missed the bus. Somehow I just didnt pull it off in time. I was so bummed. Back then I couldnt just call the prospect on her cellphone and say that I was going to be late. People were still using home phones back then. And she was driving a long ways for that appointment! So I had to figure out some way to pull this off. But HOW??? Yes, it gets even more humbling. If spare-changing wasnt enough, I decided to take it a step further. Imagine the scene. Standing on side of a busy street downtown, some 21 year old kid in a used 3-piece suit from the salvation army, with his little briefcase...hitchhiking! Yes, Hitchhiking! Car after car was driving by. Not sure what to make of me. Im sure several of them would have helped, but it was odd. Especially in the beach town that I lived in. Even seeing someone in a suit was odd, lol. Finally, someone pulled over. I told them I was going across town, and that I could give them $2.00 for the ride. They agreed. During the ride they asked me a ton of questions about why I was dressed up like that, and didnt have any money. And by the time we got there, they felt bad for me and didnt take my $2.00. It was the opposite. They actually offered me $5.00! But at that time, my pride took over and I declined the money. So there I was, 10 minutes EARLY for my appointment! I had made it, despite the humbling obstacles, and I was ready to present this woman the plan! I had $1.00 for the bus ride home, and $1.00 for a cup of coffee (which was my trick to take away my appetite). Now, back to the starbucks story... She comes in, about 5 minutes late, dressed casual, and makes eye contact with me. We get into some small chat, but she says how much of a hurry she is in and this better not be a waste of her time. Then, immediately she says this better not be one of those pyramid type things. Now, consider my position. Here I was, broke, spare-changing, hitchhiking, no money for bills, no money for a car, barely any money for coffee. And yet I was supposed to be showing her a business plan where she could create wealth, by joining this business opportunity that I was in, and drawing circles for other people to get in, and selling our marked up products to earn commissions. Yeah, you see the predicament? Of course, I was in sales mode, so all I thought to do was to sit down and show the plan. Thats what I did back then. I would show the plan. It was my default state that I would go into when all else seemed impossible in my life. It was like I had this deep trust, that if I just kept doing this over and over and over again, that at some point I would begin to see different results. But Im sure you have heard that fun definition of insanity right? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Its insane! This time it was different though. Something didnt feel right in my body. Something didnt feel right in my tone of my voice when I was showing the plan. And I knew exactly what it was. I WAS DESPERATE! You see, I NEEDED her to join my business! I NEEDED the commissions to pay my bills. I NEEDED her to somehow be the one that would blow up in my downline and go big! Need, Need, Need. So when she started by saying I hope this isnt one of those pyramid things, it had drained everything out of me. Because I had jumped through every obstacle to get there. I had persevered despite the odds. And instantly in the first 30 seconds, she confirmed that she would NOT be the one. That I would be heading home with another strikeout. That I would be further away from achieving my dreams. That I would be one step closer to giving up... As she drove off in her car from that Starbucks that hot summer day, I sat there and watched through the window. I kept my eyes to myself, because I knew that others in the coffee shop had heard our conversation, and I was embarrassed. I started thinking about my bills again. I hated thinking about my bills. Because every time I did, I would get demotivated. I had let my credit go, had maxed out credit cards, would spend every penny I made back on business stuff, and it kept just piling on, over and over. And as I sat there, I pulled out a book from my briefcase, and decided to get lost in the words. The book that I read that day was: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John Maxwell. As I opened the book, and flipped through those pages, I started where my bookmark was, where I had last left off... Chapter 17: The Law of Priorities. Wow, was this divine intervention? Was this coincidence? As I read through this chapter, it was like the book was speaking to my EXACT situation! The author went on to talk about how Activity is not necessarily accomplishment. That we need to learn the difference. “A leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells “Wrong Jungle!”” If you are a leader, you must learn the three “Rs”... 1) What’s REQUIRED 2) What gives the greatest RETURN 3) What brings the greatest REWARD. Wow, this was hitting me at the right time! My gut had a strange feeling in it (probably because I hadnt eaten all day), and I felt like I had just been given a surge of motivation. Why? Because I realized that I had been operation out of a scarcity mindset! Enter... THE LAW OF SCARCITY I was so desperate to find a way to pay bills, that I needed people to join my business. And that was coming across in my presentation, and in my sales efforts. It was probably written all over my face, and I just didnt realize it. Im sure my body language, and tone, and pitch, all represented someone who was desperately trying to succeed in their business, and needed a new recruit to breath some life into it! But the issue is that people want to join LEADERS! They want to join winners. They want to join producers. Why? Because THEY are the ones that need confidence to feel like it could work for them. And they need that confidence to be transferred from YOU! I realized that I had been working hard, but in reality I was just running around a tree all day on not getting anywhere. And I wasnt getting anywhere because... I wasnt being the leader that people wanted to join under. I thought that meant that I had to have a nice car, and afford to buy them lunch, and wear a REAL suit. Basically, I thought that meant that I had to be successful already. But how was I going to get successful in the first place, if it required that I was already successful to begin with? Clearly, I had seen the issue wrong from the start. I realized that I was already willing to do the hard part, which was spending the time, and playing big numbers, to build my team and find leaders. Most people werent willing to put in work like I was. BUT, my missing factor was the confidence to see myself as a leader during the journey, instead of just seeing myself as one that had already arrived. Meaning, I didnt need fancy cars and fancy suits, and fancy things to be a leader. I needed to help them have confidence to join my business, and help inspire them about what could be possible in their own lives as an entrepreneur. Enter... THE LAW OF ABUNDANCE I was inspired to change my mental perception of everything. I decided that I would no longer build my business out of a scarcity mindset, but rather out of an abundant mindset. Instead of begging people to join my business because of how great it would be for them, I decided to use an opposite approach. I actually started telling people that I was only looking for a handful of people to work with, and that I would consider them if I felt they were a good fit. During the presentations I would tell prospects that there was some risk involved. And that many people dont even make any money at all. And that if I feel that they are a good fit to partner with me that they would have to be okay with that. Instead of selling the cheapest entry level to the company, I started ONLY leading with the top package to start with. I was confident in sharing with them that my time was very limited, and I valued my time, and would ask if they valued their time as well. When they responded yes, I would say so what I hear you saying is that if I consider you for this position, that you would want to get the fastest results possible, because of your limited time, is that correct?. Then I would follow up by saying something like, okay, so based on what you just told me, you wouldnt be interested in the slow approach because it might suck up too much time, but rather, you sound like someone who would rather skip straight to the path to leadership and bigger opportunities for income like I did, is that correct? Next thing you know, they were agreeing and wanting to get started at the higher levels. And even then, I would say things like Well, before I agree to this, and bring you on as part of our team, I need to ask you just a few more qualifying questions, does that sound fair? PAUSE DONT POUNCE. Rather than POUNCE all over them with salivating vampire teeth because they want to join my opportunity, I would PAUSE, then collect myself, and retain my confidence. I was no longer operating out of scarcity, but rather out of abundance. I still didnt have all the success and wealth I was hoping for. But what I did have was even more valuable than that. I Had a Breakthrough. You see, I realized that instead of needing my own success to sell the vision, that I could leverage the success of others. I started taking notes on successful people in our company. Their backgrounds. Where they lived. Their stories. And I started leveraging those stories as much as possible. Instead of sharing my success (which was almost non-existent at the time), I would start by asking them questions about their background occupation(s) and then I would use a story from someone in my company who had a similar background. For example, if I was presenting my business to a guy who worked in construction, then I would tell them about my business partner Tom who was a general contractor. I would share how Tom had got to the point of earning a nice six figure income, but felt empty because he was a slave to his job. So he joined our business opportunity and began working part-time, at night, and in X amount of time he was able to create enough income that he was able to hang up his tools and continue to live his nice lifestyle, but without having to swing a hammer everyday to keep it! I would literally keep a notebook with dozens and dozens of stories, and I would study them so that I could easily match them with anyone. I would do my best not to talk about me me me, but rather our team and the other success stories, and some key people I wanted to introduce them too. How would I handle skeptics? I chose to be MORE skeptical than them! I would match their level of skepticism, and then top it! The would be asking skeptical questions about my company, and if they were taking too much control of the conversation, then I would flip it on them, and say something like These are all great questions, and Im glad to answer them each one at a time, but first things first, before we get into company details, I need to qualify you to make sure that you are a good fit. Most people arent, but I can usually identify that with a few quick questions first, and then we can address your questions next, does that sound fair? Suddenly, they would uncross their arms, they would sit up properly, and they would agree that it sounded fair. How was this all happening? How had I turned from a person operating out of scarcity one day, to a person operating out of abundance the next? How is it possible to make such a rapid change, overnight? THE INNER GAME You see, so many of us focus on the outer game. Our technical skills. And I admit, this is a big part of it. And I teach technical skills for a living. But the most important investment you can ever make is in the 6 inches between your ears. Your mindset. The reason I was able to make that instant change is because I DECIDED that I would no longer operate out of scarcity, and that from this day forward, I would operate out of ABUNDANCE. I didnt need them, they needed me. I WAS successful. HOW? Because I had a COMPANY full of success stories and results that I was able to share with people. It was a we thing not a me thing. And this was one of the most important lessons that I learned in my career at that time. And its something that I have continued to do, even to this day. You see, now my focus is more on Internet Marketing and Affiliate Marketing. But many of the principles are still true. I turn down business ALL THE TIME. I have people constantly offering to pay me for private coaching, one on one, and I tell them that I will consider it in the future, but not at this time. Why am I turning down business? Because this is where confidence comes from! The moment that you begin to allow yourself to let go. To not be so needy or results, is when you begin to attract more results into your life! For example, if you are desperate to find a girlfriend or boyfriend, chances are you will be working very hard, all the time, trying to get one. But the moment you stop looking so hard, guess what, they always seem to pop in your life dont they! People want what they cant have. If I tell my son not to play with my phone, what do you think he wants to do? Play with my phone! You see, even as babies we are engrained with this human behavior. We want what we cant have. So when you learn the art of the takeaway, this will build your confidence in sales, and will help you get better results. DOES MONEY CONTROL YOU, OR DO YOU CONTROL MONEY? Here is another example. Have you ever donated money to charity? Or given money to your church? Or to someone who is homeless? When you give money, you are doing something very powerful. You are releasing the control that money has over you. When you hold tight to it, what happens is that you are operating out of scarcity that you might run out or might lose it. So what happens is that a fear kicks in and prevents you from leveraging your resources. When you are willing to give, even when it feels like you dont have, sometimes thats the most important time to give. Because its those times that we get desperate. We feel like we arent in a financial position enough to give. But what we really do is keep ourselves in that bad financial situation by NOT giving. Our confidence of ABUNDANCE comes when we believe there is PLENTY. We believe that more is on the way. We trust in ourselves that we can continue to grow our minds, and get wiser over time to create more and more abundance in our lives. But in order to truly live THE LAW OF ABUNDANCE, you must be willing to let go along the way. And thats why I havent minded taking risks during my journey. Not all of my investments have paid off. There have been times when I have lost a LOT of money, and made a LOT of money. But I chose not to get too emotionally attached to money, but rather to get more emotionally attached to personal growth. There will be some situations where you grow MORE from a loss than you ever would from a gain. Some of the most successful people in the world went through dramatic losses before making their dramatic wins. They took a risky chance and lost it all, but that didnt stop them from taking another risky chance to gain it all back and more. This is because they understand the Law of Abundance. They dont operate out of scarcity. They live in an alternate reality that they have created for themselves. Where they believe that even if they lost it all, that they could start over and get it all back. This reality comes from a strong mindset. And its not possible with a scarcity mindset. So, my question for you is this. Are you willing to make a decision RIGHT NOW that you will STOP operating out of scarcity, and that you will START operating out of ABUNDANCE? This decision transformed my career as an entrepreneur. If you are looking for a transformation in your career, this just might be it... Let me know your feedback in the comments below, and if you were inspired, feel free to share this abundantly with your Facebook Friends!
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 20:01:17 +0000