why it's easier to build a business when you need the money, but not when you REALLY need the money



When I was in banking the banks in my county would bid annually on the county's surrogate account money. This was money the surrogate court was holding for people who had inheritances, lawsuits, winnings, etc when the money had to be held in trust for them for some reason.

One year we won the bidding war and our bank got to invest this money, which was tens of millions of dollars, and my branch got to open and service these accounts.

We quickly noticed no matter how much investment advice and money counseling we offered the people who were receiving regular payouts from inheritances and lawsuits, they (I don't mean anyone with mental or physical disabilities here) often did not make a move to move on with their lives until their money was completely gone.

Faced with monthly statements showing their declining balances, people still had to be dead broke with the sheriff holding an eviction notice at the front door before they could wake up to the fact these payments were over. It was time to get a job.

This isn't about laziness. Sometimes we need our backs against the wall so we have something to push off against.

It works the same when we are building a business. It is hard to build a business we will care about if we do not need money because every business requires us to do stuff we don't want to do.

But it is even harder to build a business if we REALLY need the money because our decisions will be skewed by the money - it's too easy to lose track of the fact our business has to be about the value we bring to other people before that value comes back to us in the form of dollar signs in our bank account.

So, I'm going to start a new series about money and our businesses next week.

And I will be back tomorrow with my take on the Virgo Full Moon we get to experience this weekend. xo all

5 comments

DancingMooney said...

I'm not sure if this is the direction you are going with this series, but for me, building a business when we really needed the money, has been hard, because I always had to put that money back into paying bills and other personal matters, before I could put money back into the business. Now that my business is more stable (and I perhaps don't need the money as much as we did back then) it's so much easier for me to put the money back into the business, because there is enough of it there to go around...

That's probably not what you were going for, but it connected, for me.

Can't wait to hear about this Virgo full moon. I am Virgo, hear me roar (quietly). ♥

Catherine Ivins said...

An excellent point Janell - and since of course none of this series is written yet, I will work this in, thank you my friend. Yes, make sure you get out and howl at the moon a bit - a great full moon for Virgo - stay positive, anything leaving is meant to go now, anything new could be important, yada yada xo

Catherine Ivins said...

and a roaring Virgo is a beautiful thing!

Unknown said...

I think this is going to be just what I need to hear!

KJ said...

People tend to stay on the path they are on until pushed to a new path. Sometimes that path is healthy other times not so much.

I support myself with my job (which thank goodness I really do love and pays well.) I sell my jewels on the side with very little effort expended. It is the path that is working for me right now.