Have you ever felt like you didn’t get what you paid for? Ever felt ripped off or cheated in a joint venture partnership? Ever felt like you give and give and give and never get anything back
?
I used to hate team projects in school from Elementary straight through to University. Why? I seemed to always choose the role of picking up the slack. Others would goof off, not show up, screw things up or not complete their end of the deal, and I would be the one to do the work, clean up the mess, and finish it. It always left me bitter and resentful.
Fast forward into my career, many moons later, I was re-creating that scenario over and over again in my personal therapy practice, then into my team, my business, and my joint venture partners. It was costing me more than my time on the playground, it was costing me thousands of dollars.
Once I stopped my temper tantrums, sat down with a great cup of coffee, and took the time to examine my choices to create this pattern, things came into my awareness that had me saying, ” Crap, that is what I keep creating with these choices!” Followed by a very quick, “What else is possible here that I have never even considered?”
The biggest thing I was not choosing was a contribution as a two-way street. Somewhere along the line, I had decided that my role was to over-contribute and not receive. This choice was affecting my time, my profits, my possibilities, and opportunities. If someone was willing to be a contribution to me, I was unable to hear that or receive that as a wonderful possibility in my world. I had to be the one who did it all, put up with bad behavior (followed up with me making excuses as to why I had to tolerate it), and people who were not bringing in money to the company as an asset, instead they were bleeding it out as a liability.
I was not thriving, rather I was choosing to staunch the bleed. Glory, what a mess!
So where did I start to create contribution in my business as a two-way street?
I spent the time to become super clear about what the requirements are, what the deal is, and then to deliver all that into every business relationship I had, and the ones I was looking to create.
Let me give you an example.
What percentage, number or money amount is this person/program/service to bring in each month?
Now that might seem simple enough. However, what are the steps to implement this or what occurs if they do not deliver on the deal?
What will you contribute to them?
Be aware that contributing as a two-way street is as simple as “I will pay them for their work,” “I will provide a service to them that knocks their socks off,” etc.
The clearer you are, the clearer it is to you when someone or something is not contributing so that you can tweak, change or release things that are not adding to your business growth.
Let’s take this into the personal realm and how YOU contributing to YOU creates more.
Where are you not being a contribution to yourself, your business and your profit?
This is where making excuses comes in. Not taking the time for self-care, not taking the time to properly plan or determine what your targets are, deadlines and steps to create them.
If you are not a contribution to yourself – how could you possibly be a contribution to others? That is where your body (which performs the work) contributes back to you because you contributed to it with nurturing and self-care.
How different would your daily life be if you truly chose to be a contribution to yourself, your business and your profit making and allowed it to contribute back to you?…. I wonder.
