Welcome back to Zoom-land everybody! It was great to see so many of you in person last week at the Fall Forum. November 8th… right around the corner from Thanksgiving.
It’s funny, we can’t choose our biological families. But we do choose our Chapters! And I don’t have to tell you how special Elevate is. I mean, let’s face it — a million dollars per month in passed business, and 100 million since our inception — we’re awesome!
And speaking of that new milestone, and family… it is clearly true that we members grow to care about each other. We not only learn about each others’ businesses, but also our hobbies, our interests, and our lives.
And yet, the thing that has us consistently get up in the dark on Wed mornings is to leverage our networking into business. And business is a conduit for a number of things, but we all know that the bottom line is our bottom line… MONEY.
So how’s it going? How’s money going for you? Got too little? Too much? As my late Grandpa Henry liked to say, “Rich or poor, it’s good to have money.”
This morning I invite us all to take a look at our relationships to money. We all have a story about it. Other than the obvious of course, what does money signify for you? Typically it comes down to one of three things: Power, Safety, or Wholeness.
When I say Power, I mean the ability to do and have things. Safety is about security, and protection from harm. And Wholeness is a bit of both of the first two, but it also includes self esteem and the feeling or experience of being enough. “I have, so I am.” “I don’t have, so I’m not.”
Take a look, what do you know about yourself? Keep in mind that we all have a money story, and in every case it shapes how we relate to it. Some people are savers, some are spenders, some pursue it like our lives depend on it, and some avoid it like it’s going out of style. Perhaps that last category doesn’t apply in this room. But there is such a thing as “under earners.”
So what’s YOUR money story? How do you relate to it? Because that story affects the actions you take (or don’t) on a daily basis. And since money is intrinsically linked to business, it has a major impact on how we go after it and whether or not we give our all toward growth.
Remember, ultimately money is just counting. Money in, minus money out, equals money left. Period, the end.
Everything else is something we add to it. Something we were shown or taught. Something we discovered, learned or have just decided on our own. So if you want more, go make more. And if you think you don’t have enough, maybe you’re right and maybe you’re not. A good start is to simply take a look at your relationship to it, and to then get responsible for the role you have it play.
And like anything, a little bit of pressure can be motivation… fuel to keep the fire lit. But if we’re not careful, too much can either hinder our performance, or have us consumed and missing out on the other important aspects of our lives.
Oh, and if you’ve been following along here, you may realize that this isn’t just about you. You don’t need to be an accountant like Seth Kamens or John Cipollone, a financial planner like Andrew Kahner, or a residential real estate agent like Josh Doyle, Brian Murray, Jackie Siracuse, Stu Bayer or Susanne Gutermuth, to know that your clients have stories about their money too.
Don’t take my word for it. Ask our resident Life Insurance specialist Charles Rosenbaum and our trust and estates attorney Dani Nodelman and they’ll tell you… clients will take those stories out and show them to you whether they’re aware they’re doing it or not.
So take a look and get clear about your own money story. And pay attention to those of your clients and customers.
Once we’re clear about that, it’ll make everything else a heckuva lot easier!
And then we can create anything!
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
