How Does Your Money Flow?

Money, in and of itself, has no value. In order to mean anything it has to circulate. It must flow.
I had an interesting conversation the other day that I want to share with you. I was talking with a woman who is a professional writer and she was telling me about her early career where she was a single mom struggling with money. She described how she was forced to buy the most basic necessities, and how, as a side effect of that, her kids learned the value of money and of working hard.
But what was really interesting about the conversation was when she told me that during that challenging time in her life she was always volunteering to bring food in for food drives or for church functions, how she’d bake brownies for school or donate to local charities. All of that from someone who had nothing, yet somehow they always had enough.
In fact, she told me that the only time she literally couldn’t make ends meet was after she started questioning her generosity and when she had?made a decision to stop giving so much.
It’s ironic, but I’ve experienced the exact same thing, as have countless other people, I am sure. I know that for myself,?every time I give (even when I feel like I can’t afford to be doing so), I always end up receiving more wealth in some form or another. I might pick up a new client who I wasn’t expecting to approach me, or I might get a forgotten about tax credit in the mail. However the money come back it happens, in one way or another, without fail, and I really do find it very interesting.
In order for money to come to you it also has to flow out. In order to experience being abundant or wealthy you also have to give, spend and act generously. Of course, you don’t always have to do this with money – time, expertise and even sharing a kind word are certainly other ways to give – and they leave you feeling good.
When you hold too tightly to money (or anything else for that matter), you never get to truly experience its goodness or full potential. And guess what? The same principles apply to business, too. On a very base level the whole purpose behind any business is to serve, to help support the employees and others who benefit in some way from the existence of the business. It is not?only about (or should not be, anyway) getting the highest number in the bank account.
In my opinion it is bigger than that. And of course money and profits are hugely important, but they’re not as important as the lives that are impacted by the business and by the positivity that it has the power to spread. At the end of the day we are all in this thing called life together, at least at some level.
So, let the money flow for good causes, for helping your employees, vendors and others achieve financial freedom. Become prosperous so you can fully enjoy life, but share in that prosperity too because that is where the real value, joy and meaning ultimately comes from.