"I am no longer available for trade." Gulp. Guuuuulp!!!!! You guys. I. Have. Built. My. Business. On. Trade. I am scared shitless about this shift and yet, I know it is past due. For years.... YEEEEAAARSSS! For my whole life really, I have functioned on the "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" honor system.
"I am not available for trade" I announced to my profitability partner in our month end call. I said it in a moany, groany please-don't-make-me type of way but she wasn't making me do or say anything. We were looking at the cost/benefit analysis of the barter system I have been building bits and pieces of my business on. Benefits -'Free' help/support/product -Delegating work outside my zone of genius -Keeping up pace and production without loneliness and exhaustion -Getting things I cannot afford sooner -Building relationships with clients/coworkers -Building a team -Getting a wide range of services in exchange for my services -Getting to use my skills more often -Exposing new people to my work -Coaching others through their business breakthroughs -Practicing receiving support -Relinquishing the illusion of control or having to do everything in my biz -Collaborations and cross promotions Costs -Making money. Cold, hard cashola -The blockage of the natural money flow -The urgency of finding cash elsewhere while trading services -Wearing two (or more) hats with one person -The awkward process of an uneven exchange -The withholding of what needs to be said out fear of harming or ending the relationship -The emotional involvement in business agreements -The skewing of agreements, lines, worth, and work -The vast difference in measurable deliverables and ensuring someone's (or my own) satisfaction -Rate comparing -Time and energy spent in the trade that could be used making, saving, and managing money -Other income producing activities -Shame or guilt in not affording to pay for certain things -Not flexing patience in the manifestation of wants, desires, and needs -Not making the desired progress in life and business from trade -The combination of lack of income and used up time -Creating a scarcity illusion of our most valuable resources: time, money, energy -Negotiations and customizations to your product or services -Compromising standards, boundaries, and conditions of satisfaction to save a quick buck -Power leaks of multiple trades at once Trading says I'm broke, your broke, let's rub these two rocks together and burn some shit! Charging says I'm abundant, your abundant, let's highfive each other with our money and buy some shit! It says, I know you are a capable human being to raise as much money as you need to afford whatever you want. Expecting someone to pay you says I will stand for you as capable of raising capital to invest in whatever you care about most. I will encourage you to put your money where your mouth is because I am doing the same for myself more everyday. In the fall of 2018, I met my guardian angel of a bookkeeper and (you guessed it) traded her 8 weeks of coaching for 8 weeks of bookkeeping. In those two months, she literally DOUBLED her client count and income and is RIGHT ON target to hit her 6 figure dream goal in 2019. In my two months working with her, I tripled my rates and sold my two biggest packages ever and have been climbing in confidence and conscience ever since. She has helped me shift my relationship to money from being dead ass scared to open my banking app to devouring money books and texting her epiphanies in the middle of the night. She helped me cause a 377% increase in revenue and my first 2 quarters of 2019 in the black! I always swore that numbers weren't my thing. I joke that I am no mathematician but focusing on my money has caused so much maturation within me. Money used to trigger me. Now, I play games with it. I test theories. I practice healthy habits. It definitely still surfaces fears but now I face them with a competitive grin like, BRING IT ONNNNN. In the spring, I asked my bookkeeper to start charging me for her services because I knew she deserved every penny she was saving me and making me. Our work together is worth paying for. The awareness, understanding, acceptance, and joy for the flow of money in our relationship makes me want more simplicity just like it. She helps me, I pay her. Simple. Easy. Done. It equalizes the energy loops and feels so empowering to give and receive so freely. I want more of that. All over my life. "I am no longer available for trade" eeeeeeekk. This is going to occur like breaking any other habit. I am scared and jittery. I am structuring new boundaries. I have that cliff edge feeling like I am standing out there without any safety gear. Every upgrade feels this way. I have become pretty desensitized to discomfort. It's my new normal. Did I mention that I built my whole business on trading? It has never been SO obvious to me until now. Over the course of this year, I have noticed how I use trading as a crutch to keep my projects hobbling along. Coaching for consulting Clarity work for energy work Healing work for clerical work Consulting for therapy or photography or editing or....you name it. Bartering has gotten me a lot in the growth and development of my business. It has revealed to me my truest support structures, friends, and energy suckers. It has taught me a wealth of valuable information and practices to do and NOT to do. Trading has made me one of the single most resourceful people I know. I have taken a lot of pride in trading and fulfilling on my commitments. It has certainly grown me into a savvy 'shopper' if you will. But now is the time for this life altering shift. I can sense how it will be a clear 'before bartering and after bartering' transition in my lifetime. "I am no longer available for trading." It's something new that I am trying and I can ALWAYS go back. I can always trade but I know that cost and benefits list in my sleep. I am ready to see what's available outside of the comfort zone of trading. For now, if I share my work it will be a conscious decision to donate/volunteer my time and expertise. What I give with my free content, I give from a FULL HEART with no expectation of a return. What I sell, I sell with pride, poise, and clarity. Offers I decline, I will say no with perspective and self assuredness. What I ask for, I ask for knowing I am deserving and worthy. What I buy, I take pleasure in handing over my well deserved money back into the current it came from. Bear with me as I recalibrate and elevate. I will be sure to share the journey. I am sure I will make a mess of it. And then I will probably cry. Then laugh. Then move on with my life smarter, wiser, and wealthier. And always, living a life I love. Can you relate to the cost/benefit analysis of trading?
What has bartering cost you in your long game? What has it gained you? Are you ready to give up trading your precious time for your accelerated progress? Then you are ready to level up in life and my FREE digital course: 3 Keys to Moving the Needle in Your Life is the perfect place to start. In this FREE mini-course, I take you through my three step system to leveling up with power and poise. It's time to move the needle. It's time for you to live Unleashed.
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