Musings on Business, Money, Failure and Flight

This one goes out to all the Spiritual and Creative Entrepreneurs in my recent Success Groups.

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Your business is a creation of yours. It is not you. When you are over-identified with your business, its financial success becomes a marker of your human worth. Money is energy, not a symbol of your value.

Money flows into a business that performs its function well through proper design and market placement. Placement here refers to your business’ engagement with the market it seeks to serve. Design includes its intention and the systems which support that intention.

If your business is not generating enough money, it is not a reflection on you as a good or bad person. It simply says that there is some failure in the business’ design or placement. It’s not personal. Simply identify the failure and adjust. Failure is feedback.

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Speaking of failure, here’s a practice for you: 

Identify your first recognition of failure. Who taught you its meaning? Who bequeathed its judgment to you? File that now in a mental filing cabinet labeled “Failure v1.0.” Close the cabinet door, slide it securely until it's firmly shut. Done. Now pull out a fresh file folder. Label it “Failure v2.0” and fill this blank slate with a new definition. Try “failure = learning” or “failure = growth.”

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A fledgling bird’s first attempts at flight are rocky, messy, shaky. In order to fly, it must risk failure. Be like the bird: Spread your wings and express your true nature.