Money Miniseries #9

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The King of Appreciation Flow
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Just about every person who pursues their passion can trace their story to their childhood. And while that’s true for me in Qigong and Chinese Medicine, it certainly isn’t the case in business.

It seems like every Guru out there was a born business person. They all have their lemonade stand stories, childhood internet businesses, or computer/website building businesses when they were 12.

While I dipped my toe in the business game as a child, I was by no means a prodigy. I couldn’t grasp the idea of pricing or taking money from people. (Some internet marketers look at the Practical LOA newsletter and laugh that that’s still the case!)

When I was a kid, these Japanese candies called Super Lemons and Super Colas became outrageously in demand. Every kid on the school yard wanted them… But they were only sold in the Asian supermarkets that were a long drive away and only sold Asian foods. None of the non-Asian families had any incentive to go there and they certainly weren’t going to go there just to pick up some candy.

Whenever my family went, I would scrape up what money I had and buy a couple of bags. It cost me $2.50 per page and came with 25 pieces. So being the brilliant (completely sarcastic) young business prodigy, I sold the candies to the school kids at $0.10 a piece.

In my mind, I was simply doing my friends a favor. It wasn’t until I saw the other Asian kids selling the candies for $0.25 a piece that I wised up and raised my price to match theirs.

And that’s where they left me in the dust.

As the demand got greater and greater, the other Asian kids raised their prices from $0.25 to $0.50 to $1.00 and finally topping the market out at $1.50 a piece.

close childhood business story

No… I wasn’t born a business person. I started out making money the same way the vast majority of us do: by getting a job and becoming an employee.

My first job after getting my MBA was in capital markets and I eventually was in charge of investing and trading up to $200 Billion every day.

When I left my career I became self-employed, utilizing my skills in Qigong and Chinese Medicine. And eventually, I began to build businesses.

So, I personally have had the privilege of making money all 4 ways.

And I have to say…

While I was no childhood prodigy… Business is my favorite.

Here’s why:
1) Business is about Creation; not just products and services, but organized systems that work together synergistically and in turn Create the business as a whole

2) Businesses have incredible reach; the largest businesses span the entire globe and have the potential to reach every single person on the planet

3) Businesses directly impact the lives of the people they reach and can maintain the personal touch. This is perhaps more easily done in Self-Employment, but it is still possible within business.

As we’ve described in the Money Miniseries, money is all around us. Wherever you are right now, just take a moment and look up. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Look up and take notice of all the things around you.

What did you see? Did you see a table? There’s money in that. A chair? There’s money in that, too. Did you see a floor? Tile, concrete, wood, asphalt, grass? There’s money in those. Light bulbs? Walls? Cups, Napkins? There’s money in everything!

Heck, there’s even money in wind and sunlight! There's money in trees and mountains and nature.

Wherever you go, whatever you see, there is a business somewhere that is making money in the Creation of those things.

Money is everywhere. We just have to be able to see it.

There are trillions of dollars in cyberspace just floating past us at every moment. All we have to do is to have the right bucket or net to catch all we want.

And that bucket takes the shape of a solution to a problem, or a services and goods that are valuable to others.

That’s exactly what a business is:

An organized system
that Creates solutions to problems
in order to form a bucket
that dips into the energetic stream of money around us
and coverts it into physical money

Can you feel my excitement?

Here’s what’s really interesting though: The Flow of Appreciation is the exact same as it was for employees…

Go back here to take a look at it. Just replace “you” with “the business.”

So why do businesses make millions of dollars while employees make thousands?

Because employees garner the appreciation of their employers.

Businesses garner the appreciation of their direct customers, their departments, their employees, AND their end consumers.

That’s a whole lot more appreciation. And it converts to physical money.

If you are Attracting ways to make money, opportunities will come in the shape of employment, self-employment, business, and investment.

Always go with your own intuition and feelings, but don’t automatically dismiss the business opportunities. As a category, they by far flow the most appreciation.

Kane