The Risk Of The "Safe" Path
It was my 23rd birthday, and my boyfriend was on his way over to give me my present. I was excited; he'd outdone himself the year before with flowers and gifts.
He looked sheepish as he walked through the door.
“So… I was going to get you those earrings you like, but…I…uh, didn't."
His expression shifted to feeble hope: “But look! I have this for you."
He handed me a piece of notebook paper (I kid you not. Notebook paper!), on which he'd scrawled the words:
COUPON TO BE YOUR SERVANT FOR A DAY.
I wasn't a “high maintenance” girlfriend; I didn't make demands. But I also knew him well enough to be sure it wasn't a matter of not having time or money to get a gift. He knew birthdays were important to me. I was crestfallen.
Seeing my disappointment, he tried to sell it: “It's even better than a present! I have to do whatever you tell me to do for a whole day!”
“Whatever I say, huh?”
I could hear the “Muhahahaha!” villain-laugh echoing in the back of my mind. He had tried to take the easy way out-- and I was not going to make it easy. This would be fun.
“Okay, Dave. I'll see you Saturday morning. Be ready to make me breakfast.”
That weekend, after we finished our pancakes, I directed him to take me to the mall.
"Don't worry, we're not shopping. Let's go to the 2nd floor.”
As the escalator crested the top, and I started walking straight ahead, he stopped.
“No, Jane.”
“You said you'd do whatever I told you to do."
“NO. Noooooooooooooo!”
I grabbed his hand and dragged him into Glamour Shots, the photography shop where they'd tease your hair, spackle on makeup, put up the soft-light screens and take “model” photos.
Popular in the 1990s, Glamour Shots was in its waning days, so they were excited to have customers to style and pose.
As I picked out his outfit from their “glamour closet”, I could see him pondering his imminent humiliation and thinking, “I should have bought the damn earrings!”
But of course, then I wouldn't have this photo to share with you:
Actual footage of the “easy” way out.
The other day in the Mighty Business class I taught, we talked about the importance of investing in your business (and self).
Here's the seeming paradox of investing: what feels like the safe or easy route may be riskier in the long run, and what feels like a risk can actually be safer.
Some examples:
*Choosing the lower-quality office (with the old carpet and slightly… off smell) may save you money in the short run, but communicates to clients that your service is lower-quality… costing you lost income in the long run.
*Investing in the new computer, rather than the used/rehab one, may actually save you a lot of lost money (and work!) on repairs over time.
*Investing in coaching or a Mastermind is a big decision: I get that a lot of people see the big number and immediately think “no way.” I also know that access to in-depth coaching and years of business-knowledge helps people avoid costly mistakes, and bring in a lot more income.
We could probably think of a thousand other examples.
But there's one more piece of this, too:
On a deeper level, when you invest in your self & business, something happens. There's an internal “shift” that takes place:
You become Someone Who Invests in Your Business. Your posture towards things changes in a way that's hard to describe. At the risk of sounding “woo-woo”:
It's like your Business knows that you're treating it like a Real Business now, not a hobby.
Your business knows that you're taking it seriously, and it lights up knowing you're committed to it. (Like you've just bought it gold earrings and a bouquet of flowers ;)
What's something you can do to invest in your business, and show it that you take it seriously?
It could be small, like buying a great business book, or large, like say…(you know I have to say it) Coaching.
I'd love to hear from you. I may even send you another glamour-shot to laugh at.