In my Project Turnaround class, I have the students map out their money pond - that is how cash flows in and out of their life. They look at the pond as it is and as they would like it to be. They look at how the money going out of their pond feeds the money coming back into their pond. It’s a very eye opening exercise
I was reading how bartering is becoming an even bigger deal these days because cash (as in easy credit) is harder to come by. And looking at my own situation, I have plenty of ways to use the cash coming into my life, and far more projects in the works than I have cash coming in (which actually is very business as usual for me and I suspect most other people on the planet). All cash is is a means of transacting trade - yet so much time and effort is spent in the accumulation and disbursement of cash (the “flow” thing). But when you consider all the ways you could trade for goods and services, you start to realize that “cash” is just one way of achieving your goals. I’ve realized over the past month, that I have another commodity to trade with people for services - my beef. I still have to figure out how to trade my beef for goods - service people are so much more accommodating. But cash still reigns supreme - for right now.
About ten years back, I took a leap and got rid of all my credit cards. I realized they were a crutch in my life that I just did not want holding me back any longer. I learned that to really succeed, you needed to create relationships with people - not with faceless financial institutions that dont’ give a rip about you. And that credit cards created a false sense of prosperity - they actually blocked the flow of money from other sources into my pond. Time and time again, I have had people in my business push me to get a line of credit for the business. It just didn’t feel right to me - I run and grow my business on sales generated by creating value for others, not on credit.
What I’m seeing now is more and more business owners learning these hard lessons. I was in a store yesterday that supplies flooring products to the construction trades. A carpet installer was in there to pick up the carpet for his latest job. The manager would not release the product until it was paid for. The guy wanted “terms.” She said - no way - the last guy I extended terms to in July, still hasn’t paid me. It’s becoming a pay as you go world and cash is king.
The parting words Professor Crane from Harvard left us with at that three year Harvard program I went through several years back was - “don’t run out of cash.” And he was right - regardless of what project it is I’m pursuing, at the end of the day, really it is the only thing that will keep my projects moving forward.
Cash flow is an everyday thing. You can’t leave it lying around. The stock brokers will lose it, the IRS will take it, some nut job will come along and sue you to get it, a bank will “hold” it for whatever their crazy reasons are at the time, you’ll be the unwitting victim of some type of insurance scam that you got into to “protect” the cash. The forces of nature seem to conspire against leaving cash lying around - it has to flow.
And it’s been like this for all of time - here are five ancient prosperity symbols that stimulate cash flow. Focusing on these, having them around you, are supposed to stimulate cash flow. My thoughts on this is that they remind you to pay attention to cash flow and that which you focus on becomes real. But hey, do whatever works - sit on seaweed, light a green candle, put a prosperity corner in the back left corner of your house, cast a prosperity spell at the waning of the new moon, or do what I do to stimulate cash flow - figure out how to create value for other people providing things that will help them create more value. While I don’t teach the voodoo of cash flow, I do cover more of this topic in my Project Turnaround class. If you want more cash flowing into your life, check it out.
Ancient Symbols to Attract More Prosperity Into Your Life
