I was reading a post the other day from a good friend of mine who was basically talking about the reason he started his blog Simple Motives. Three paragraphs jumped out at me:
It seemed to make for a very interesting, artistic reflection of my daily life after I had collected a few hundred posts. But, I learned most motives aren’t so simple. They are all interconnected.
If I’m motivated by financial gain, is it really that extra buying power that is driving me to work harder to reach that goal?
Does that filter down to some greedy desire to be rich?
Or am I actually interested in something more genuine.
Full post can be viewed here
For Joe six pack these are simple but very powerful questions that can be interpreted and twisted to suit any means. Case in point:
I met a very intelligent young lady the other day who was in her final years of being a Doctor in Chemistry. On the phone I could hear click click click as she was typing something on the computer, here is the conversation that followed:
ME: Hey what you doing?
Girl: I am doing my cousins taxes and Im behind because I have a paper to finish and I have two more to do.
ME: How much they paying you? The clicking stopped
Girl: nothing, I do this all the time to help out.
Dead silence fell on the phone, oh the ice machine overflowed.ME: Do you know how much tax companies charge for that service?
Girl: No
ME: Lets research on that.
…
ME: Why not start a side business of it?
Her reply was not surprising .
Girl: I don’t have the cutthroat skills to run a business
At the end of the conversation I asked her to do my taxes. HEY, don’t you judge me, free is free and I get to use the time to do something else…………Ok, Ok I am kidding, I just couldn’t let that moment pass.
The response she gave did not surprise me a bit. Because that is the perception that some of us have. To make money is GREEDY and CUTTHROAT and BAD, RAWRRRRRR.
So to my good friend and to others out there facing this issue. Do what your good at without care to what other’s think. Your services are valuable and they should reflect that (within reason of course). Live in the moment and enjoy every bit of it.
I heard this on a tape months ago, once I remember who it was I will edit this and place the reference.
You can’t help others until you can help yourself
Amen Brother
I dig your writing style sir. Good stuff.
Thanks for the link.
I think your also forgetting that people don’t like the idea of women in business. Even though she might study business/accounting there are still negative connotations regarding women in the board rooms.
That is absolutely true but the point that I am trying to make is that to be good at business you do not have to have cutthroat skills or be ruthless to be successful. Being ethical usually ends up putting you in a better position anyway. Men and women face adversity whether its gender, race, creed or whether you like milk in your tea. Those are not reasons to just settle for less just because of other peoples generalized impressions.