Seems like everyone lately is ready to embrace this whole “recession” story with both arms. I wonder why. Do we need to invest in reasons we might not succeed?
When I first heard the story, my emphatic first thought was, “Not for me!” I’m about to have the biggest year of my business, and, I’m
sorry, a recession is not in the plans.
Skeptics could call this denial, but I think it’s the power of intention, or positive thinking as they said in the olden days. I
believe we create our reality, so I choose to believe in concepts that perpetuate the bright shiny future I intend for you and me.
However, I run into scarcity mentality in myself and others on a daily basis. You have to be diligent about flushing it out; otherwise it
gnaws at your foundation like termites.
What’s a scarcity mentality? It’s a belief in the not-enoughness of the world; the idea that there’s only so much of anything and I’m
probably not gonna get my share. It shows up in our business and starts to affect people at work on their marketing.
How do you recognize a scarcity marketing mentality? Let’s look at some of these statements.
- He’s a terrible client, but I have to keep working with him.
- I can’t raise my prices; people wouldn’t pay that much.
- Oh no! My competitors have launched a web site. Now I’m done for.
Interesting, isn’t it? The idea that there aren’t enough good clients out there, so I’m stuck with the difficult ones. Let’s follow
out that logic: if I were to fire this client, what would happen? In scarcity, I believe that I’ll market, but no one else will show up, and
even if they do, they’ll probably be worse than the first guy.
Why not just close your doors, go to bed and put your head under the covers?!
It’s easy to joke about it, but the problem with scarcity marketing mentality is that it seems so real. Maybe you fired a bad client in
the past and really did find a long lull afterwards in which you didn’t get another client or have enough money. But why is that a reason to keep this bad client around? Is there no way to do things differently?
Maybe you have experienced price resistance in the past, in which someone said you weren’t worth the price you were charging, and you
felt hurt by that. Does that mean you’re doomed to a low price and you can’t do anything to change it?
And competitors … This is a wonderful chance to see how we feel about ourselves. When we feel scarce, it seems competitors will steal all our clients and run us out of business. Isn’t it just as likely they are a place for your terrible clients to go for help once you have
fired them?
:-D Just kidding.
“Competition” as a concept is borne of scarcity mindset. It says that there’s only one pie (of clients) and you have to divvy up the pieces. The more competitors there are, and the better they are, the less pie you get.
I reject this pie idea. I know there is also cake. And cookies and milk. What do I mean? If you market to suburban moms, you know there are zillions of them. If a competitor starts marketing to them as well, you can offer something different and specialized for slightly
more money, and you will keep the ones who are just right for you. The pie idea ignores the possibility of people returning to purchase from you again, or that you might offer new and different services. It ignores ideas, creativity, inspiration, love. Why?
Because these are things accessed when we’re in abundance. Abundance is a love-based (not fear-based) emotion. It says: you will always have all the clients you need, all the money you need and all the ideas, resources, and assistance you need.
Scarcity marketing mentality hurts us because it is constrictive, not expansive. It’s stressful, not peaceful. I uncovered this mindset in
myself a few years ago around the idea of marketing my business. Unlike others who fear marketing may not work, I knew marketing would work. I was afraid to market myself fully because I might create a demand that I couldn’t fulfill. Can you see the scarcity mindset in
this?
“If too many clients want to work with me, I’ll never have time for myself.” What nonsense! This assumes I’m not creative enough to come up with ways to help people that don’t require hours of my personal time.
I didn’t have to spend a lot of time reworking this thought into a useful one. As soon as I became aware of it, I knew it was bunk that
was keeping my business small.
Some ways to work with a scarcity marketing mentality that’s hurting your business:
- Identify what your belief is. Then, think of at least one time when that was contradicted.
- Keep a gratitude journal for your business. When you reflect on
things you’re grateful for, you’ll see a lot of evidence of abundance. - Resolve to look for abundance around you. If you catch yourself
saying something like, “It’s hard to find good people,” just remember
that it’s only true if you believe it’s true.
One of my biggest projects came to me when the client read a newspaper article about me and simply called out of the blue.
Recently, another great client found me pretty much the same way. The Universe is frequently dropping gifts into our laps, and all we need to do is look for them. That’s why I choose an abundance marketing mentality: if we focus on doing what we do best, there’s plenty … of clients, money, great employees, ideas, TIME, everything!
There’s more where that came from!
