Final Boss Goal: Share of Your Abundance

Twice in the past week I’ve gotten into conversations where the question was posed - have you ever thought about writing a book?  Indeed I have, and I'm pretty sure the title would/will be the LoCo Think Tank motto - “Ask of Your Needs and Share of Your Abundance”.  

In the context of a chapter meeting, the application of this motto is pretty straightforward.  You’re not likely to solve your business challenges if you avoid the true underlying issue(s) - and - if I’m doing my job right and collecting a diverse collection of thinkers into the room - and they are sharing from their abundance of experience or natural talents into the sauce - everyone will get smarter and stronger together!  

Now - this is a bit vague as to specific outcomes, and one of those conversations pressed in a bit more - “OK - that’s great - but why is that important to you?”

Well - I guess it’s because I want people to become successful and wealthy and generous and to find and fill the true needs of their communities - and running a successful business is one of the best and only ways to do that.  Conversely, I believe government sucks at finding and addressing the true needs of a community - and that government can’t be generous by definition.  So - if we’re going to address the true needs of people in a community, it requires that business owners and entrepreneurs become both successful and generous, and LoCo Think Tank can help with both.  

I made some of you mad already with my “government sucks” line above, but bear with me a bit if you will, and let’s think this through with story.

If I’m a teenage boy, and my dad hands me his credit card and says - “Go on into town and get your mom something nice for Christmas - a gift from me and a gift from you - and make sure to have them wrapped at the store.” - is he being generous?  Am I?  

In this example, if I’m using daddy’s money to buy mom something nice - from me - how is that generous? - ooh, I went to town and spent a little time looking and none of my own money?  Is dad generous for spending resources that he co-owns with his wife to provide her with a gift - and he didn’t even invest time in considering what gift to buy?  

Absolutely not, I’d say - and almost the opposite.  Well - that’s the government - every dollar they spend is either taken from someone else altogether in the form of taxes, or more likely - spending resources that everyone co-owns if they’re a citizen of this nation - namely an increase in the national debt!  It doesn’t matter if the spending is for good and important things, like roads and bridges and food banks for the poor, or if the spending is for fraudulent social programs like the recently broken story in Minnesota, where groups of Somali fraudsters appear to have defrauded taxpayers of $1 Billion dollars or more over recent years.  

If we shift the parable from above to include this Minnesota case, that’s like dad going up and down the block while his neighbors are at work, stealing their credit cards, and then being oh so generous by asking son to go on into town and get momma something EXTRA-nice for Christmas - maybe two gifts from each of us - and a nice bottle of scotch for daddy.  

I’ve been accused at times of sharing my abundance before I have any abundance to share, and that’s probably a fair accusation - and at least one of the reasons I’d like to continue growing the membership and geographic reach of LoCo Think Tank.  And, if we’re doing it right, we’ll support the creation and growth of more and more amazing business enterprises, and inspire generosity that can truly fill needs in local communities!  

And - just because someone has built an enterprise that generates wealth and abundance - doesn’t mean that they’re going to share it!  For me, that’s the final boss goal for any wealth creator, is to be generous, and in this community and so many others, the independently owned business enterprise is a community’s primary source of true generosity.  

Look at the sponsor list for any non-profit gala, or the donor list for a new cancer center or animal rescue - or the business membership directory for Realities for Children - and you’ll see that the vast majority of those names are independently owned businesses - or their owners. You’ll see a few big corporations on there to be sure - Scheels comes to mind as a very generous organization for example (based in my native ND) - but community generosity is far and away the strongest among independent businesses and their leaders. 

And so, that’s what I want for me and for our members, and it’s also what I want for you, dear reader - is to make the wise decisions that allow the building of wealth, and to make the heart decisions that allow you to share it with others.  Oh, and for more people to realize that government isn’t truly the answer to our problems, and often fux things up more than they fix it - but we’ll call that a side quest…  🙂

If you want to test it out on a small scale, you can be generous by making a donation on my Guardian Angel Page for Realities for Children this month.  The tree lighting celebration was December 1st, but we’re raising funds all month long, and this is the most important fundraising of the year to help serve abused and neglected children in our region.  All of the overhead for Realities is covered by the business members, and so any donations go directly to this important cause.  

Thanks as always for reading my thoughts, and staying subscribed to The LoCo Perspective newsletter.