09/10/2022
"All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share!" - Sally Brown/A Charlie Brown Christmas
Why We do a Buy One/Donate One Childhood Cancer Fundraiser: PART ONE
As the owner of a small, self-funded startup, I have learned a lot of valuable lessons over the years. However, perhaps the most profound lesson is how important it is to sometimes be a "taker."
To be clear, by "taking" I do not mean the Sally Brown variety. I have not morphed into Veruka Salt ("I want it now!") or Gordon Gekko ("Greed is good.").
Rather, I learned that I had to get comfortable asking for what I need in order to make meaningful things happen. And I learned that it is important to not let guilt override gratitude when people are willingly giving to help accomplish my goals.
Now that I sell a product, it is my job to ask people for things every day. To say that it hasn't come naturally is an understatement. It isn't easy or comfortable.
While my own email box is inundated daily with solicitations from the same companies over & over again, urging me to purchase goods of all types, I worry about annoying my incredible customers if I send an email more than a couple times a year.
I lost out on the opportunity to grow my Facebook audience for a long time in the beginning because I worried about imposing on people if I clicked the “Invite" button after they "Liked" one of my posts.
Thankfully, a trio of female Superheroes emerged who taught me 3 rules about "taking” that helped me understand that being a "taker" isn't necessarily always a bad thing.
The first Superhero, a teenage IAmElemental super fan, taught me the important role that unconditional love often plays when there is "taking" involved.
The second, a Superhero lifelong friend, taught me how an emotional connection & the need to pay it forward can bring out the "taker" in a person.
And the final & (arguably) most important lesson, came from a Superhero philanthropist who taught me that, when passion-filled purpose is involved, it is never wrong to ask for what you need.
And what I needed was to learn how to take, in order to give.
