Mindset: Abundance vs Scarcity

[00:00:17] Hello everybody, I am Andy coming to you from the still very warm United Kingdom. Hi Andy. Hi everybody, I am one of the other hosts, Scott. I'm in Toronto and today I'm wearing my slippers, Andy.

[00:00:33] I'm not sure we need to see those on the podcast but it's a good story. Welcome to the Tea and Timbits podcast where we wear slippers or whatever we like on our feet and talk about global perspectives on business development to help you prosper.

[00:00:53] This week we're going to be talking about abundance and scarcity as part of our Mindset series. Before we get into today's topic, Scott, do you want to share a story with us? Right, my turn, yes. I didn't mean to throw you off there.

[00:01:12] Like literally 60 seconds ago, I was like, okay, where's my notes? Great, I'm ready. And then you hit me with the story and I was like, oh yeah, right, it's my turn. Show, don't tell.

[00:01:23] So I was working through some business mentoring as I often talk about in my stories. This is where I get all my stories from. And I was reviewing somebody's business plan and it was very energetic and it was all full of excitement.

[00:01:41] And it was a great sort of diatribe of everybody they knew and why their business was going to be successful based on just the fantastic idea and the fact that they've been successful before. And I was like, okay, this is a great setup. But then it stayed there.

[00:02:03] There was no substance and this was like a 32 page. It would have different headings for all the different things you find in a business plan. So it was there was intelligence and thought and and really good structure to it.

[00:02:17] Obviously they were following a template, but there's been a lot of work, a lot of work had gone into explaining. You know how this was all going to come to life. But but through sensationalism without and I'm not saying it was completely devoid.

[00:02:33] I guess I'm over emphasizing what I discovered, but I've seen this before. I thought I'd share the story. You know, you've got to back it up with substance.

[00:02:42] There's got to be some practical real life, you know, hard truths about some of the challenges that you're going to encounter. A business plan has got to be for you. It's not for anybody else selling anybody else at the moment.

[00:02:55] You are building something that you need to be able to refer to, to remember what's the path I'm on. What have I got to be prepared for? How am I going to manage this? How am I going to overcome adversity?

[00:03:06] If somebody else is going to invest in this, am I being practical, realistic? Am I aware of my challenges and my opportunities? And I think it rings through to how we sell and how we organize the business as well.

[00:03:21] So, you know, when you're out there, it's not just about building energy and excitement and sizzle. It's got the substance as well. That's right.

[00:03:33] I mean, I've seen plenty of those and seen plenty of proposals as well and responses to request for quotations that are, yeah, lots and lots and lots of words, but not really any content or anything of any value.

[00:03:49] I think the reason you see it is because it does work. Like there are people, you can find people who get wrapped up and get excited with you and then like, yeah, sure, let's go.

[00:04:01] And I think you find a lot more success where people are doing their due diligence.

[00:04:06] And I think you'll go a lot further and find much more satisfactory business relationships when you can make sure that the counterpart is somebody who's just as rigorous about the relationship they enter into, as I think, as I'm advocating everybody listening should be.

[00:04:26] Yeah, no, no, no, I think you're completely right. And and I'm going to use it as a really cheesy segue into today's topic of, you know, try and avoid an abundantly full business that is scarce of content. And so today's topic abundance and scarcity. Well done.

[00:04:47] What I'm trying to get out of today is, is hopefully that the listeners get a better understanding of our perspective of why abundance and scarcity is so important and having that awareness of the alternative mindsets that are necessary in order to approach an opportunity

[00:05:15] and their business, business world. Because we have a scenario in almost every business situation where having an abundant mindset is going to be much more valuable than than just being. Yeah. Yeah, I think I've seen some and it's it's very easy to fall into the scarcity trap.

[00:05:52] And it's very easy to fall and I think I've seen some of this very recently about falling into the scarcity excuse. So it was very easy to blame scarcity when something doesn't work out and say, well, it's the market. Yeah, I don't know.

[00:06:13] You know, and we're doing the best we can. And markets shift and behaviors change and customer priorities shift and change. And so I think you don't confuse shifting priorities with scarcity.

[00:06:37] So it's very easy and I think what I've what I'm reflecting on right here in the moment live is that trap is going. Well, wait a minute.

[00:06:46] Actually, what we are attributing to scarcity and just the opportunity doesn't exist anymore or it's no longer here for whatever because of whatever market conditions. You have to go a little bit further and say, well, wait a minute. Where did where did what I what was it?

[00:07:04] Whatever I was expecting to see show up is not here. Where did it go? And why did it shift? And what priority took its place? Yeah, because that's how you move around to abundance. Every you know, there's all kinds of challenges and opportunities.

[00:07:21] And I think we just have to make sure we're practicing curiosity here and asking the right questions so that we can understand. Did it really just disappear and did the business close or did that person's client change their priorities? And that's had a trickle down effect.

[00:07:38] So so it's it's it's really important to practice curiosity in those moments. Yes, it is.

[00:07:48] And part of the reason that that it's so important to to be mindful of the of the trap of scarcity and falling into that is that you can get so hung up on trying to figure that out, trying to solve that problem.

[00:08:10] Not just using it as an excuse, but also focusing all of your time, all of your effort on trying to trying to solve that problem rather than trying to change the mindset and become aware that actually the market is an abundant market.

[00:08:27] There is an abundance of opportunities out there. You may not be able to see them yet, but that is where the time is better spent to try and find those opportunities. Find that abundant market.

[00:08:40] And it may be that there's a shift in the you know, in the way that you've been approaching things the way that you've been addressing things up to that point.

[00:08:48] But becoming aware that the market that you have been addressing or the situation that you're in has become a you know, a scarce market or a scarce opportunity doesn't mean that it's all over and that you should be spending all your time on that.

[00:09:01] It's about changing that mindset and focusing on finding those alternatives. How many times do you hear somebody say, well it is what it is? Too often. Too often. I've heard you say before that's such a boxy thing to say right?

[00:09:15] It's like, well, you know, I'm just going to resign to the fact that, you know, this one came around and it's gone now and it is what it is. And hopefully the next one presents itself and it'll be better than this one.

[00:09:28] But just hoping that the same thing will keep happening and it'll play a numbers game and eventually I'll win enough to hit my quota or grow my business or at least stay alive, stay afloat.

[00:09:40] I think that when you're when you're truly facing like, you know, a dip in the in the market or in whatever success you're trying to find and you feel when you see that scarcity situation in front of you.

[00:10:02] It can be very daunting to to shift to that mindset of abundance to say, well, you know what? I'm just nuts. I turned down the wrong street and it's to the end of it.

[00:10:18] And in order to switch to another street, I got to go back out the one that I came down so I can make a different turn. And that takes a lot of time. Maybe I'll just keep going here.

[00:10:30] You kind of have split your attention there because sure, maybe something will get unblocked and you'll keep going. But you then need to broaden your horizon. You need to you need to go. I can't blame the market.

[00:10:43] I have to I have to critique my own awareness of the market or this current situation and practice curiosity and be ready to shift my focus or try different tact or a different approach because there's always new opportunities. There's always challenges that people need help overcoming.

[00:11:03] Maybe I just need to get some help and have some conversations. And I think being helpful and ask for help, we're going to get to that to that topic next.

[00:11:13] But it's about really being ready for the fact that you're going to actually you will have to buckle down and work on finding that those new greener pastures. Yeah. For yourself. There is always the the trap.

[00:11:30] And, you know, there's a there's a risk that I, you know, that I end up undoing everything that we've just said. But there is a trap that you can become too focused on the abundance mindset as well.

[00:11:42] So you can you can go, oh, well, I know that if I do this particular set of tasks, then I will be successful because I've been successful in the past. So therefore it will be fine.

[00:11:55] And it's kind of that mindset of, oh, well, if I build it, you know, they will come. That's not quite the case. You still need to put the work in. You still need to put the effort and you still need to be mindful of.

[00:12:10] Yes, there is a bigger market out there. But if that if the actions and the things that you're doing at the moment are not delivering that market to your delivering you to that market, then you still need to change.

[00:12:23] So you can't get trapped in the mindset of it doesn't matter because there's loads and loads and loads of people out there looking for what we're doing. You still need to have a set of processes and procedures that are in there.

[00:12:32] So the mindset is the foundation, but you still need to then build everything around it to make it work. And you be need to be willing to adjust accordingly as well. Absolutely.

[00:12:45] And where my mind went when you when you were making that point was what I've what I've also seen or I think what I should also raise a caution about is being being bouncing around too quickly from one part to another.

[00:13:00] It's like, oh, that didn't work. I know it's an abundant market. I'm going to go over here now. Oh, that didn't work. Oh, and I'm going to go over here now.

[00:13:05] That didn't work. I'm going to do this or chasing too many things getting too excited and antsy is also to your detriment. And so you are being you have to plan. You have to be intentional. You have to be strategic about these kinds of activities.

[00:13:24] And I I know we're trying to frame this in a business development sort of perspective, but I think it comes down to any sort of business function as well. There's there's friction. There's obstacles you might hit a dead end.

[00:13:41] I think you have to make sure that you're validating that not to there's a balance there between. Yeah, but I've seen this work and I need to give it time to prove itself without making the mistake of over committing to to a dead end.

[00:13:59] And without being too distracted by shiny objects and changing priorities too quickly. We talk a lot on our episodes about abundance and abundance and scarcity.

[00:14:15] And we've not really drilled in too much to it, but we have been very clear on the fact that it is important to have that mindset of abundance. How do you get your mind into the right place there?

[00:14:30] In in your working world about how do you how do you maintain an abundant mindset? So I hope that you're on the spot there.

[00:14:42] I'm sorry to do that, but I think it's something that the listeners will be interested in hearing because we're we're you know, we're advocating that this is very important. We're talking a lot about the mindset and we're talking about that.

[00:14:56] That it's very, very important that the people have the right mindset that they think about things in the right way. But I think we're quite light on a bit of the how to and and I'd like us to maybe spend a couple of minutes on talking about that.

[00:15:10] Yeah, so if you like, I can start. Thanks for ad libbing there for a few extra moments. I'm going to let my thoughts formalize in my own head. You're welcome. I talk to other people.

[00:15:22] I talk to other businesses like I, you know, network, you know, even with my friends and family and like what are you finding? What are you experiencing? How's business for you?

[00:15:34] And it can be very demoralizing when there's a challenge in front of you or you're in that sort of moment of scarcity or feeling scarcity. And everything is abundant for other people. You're like, well, what the hell am I doing wrong?

[00:15:47] Right. So you then kind of get a little bit too critical on yourself. But it also reminds you that like, OK, there's there's there is opportunity out there and not just it's really easy to them feel defeatist like, well, they figured it out and I haven't.

[00:16:02] And what have I done? So then but be curious and and OK, so that's great. I'm glad business is working out for you. Why? Where are you finding those conversations? How long have you been nurturing them?

[00:16:16] What did you do last time that, you know, you were challenged with some scarcity and got yourself to where you are right now?

[00:16:25] Tell me. And I like talking to people in other markets or in other businesses so that you can you can you can understand sort of they might have gotten ahead of the market. They sort of behavior sooner than you did, or they lucked into it.

[00:16:42] We're seeing right now that there's a shift in in budgets spending on company spending on internal development and infrastructure and and experiences as opposed to customer facing ones.

[00:16:59] So, oh, well, that's so a business that focuses on on supporting employee culture and and engagement is doing better right now than somebody who's helping market externally. Wow. Great great little insight there. I'm going to just work that into my conversations with my clients.

[00:17:21] How's the how's the internal team doing? Can we help with the behind the curtain efficiencies and things like that? We've been talking a lot about customer engagement and all of a sudden you unlock the fact that they've been talking to five vendors about switching their CRM.

[00:17:39] Holy moly, why didn't we get included in that conversation, right? So, so from your perspective, it's about it's about engaging with your peers in the industry, but also outside of the industry, but peers who understand the type of work that you're doing.

[00:17:54] It's about expanding your knowledge of the market so that you have an automatic awareness of the abundance in the market because you become aware of them. The market challenges, the market opportunities that you may not have been aware of beforehand.

[00:18:12] Anything else that that you would say as a good tip? I think you have to reflect on just sort of what's what's around you. You know what? And then another thought came to me as soon as I said that you got to put yourself out there.

[00:18:28] You have to go and get uncomfortable. You have to sign up to attend an event you wouldn't have otherwise gone.

[00:18:36] You have to go walk into a room you wouldn't have thought you belonged in or otherwise would have gone into just and you might strike out, but just go switch the channel so that you read.

[00:18:52] But not completely, not completely. So it's sort of, you know, stay, stay, stay at the edge, you know, sort of at the edge of your lane. You know, you're close to your lane, but you're not quite in your lane anymore.

[00:19:01] You know, so it's a it's a related thing kind of, but you're getting yourself involved in something.

[00:19:07] You know, you're either attending a webinar, you're going to an event, you're listening to podcasts, whatever it may be that are on the outskirts of the type of thing that you're in.

[00:19:16] So, yeah. So making yourself uncomfortable, expanding your knowledge and networking with peers sounds like a good set of processes to do that. Excellent. I have nothing more to add on that. I think that's I think there's some some very good advice there.

[00:19:33] I do similar but in a different way. I think those are very good tips for people that they can pick up on. Those are things that people can try.

[00:19:42] It would be great to hear people's feedback on that and they're welcome to get in touch with us and T and Tim bits dot com or any other platform that they find us. Anything else to add Scott.

[00:19:55] This episode series we're going to move on to being helpful and asking for help in our next episode. So keep the dial tuned here. See you next week. Cheers.