“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”—George Patton
Ted and his girlfriend, Tina, were two young chiropractors building their lives and their businesses together. Cheerful, upbeat, and fun, they enrolled in my workshop in order to get clarity and focus on their financial goals. They mentioned that they knew one of the best ways to expand their business would be to buy another existing medical practice. I congratulated them on their astute reasoning, as it is often much easier and faster to buy a business than to build one patient by patient on their own. They asked me to keep a lookout for a business they might buy.
As often happens when a goal is clearly stated, a plan mapped out, and then presented to people who might assist with its accomplishment, it wasn’t long before a friend of mine, Ken, who owned a holistic medical center told me he wanted to sell his practice. He was delighted when I told him I might have a buyer! Excited at the prospect of helping three people achieve their goals by playing matchmaker, I couldn’t wait to tell Ted and Tina when they came to see me that afternoon.
“How much money does he want for it?” was the first question Tina asked.
“$250,000,” I replied.
“That’s too much money!” She exclaimed. “Forget it.”
“Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “You have asked the wrong question, didn’t like the answer and now you’re about to reject this deal without investigating further!” (In AA circles, they call this “contempt prior to investigation.”)
Tina paused. “Yeah, but we can’t afford $250,000,” she started to say, then caught herself as I shook my head and reached for a “No Yeah, but” button. “Okay,” she laughed, “What’s the right question?”
“The most important question is not how much it costs, but how much money does the business make,” I replied. “If the business generated $35 million per year, you’d find a way to come up with $250,000 wouldn’t you? Because that would be a fabulous profit for you.”
Tina and Ted laughed. “You’re right about that!” Ted said. “And maybe we could make payments over time or get a loan to purchase the business outright. Give us Ken’s number and we’ll look into this further.”
Although this particular deal did not materialize, Tina and Ted learned the importance of asking the right questions. How many times do we stop ourselves from going for our goals because we asked the wrong question or let an old belief or attitude convince us we couldn’t have it? It is a habit of thought that begins “That won’t work because…” Replace that thought with “How can I make this work?”
Today’s Affirmation: “My mind is open to receiving my heart’s desire!”
Reprinted from The Wealthy Spirit (Sourcebooks, 2002) by Chellie Campbell.
© Copyright Chellie Campbell. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
To Get Your Goals You Have to Ask the Right Questions - To learn more about this author, visit Chellie Campbell's Website.
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Chellie Campbell
(Visit Chellie's Website)
Chellie Campbell is the creator of the
popular Financial Stress Reduction®
Workshops, and the author of The Wealthy
Spirit and Zero to Zillionaire, both
published by Sourcebooks, Inc. She is one
of Marci Shimoff's “Happy 100” in her
current NYT bestseller Happy for No Reason
and contributed stories to Jack Canfield’s
recent books You’ve Got to Read This Book!
and Life Lessons from Chicken Soup for the
Soul. She is prominently quoted as a
financial expert in The Los Angeles Times,
Pink, Good Housekeeping, Lifetime,
Essence, Woman’s World and more than 35
popular books. For more information, visit
her web site www.Chellie.com or email her at Chellie@
Chellie.com
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