We understand… What you give away, you always get to keep.

I love this post from Perry Marshall. Enjoy!

Entrepreneurs and our insatiable GREED

Have you ever….

* Tapped a line of credit or 2nd mortgage so you could give your employees their paycheck?
* Paid off all your vendors and creditors, even though it meant canceling a long-awaited vacation?
* Heard about someone in need and helped them out, even though you knew you would eventually end up borrowing the money – you didn’t have it but you gave anyway because it was the right thing to do?

With that in mind….

…When’s the last time you turned on CNN and heard an encouraging story about business owners doing good in the world?

When’s the last time you heard somebody in the media or education system say, “We need to build up entrepreneurs, because new businesses are foundation of our communities” ?

For all those who assume us money-grubbing entrepreneurs are driven by greed, selfishness and ego, let me share with you the results of a study by the Center for Data Analysis and the Heritage Foundation:

Charitable Giving by Household Income, based on IRS data:

Income Class         Entrepreneurs      Non-Entrepreneurs
$65,480+                          3.23%                         2.42%

$37,381-$65,480              3.47%                          1.84%

$21,661-$37,380              3.29%                         1.14%

$10,661-$21,660             2.25%                          0.74%

$0-$10,660                     1.55%                          0.35%

Average                       2.53%                          1.27%

Looks like entrepreneurs are TWICE as generous as everyone else. ESPECIALLY the ones with low incomes.

Why is that? What’s going on here?

It’s real simple. Most people only understand scarcity.

Entrepreneurs understand abundance.

My experience of entrepreneurs is we overwhelmingly tend to take care of everybody else before we worry about ourselves.

My friend, if you tapped every resource to pay everyone fairly, and you went to bed not knowing how tomorrow’s bills were going to get paid, then at least you had faith in the goodness of providence and the power of imagination and resourcefulness to find a solution.

THIS is why people in the modern world have three meals a day and microwave ovens and beds to sleep in and health care and straight teeth and computers and movies and modern music.

Because… somebody had faith in the power of ingenuity. They dreamed and schemed and innovated and gave until it hurt. Believing that somehow, somewhere, success would show up when it was most needed.

None of us can ever predict when or how solution to some vexing problem will present itself. We just have faith that it will.

I don’t know what problem you face today, but I know that one of two things is true:

1) Someone somewhere has already solved it, or
2) The ability to solve it WILL be given to you

Most of all I want to salute you in pursuing a journey that most people never even have the courage to undertake.

When you find the success you seek, you deserve it.

The talking heads on TV may not appreciate us. But we appreciate each other. And I appreciate you.

Seize the Day.

Perry Marshall

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