How much sugar do you have in your house?

January 24, 2016 1:29 PM

Where will the money come from?

That’s the looming question for any professional with unpredictable, episodic or portfolio based income. Handy addressed this crucial issue in his treatise on entrepreneurship nearly thirty years ago, and his response was fascinating. Because for a person living a cash flow life as opposed to a salary life, where money comes in fits from multiple sources, it’s almost impossible to answer that question with any mathematical certainty.

Here’s how he framed the it:

I honestly don’t know what sort of money I earn. Think of this way. How much sugar do you have in your house? You have no idea. But I bet it’s always there. Money is the same way. You don’t add up the totals, but you make sure there’s enough coming in to pay the bills.

This is a profoundly right brain way of thinking. The kind of mindset that makes bankers and accountants break out in hives. But for many entrepreneurs, that’s the way their minds operate. They don’t always know what their annual income is, they just know they’re happy and healthy.

They can’t produce a profit and loss statement on a moment’s notice, they just know, intuitively, that their businesses is alive and well. They exude an attitude of prosperity and abundance and gratitude, trusting that money is flowing into their life from all directions, believing that they are richly supported, knowing that they are equal to the challenge of keeping the enterprise alive.

Which brings us back to the original question. Where will the money come from?

It’s still hard to tell. But it will come. Not always in the shape or amount or consistency that we anticipated, but it will come. We just have to be ready for the money that is waiting for us.