When you grow up in a small town, you realize five things very quickly:

   1. You don’t have every talent and skill you need in order to do well, or even survive.

   2. Few do.

   3. Even those individuals who (seem to) know how to do everything don’t have enough time to do it.

   4. If folks work together, gifts and time can complement each other, and the whole can be much stronger than the sum of its parts.

   5. By working in teams, you learn how to teach people how to treat you and how to treat others with respect.

In my town, we had to team up if we wanted to get anything done. Since there weren’t that many kids in my school, if we wanted to have a basketball team, everyone had to join, even if some weren’t good at it. Similarly, if we wanted to put on a play, every kid had to take part in the drama club so we could get the show on the stage. I played five instruments, several being needed in orchestra and band, but only a few of which I was actually good at; and I was in choir, although I couldn’t sing a note. Talk about imperfection.

All of this allowed me to learn early on the benefits of teamwork and community, of combining gifts and energies.

The Costs and Benefits of Teamwork

Many people think that it’s cost prohibitive to engage and enroll others to help them with their tasks. These people do not understand that a team, the right team, pays for itself over and over.

They say that time is money. The best way to get time is to have team. If you generate $100 immediately, and then use that cash to pay someone to clean your house every week, you just gave yourself those hours you used to spend cleaning to go generate more cash.

The team does not have to be big to start. The building of one, though, person by person, needs to be immediate.

In fact, the first team I was ever on was the family farm. Historically, farm families had a lot of children to help out with the physical labor. Mine was no exception. I was proud of the work we did and felt good being in on the effort. At home, in school, and in my town, I enjoyed this reciprocity — others helping me, me helping them.

You're Not In Kansas Anymore...

When I left my hometown, it surprised me to find that this was not the norm. I was disappointed. It was every man for himself. That made no sense to me. If someone had a skill set, chances were that I had a complementary one, so why compete? Why not work together, pool our talents, and build something bigger and better?

It is way easier to find a team and create opportunities than most people think. Once you start to see how to locate opportunities, you will not stop seeing them.

One of my colleagues had a brother who did landscaping. His business did okay; he was getting by. One summer she had her deck built. The deck builder’s business wasn’t going very well at all. She approached him and offered to have her brother put his phone number on his truck. In exchange, the deck builder would refer all of his customers to her brother. A classic joint venture. As a result, both of their businesses grew. Not one to give away her value, my colleague took a nice cut from both sides. Now, she often coordinates referrals and joint ventures and has made quite a nice business for herself, using her gifts of relationship and team building.

Doing Less, Making More... Through Team

I accomplish all I do because of team. When people tell me they don’t have time, I know they need team. Teams are time, teams are energy, teams are attitude.

I’m constantly enrolling others. If I see someone with a talent that can help me get to my goal, I do what I can to get that person on a project or venture with me. For many, it’s uncomfortable to ask for help. (Just talk to that half of the population who won’t even stop to get directions!) There are also those who find it very difficult to receive help. Both asking and receiving make some of us uncomfortable.

By asking for help, by allowing others to work with you and you with others, you can grow. Growing and becoming bigger than you ever thought you could be is energizing and exciting.

Finding the Support You Need... and Supporting Others

I have teams everywhere: in my business, for each project I do, at home. I’m constantly supported. Why not? I’ve heard others judge me for having help at home, as if to imply that I’m not with my kids. They should only know how amazing and supportive my home team is. These people whom I allow into my home, to spend time with my children and me, are very special. They are part of our family and make the family bigger and better.

I’m judged, too, for my willingness, in business, to partner and joint-venture with others. I don’t get that. Why keep my world small? I want to expand the pie. I’m extremely selective about the people with whom I work. Similarly, they’re careful about allowing me into their worlds.

If you want more energy, if you want that energy to be revving optimally high, if you want to be calm and certain, then you need support. Consider Presidents, queens, kings, or CEOs. You rarely see them harried and frantic, or tired and depleted. Yet they’re running entire countries and corporations. The key to great, positive energy is support and community. Although it’s fine to be self-reliant, it’s not okay if that leads to frustration, loneliness, and resentment. What’s better is to be resourceful. The ability to delegate, to ask for and receive support, is a lifesaving gift.

©2012 by Loral Langemeier
All rights reserved. Excerpted with permission
of the publisher,  Hay House Inc. www.hayhouse.com

Article Source

Yes! Energy: The Equation to Do Less, Make More
by Loral Langemeier.

This groundbreaking book presents the power of the Yes! Energy Equation, which you can employ to attract abundance to all areas of your life. This formula can help you lead your life to achieve financial freedom; center your actions around a spiritual core of certainty and confidence; up-shift your attitude into consistent optimism; commit to engage with others at the highest, most satisfying levels; create the enterprise you’ve always envisioned; and dust off your dreams.

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About the Author

Loral Langemeier is one of today’s most visible and innovative money experts. Because of her tenacity and absolute confidence in what she teaches, Loral is one of only a handful of women in the world today who can claim the title of “expert” when it comes to financial matters and the making of millionaires. She accelerates the conversation about money, sharing how to not just survive this tough economic climate, but to succeed and thrive. She is the best-selling author of the Millionaire Maker series and Put More Cash in Your Pocket, as well as a leading entrepreneurial speaker and the CEO and founder of Live Out Loud, Inc., a multimillion-dollar company.

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