I used to think things like legal, insurance, financial and tax foundations in my business were a huge drag. Just the idea of dealing with all this stuff bogged me down, big time. I’m an entrepreneur, creative, footloose and fancy-free!Plus, I’m a conscious entrepreneur, which means that I trust everyone and that the universe is always operating for my highest good, right?
Wrong!
Unjustifed trust is a common, yet twisted and misplaced definition of conscious. And it turns out that putting in place LIFT™ foundations, particularly those supporting legal agreements, is the greatest predictor of your ultimate freedom.
Ah, the paradoxes of truth. Let me explain.
To be conscious means to be aware, awake, to see. If you do not already have agreements in your business, let’s take a look at why you don’t. It could be because you think you don’t need them. Or maybe you think you can’t afford to do it. Or don’t know how.
THE BENEFITS OF BOUNDARIES
I find that at the heart of the issue, it’s often because you are not clear about what should go into the agreement.
What do you have the right to expect? What should you ask for? What if you mention an agreement and the person you are working with gets off ended because you don’t trust him or her?
These are not questions of freedom, they are the words of fear. Fear that you won’t be liked. Fear that you will ruin the relationship. Fear that you will seem untrusting.
Here’s the truth. Putting in place clear legal agreements is your greatest opportunity for freedom.
I call it setting boundaries with an open heart. When you establish clear boundaries through the process of creating and documenting your agreements and you do it with an open heart, you are establishing a way of being in the world and in your business that is full of integrity, heart and soul.
SO, HOW DO YOU DO IT?
Begin by having an open-hearted discussion about the terms of your agreement. This is just a fancy way of saying that you need to decide what you both want or negotiate your agreement. But, I don’t want you to think of this as a typical win/lose negotiation. In this case, you are always looking for the win/win opportunities. How can you give more than you thought and how can you receive more than you have been open to in the past? Seek this third option that sometimes is not readily apparent.
This win/win situation is possible only if you are clear about what you want, what you expect and what you are willing to give. The more clarity you bring to this process, the better it will be.
It’s important that you do not allow yourself to become adversarial or defensive during this process. If you find yourself moving into a win/lose adversarial posture, take a step back. Look at your emotions and reactions and breathe. Put yourself in the place of the person you are working with, attempt to understand their perspective and try not to see it as an attempt to take anything from you.
If you find this difficult, read the book Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg and begin to discover your own patterns of communication and how they impact your relationships. In many cases, you may only be able to enter into a short-term agreement, an agreement to have further discussions.
With your own business, it’s often a good idea to start off with a 90-day trial agreement and in that agreement indicate as clearly as possible what you reached agreement about and what you did not, and that you intend to return to discuss these issues at a later time with more information.
When you begin all of your important relationships with this kind of open-hearted dialogue and documentation of your agreements, you are going to see that freedom and legal agreements really do go hand in hand.
BY Alexis Martin Neely
Tags: Alexis Martin Neely, boundaries, Business, Freedom, Legal Agreements, LIFT foundation, Marshall Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication