During challenging economic times, it is important for most small-business owners to run a lean business operation—cost-conscious and careful with financial resources. However, a mindset of “scarcity” can be harmful while a mindset of “abundance” may be just the ticket to more prosperous days. Let me explain.
The Scarcity Mindset
If I have a scarcity mindset, I tend to see winners and losers. Look, there is only so much to go around, and if you get more, then I will naturally get less, right? It’s a dog-eat-dog world. By carefully holding on tight to everything I have, I will be more secure, prosperous, and happy. It’s not about wishing ill-will on other people. It’s just a way of thinking to protect what I have worked so hard to earn and accumulate.
The Abundance Mindset
If I have an abundance mindset, I tend to see everything in terms of win-win. There are unlimited resources and I am genuinely happy for the success, well-being, achievements, recognition, and good fortune of other people. I love to contribute to and celebrate the accomplishments of my friends, associates, and even competitors. The better they do, the better I do. Success generates more success. In my way of thinking, there is plenty to go around. I win. You win. We all win!
The Scarcity Organization
It is very easy to get into a scarcity mindset when a business is struggling and every penny counts. The normal instinct of many owners and managers in financial stress is to cut costs to the bone. But like dieting, this can be unhealthy if taken too far. For example, cutting corners to marketing activities can create some immediate and short-term financial benefits. However, profit margins are eventually eroded by severe cuts to core business systems such as marketing, accounting, or even hiring and employee compensation.
The Abundance Organization
It is a misunderstood notion that when the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The truth is that when the rich get richer, the poor generally get richer as well. We prosper most when we help others prosper, when everyone in our network is doing well.
In a nearby community, a reputable fast-food restaurant stood alone with no competition. They “owned” the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the store went out of business. A mile down the road is a cluster of twelve fast-food restaurants competing side by side. The parking lots are always full, and even the weaker stores are thriving. That’s abundance thinking!
Zig Ziglar, the great motivator, taught, “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”
With a mindset of abundance, the business owner should always be looking for the best value he or she can get when purchasing goods and services. However, getting the most value from vendors or employees does not necessarily mean paying the lowest price, just as giving the most value to the customer does not always mean being the cheapest in the marketplace.
As my outlook matured over the years, I paid more money for fast service and superior quality rather than less money to a questionable vendor with a lower price. I paid employees above the market rate because they “made things happen” that created value in my business. I put more money into my business systems and processes because the payoff far exceeded the out-of-pocket expense.
In my former world of accounting, I often gave clients ideas that saved them thousands of dollars. I sent them new customers and even became one of their good customers myself, only to have them mumble about a few hundred dollars in accounting fees I charged. They did not put a value on the significant non-accounting elements of our relationship. They had a scarcity mindset.
Which Describes You?
Compare some characteristics of the scarcity mindset to those of an abundance mindset. How do you think about and relate to your vendors, employees, and customers?
| Scarcity | Abundance |
| Not enough resources to go around |
More than enough resources to go around |
| I Need to win/succeed | I Need to be fair/we all succeed |
| I have the answers | We learn from each other |
| Relationships of suspicion/doubt | Relationships of trust |
| Adversary | Partner/Ally |
| Expense | Investment with a return |
| Focus on costs/tasks | Focus on results/systems and processes |
| Buy time/hours from people | Buy desired outcomes from people |
| Expect minimum required performance | Expect high performance |
| Micromanagement | Stewardship |
| Low morale | High morale |
| Worry/Stress/Frustration | Confidence/Peace |
The outcome of an abundance or value-oriented mindset is the maximum utilization and development of people. The outcome of the scarcity or cost-oriented mindset is the maximum control of people. Over the years, I have learned that I want to control business systems and processes, but I want to develop people as valuable partners.
According to Brian Tracy, business author and teacher, the Law of Abundance is this:
“We live in an abundant universe in which there is sufficient money for all who really want it and are willing to obey the laws governing its acquisition.”
Achieving the more productive mindset of abundance requires a leap of faith for many of us. It is a counter-intuitive principle. Come to think of it, isn’t this the great lesson learned by Ebenezer Scrooge? (Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol,” 1843)
