I have a confession to make. I am notorious for meeting people, liking them, and then when they realize what I do and that I could help them, I end up giving away my services?for free. I have this uncontrollable urge to help people, especially when I know it's something that I am good at and enjoy doing.
Now I don't do this all the time, but occasionally I will, and I will tell you why. It comes back to me tenfold.
For example, we just adopted a Great Dane. In my search for information on this mini-horse breed, I came across a Yahoo! Group for local Great Dane owners. I joined, sent my welcome message introducing myself and Napoleon, and the owner of the group noticed my signature line and contacted me for possible help with my services. We were on the phone for at least two hours. I liked her.
So when we finally got around to talking business and she told me she needed a sales letter written to send out locally, I told her I would do it for free.
I didn't think twice about it.
We have chatted a few times on the phone, and we have met at our Great Dane get-togethers, and I did her sales letter. It was pretty good if I do say so myself. But here is what happened that I was not expecting.
She's telling people about me.
That's right. I've gotten new clients by referral from her, and all I did was spend two hours on her sales letter. Not a bad trade, eh?
I didn't do this letter for her with the expectation of something in return. I honestly didn't. My boyfriend, my coach, and my colleagues love to get on me about giving my services away, and I can see where they are coming from. However, I'm a firm believer that what goes around comes around.
This is just one example. I also had a colleague that wanted her blog template to look just like her website. I was almost sure that I could do it, and before I knew it, she sent me the information and hired me to do it.
So I did it. It was a lot of trial and error, since I was dealing with a programming code that I was not an expert in writing. I worked with it until it was just right. When it came time to bill her, I simply dropped her a note and said, ?It's on me. I'm just tickled that I could actually do it.? And I was. I didn't expect anything from her.
Yesterday, the FedEx man came, and I now have 12 brownies from Fairytale Brownies. (Well, I HAD 12?there are only 9 now!) But again, I wasn't expecting anything. I was just pleasantly surprised when I got a package in the mail and it wasn't my birthday or Christmas.
And I'm sure when the conversation comes up and people ask her how she got her blog to look like her website she'll say, ?Heather at Valley Virtual Assistants did that for me.? Even if she doesn't, that's okay with me. I felt good helping someone out, the brownies are delicious (and hidden where no one can find them), and I'm content with how I do business.
Let's be honest. We're not non-profit organizations, and many of us rely on our customers and clients to put food on the table, a roof over our heads, and clothes on our backs. We cannot afford to give the farm away, but we can give a few bales of hay away, and we can choose who should get them.
? 2006 Heather Jacobson
To some "what goes around comes around" means that you will get what you deserve, or, that the chickens will come home to roost.
To others it seems to imply that you will get what's coming to you, or that you will get what you deserve. John Lennon, who had a neat way with words, once wrote,
"Instant Karmas gonna get you Gonna knock you right on the head You better get yourself together Pretty soon you're gonna be dead What in the world you thinking of Laughing in the face of love"
So, does it all balance out in the end? All this does not bode well for your average recovering drug addict. The last thing he wants, is to get what he deserves, and, that instant karma doesn't sound too good.
So why frame this maxim and put it up on the wall in your Therapeutic Community's dining room? What does this expression mean in the life of those in recovery from drug addiction?
"What goes around comes around" is about the skill of learning patience. The bigger picture, however, is to provide a coping mechanism to handle the circumstances that life throws at us. Most of the consequences now coming back to us, are now outside of our control. Life is not fair. We have been dealt a bad hand.
Injustices and set backs are part of life, of relationships, of trying our best and not being recognised, of not being affirmed for what we have accomplished, or in relationships yet to be reconciled.
This is all part of the daily grind but it can serve to discourage those in recovery. Getting a grasp of the meaning of "what goes around comes around" helps the person to accept the circumstances and deal with the consequences.
This maxim may have two important messages:
First, patience is required to accept unfairness and injustice in our daily lives because these factors are part of life.
Second, although we may feel that the circumstances are not ours to control, this doesn't mean that we should just be resigned to our fate.
We should go forward confidently because we have a hope that things will get sorted out in the future. We are not alone in experiencing these things, and we will not be tested beyond our endurance.
Both Heather Jacobson & Alan J Butler are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Heather Jacobson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home, Power Tools and Home Remodeling Ideas. Heather Jacobson doesn't pay for marketing if she doesn't have to. Learn how she does it and get your 10 FREE inexpensive marketing tactics at