Women are strong. Women have the most difficult job in the world - they are mothers. So why is creating and keeping a business alive often so difficult for us? After all, we are resourceful, we can multitask, we are responsible.

I was first taught about the importance of giving and receiving by Sue Bryce. It’s the BALANCE of giving and receiving that is crucial to establishing a healthy, sustainable business. Always in perfect unison, when one hand is giving, the other should be receiving.

As women, we don’t have a problem with the giving part. We are givers by nature. We give life, we give love, we give our time, we give our support. We put our family first. We love and we love unconditionally.

I believe that’s why so many women have a problem with receiving. We are natural givers and can feel guilty about receiving. However, business is not love. It is not unconditional! It is BALANCED giving and receiving. You can do business WITH love! In fact you will be very successful if you do. But business IS NOT love.

Lack of balance with giving and receiving is a recipe for a disaster. It can begin very early in the process, as early as when you are setting your prices. Setting prices that are not sustainable (because you don’t feel worthy of receiving) is a waste of time and hurts not only you but also your industry. It’s always harder to make it in an unhealthy industry than in a healthy one.

Here are some down turns of not receiving:

It devalues your craft
The business will not be sustainable and will not survive without proper funds over a period of time
Clients will not see you as being professional (although I’m sure they’ll love that you’re giving without receiving)
You will have to work unproportional amounts of time and will burn out
You will feel bitter and resentful

If you have a problem with receiving despite putting proper work into your projects, ask yourself: why am I feeling this way? You are enough if you’re putting proper time, work and you’re priced proportionally to the value of your service. You give and you deserve to receive!