The most feared, hated, frustration-inducing phrase in my house with our kids is: “no, not yet.”
We have chore lists that allow our three kids to earn tokens they redeem weekly for cash, which amounts roughly to a few dollars each. The kids may buy whatever they wish with their “hard-earned” cash and outside of that they don’t receive much (in terms of wordly goods.)
I too have had to learn this lesson with my business. If at all possible I pay bills via PayPal, snatching my payment from my business checking account & whisking it away, never to be seen again. When there’s no more, there’s no more.
When I want something, like some great online ads or a site improvement or an iPad (our toys are always more expensive aren’t they?) I’ve got to have the cash in hand to buy what I want.
I get as frustrated as the kids do–”it takes sooooooo long!”and often it seems like forever, but it causes me to reflect on the purchase, ensure it’s not emotional (ooh we’ve got to sponsor this!) And that it will show a return for the business, not just make me feel good/excited/proud to see Richmondmom.com prominently somewhere to build the brand.
Often I change my mind by the time it takes to purchase. This inability to make lots of knee-jerk purchases I regret later. Like my boys and those Bakugan, thrown in the corner and long-forgotten.
