Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to work with VC’s, welcomed into our business lives because of the money they could offer for growth. The first lesson I learned was the honeymoon was short.

If you read the fine print of any agreement, you’ll find information so you are clear and know what you’re signing. But it’s also important to know what doesn’t come with any agreement or offer of money. You won’t find the following information in agreements, fine print or bold print. However, it might cause you to look a gift horse in the mouth, and be clear about what you get and what you don’t get.

Go ahead and substitute the word lender if you’ve never worked with a venture capitalist. The lessons you can learn are the same.

1. Question your assumptions. Don’t assume someone else knows more than you know. Ask why any one course of action is better than another. Focus on the details. You’re the expert. Forget that at your peril. You know what you want, how much you can afford, and how to overcome obstacles.
2. Consider the risk. They want to make a profit. So do you. Make sure it’s to your mutual advantage. It may be better to grow slower than to make an agreement that’s not in your long-term interest. Make sure it’s a risk worth taking.
   
3. There’s no free lunch. They may be able to afford more risk than you. Don’t sell your future by agreeing to terms that give all the upside advantage to someone else, or puts all the risk on you if an outcome goes south. Don’t pretend reality, understand it instead.
4. Don’t take any course of action that piles on punishment. What may seem like a relief in the moment becomes a pain when your interest goes to 30%. Credit cards anyone? When you pay high interest you’re building someone else’s wealth instead of your own.
5. Loyalty matters. You win some games, and you lose some. Facts and truth build trust.  How you maintain a relationship is with loyalty, a shared vision, and playing together to win. When you tell the truth, the people who count on you can weigh in on decisions before they’re made. You live to play another day.
6. Results are everything. What’s the old saying? Experience is what you get when you don’t get the result you wanted! Be clear on what you want to achieve. Make sure you can do it before you let anyone else invest in your dream. Build your proof of concept by opening a store, creating a website, getting clients or creating your masterpiece. Don’t wait to start. Investors will find you.
   
7. Own your life. When you own your life, you determine how to spend it. Is there a gift greater than that? You are the ultimate authority in the matter of your life. Consider the fulfillment factor. When you’re fulfilled there’s not much you would change. If you’re not, let fulfillment write your course of action.

Live life with your eyes wide open. You do know what to do. Build a team to do it.

My love goes with you as you work with this Uplifting Moment.