The 4 Agreements changed my life – as an individual and as an investor.
Big statement, I know. I’ll explain why.
But first – what are they?
1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don’t take things personally.
3. Don’t make assumptions.
4. Do your best everyday.
Simple, right?
I wrote these 4 reminders on my manifestation whiteboard (haha yes, I have one and recommend it).
So, every morning upon waking I see these 4 agreements, and take a moment to internalize them.
By internalizing, I mean, asking the questions:
Did I honor these agreements yesterday?
Why or why not?
In what scenarios could I have done better?
What will I change going forward?
I personally struggled/struggle the most with #2 and #3.
In fact, a growth opportunity became apparent while raising for Conscience, the fund I launched as a one-woman show, during the pandemic.
In the beginning of starting the fund, it was hard to not take a “no” personally.
Or to assume certain investors said “no” for reasons I totally made up.
Often the reasons I chose were far worse than reality, and not productive.
I was my own worst bully in this process.
It took awareness, mental fortitude, and consistent training to shift my internal response, and to successfully hit my fundraising goals.
We often don’t have control of certain events or outcomes in our life, but we have total control of our internal and external responses to them.
Instead, I started to reframe my thinking.
I started to look forward to the “no”!
Receiving a “no” provided clarity of where to focus time and attention going forward.
It also gave me valuable feedback on how to improve.
The same goes for start-up founders.
Being on the VC side (where I get pitched by *incredible* founders on a daily basis)… I have to say no a lot more than I say yes.
There are lots of reasons why investors pass:
Maybe it’s not a thesis fit, or we’re really interested but it’s just a smidge too early on the product side, or we don’t understand the problem, or we want to see a bit more customer validation, or the round dynamics don’t allow for our participation, or it’s not a stage fit, etc etc.
The list goes on (and on)!
What helped the most in aligning with #2 and #3 of the 4 agreements was reflection, asking for feedback, and reframing my response.
It turned out many of the assumptions I held during the fundraising process ended up being false.
And the reasons I took things personally – also false!
For example – a “no” just meant a “not now” – as some investors were keen to kick-off the relationship with intention to explore for the next fund.
The 4 agreements expedited my epiphanies here.
A big thank you Clifford Lerner for the brilliant book recommendation.
If you haven’t read this book – I’ll send you a copy!
But only for the first 5 people to comment “send me a copy!” 😉
I bet you didn’t expect a #giveaway.
