(Listen to my take on Abundance here)
In business you always want to have an abundance mindset. That means you want to stock a little more inventory than you should, you should do a little more marketing than the average, and it means you should take more risks and meet more people than whatever the norm is for your industry. An abundance mindset means you are acquiring wealth, building connections and are showing an overall positive attitude because you want to do business.
There is also something called a scarcity mindset, where you feel more secure because you can see the very small space around you, but you lose opportunities. In the Scarcity mindset, you hold onto the things you have so tight that you miss the opportunity to invest and reap the rewards. People that practice scarcity often don't get very much business than the average norm, because they are too busy worrying about losing what wealth they already have.
The Abundance and Scarcity mindsets impact much more than just how much money is in your wallet, of course. How many friends do you have? How many people do you influence? How many investors or clients can you call on and actually receive a response? I believe the difference between abundance and scarcity is a life decision that says a lot about how successful you will be.
That's why when I saw on a well known local blog that the City of Eureka was thinking about a Moratorium on bringing new Hotels to our city, I got very concerned. Damage has already been done, because the mere mention of this moratorium is a brand new red flag for potential investors who were thinking of maybe pouring some capital into Eureka. Our city has enough red flags with the well known homeless epidemic and a middle class that has been leaving for brighter pastures. The last thing our tourism industry needs is a moratorium of any kind. If the city restricts new hotels from buying land and/ or beginning construction, then the city is telling the rest of the world an anti-growth message that goes something like this: We don't want too much business because we are too scared of the challenges that come from economic growth.
Now, admittedly, that isn't what the city council members are thinking, to them the moratorium makes sense because they don't want any long time hotel owners to deal with the unexpected challenges of competition, but investors that have big money to burn don't think that way, investors want to put their money where its welcomed and risk their capital in communities that will help it grow.
Lets hope the city leaders don't hurt Tourism--one of the last strong industries we have left.
