Girrrl Stop!

There is a new guy that I’ve encountered recently: The Puffer. This is a guy who will blow a bunch of smoke and never deliver. He just puffs and puffs and puffs and yields no results. This is the guy full of empty promises. He says he’s going to do something when he has no intention of doing it at all. You know, “Imma call you this afternoon” - no phone call received (PUFF!) or “Let’s meet for breakfast tomorrow" - no call no show (PUFF!). 

It all started when I traveled to Atlanta, GA (my second home) for my one of my best friend’s 40th birthday celebration. Before we got into the main event for the weekend, we had to do some pre-partying. She took me out to a lounge spot in the ‘A’, I believe it was called MJQ or BQE or something like that, lol!! The music was going and drinks were flowing and somewhere in the middle of all that I met a very handsome man who I was quite enamored by. For purposes of our conversation today we’ll call him Benjamin (his name is actually one of the 1…

In my recent post, ‘This ain’t the season for SHAKY investments’ I talked to you all about staying away from these shaky, unstable relationships. Today I wanted to go a step further and encourage the Girrrl Stop Nation: Don’t Be a shaky investment!
Over the past couple of months I’ve been housesitting during the day for a friend as they are having renovations done to their house. I am blessed to be able to work remotely so this arrangement helped out as they have to report to the office daily. They are having just about everything re-done in the house and it is very interesting to see portions of the house gutted out and then see the contractors start from scratch building from the foundation up. The most interesting to me are the electricians. They follow the blueprint put in place by the designer and they set the electrical circuits exactly to the specified dimensions. They know exactly where to put the outlets for the microwave, the dishwasher, refrigerator, etc. They cut out holes …

At a family dinner recently, my younger cousin proclaimed that this is the season of “clinch”. He was referencing holding on to your money and not wasting and overspending. As I pondered this from the perspective of relationships I concluded: 
Girrrl! this ain’t the season for shaky investments! 
When it comes to relationships of any kind an investment is always taking place. Be it family, friendships, mentorships, and romantic relationships someone is always investing. What are some things you invest as it relates to people? Your time, mind, conversation, resources, and overall energy. The investment is inevitable so the main question is, how profitable is the investment, what is your ROI = Return On Investment (oh my - those Howard University girls!)? 
In finance, ROI measures the amount of return on an investment relative to the investment’s cost. It is calculated as: 




It may sound harsh to refer to people in terms of profitability but the reality is if you are living your life on purp…