So many of us have done great inner work on ourselves. We’ve gone deep and looked at what we want to be and create in our lives. We’ve worked on physical health and mental and spiritual well-being. We’ve learned how to become more forgiving and loving, to ourselves and others: how to compromise, empathize, be kind, and give back to the world. We’ve become more compassionate. We’ve worked on bolstering our self-esteem, and so much more.
Yet, how many of us have faced down our feelings, attitudes, and fears about money?
It’s a massive question, right? And, one you don’t hear about much. Money is so charged.
Feelings of fear, secrecy, shame, power, prestige, guilt, insecurity, and resentment all make money confusing. Are we spending too much, or too little? How can we deserve money when so many are so tragically poor? Why do others have so much more than they can ever use? What’s conspicuous consumption: What’s careful spending?
But, money, it is said, is crystallized energy, and we need to use it well, especially if we want to be successful business owners. Money may not be able to buy happiness outright, but it sure can help!
Developing clarity around money will transform you in so many ways. Business owners, especially, have to have a positive, practical, and shame-free relationship with money to sustain a great business. My business was on shaky ground until I took a good long look at what I felt and thought about money.
To do that, I had to excavate my preconceived attitudes about money so I could get free of my limiting beliefs. Everybody has a money story. I know I did.
My parents argued about money a lot. He wanted to save, she wanted to spend. So, in my young life, money became the enemy: Nobody likes to see their parents fight. On top of that, I wasn’t good at math and my father was harsh about forcing me to do my homework. So, really, from an early age, I hated numbers and money.
Naturally, years later, I took this distorted thinking into my business. I was afraid of facing the numbers that every business owner needs to master. I felt that money was a bad thing. I was bad at saving. Bad at talking about money. I thought that if I had a lot of happy clients, I must be doing well. But that’s completely false. You have to educate yourself about business financials – the numbers – that define good businesses or you won’t make it.
Let’s talk about security
But, until I faced my fears and misconceptions about money I couldn’t learn about it! Here’s how I changed my attitude.
I took a piece of paper and wrote down everything I could think of about money. I wrote my first memories of it. I wrote about how uncomfortable I felt talking about it: how embarrassed I was to charge clients what I knew I was worth. I wrote everything I could think of. Finally, I got to the point of asking myself what I was most afraid of about money?
Among my biggest fears was the idea that having money was a measurement of success and people would judge me by how much I earned – not by my talent. I also feared not having enough to be able to get and do the things I dreamed of. I was really afraid that I couldn’t sustain the wonderful salon experience I had created if I didn’t have enough money. And, as young as I was, I was also afraid of being unable to retire handsomely and confidently.
Seeing on paper how much was at stake, I broke through and realized what I had to do.
Here is what you need to do: Write a plan
I started writing a plan of how I am going to get rid of the fear, in short, what I needed to do to breakthrough. It was simple.
The answer was to learn the numbers better than my father, my mother, and my math teachers! Once I did that, we doubled our revenue to our company in less than six months.
Our brains are our biggest resource. I’m continually training my brain to move to a happier state. The more we educate ourselves, the easier it is for us to adapt to the new ways of thinking and doing things that we’re studying. Having learned about money and how it could serve me, helped me navigate to my goals.
Now, I love to talk about money!
Next: Reading and understanding the financials of your company, so you can navigate it to wealth!
