Why does money mindset matter to how you run your business? It is something I pondered when I first started up my digital business journey. In my mind being frugal was surely a good thing. All the “RICH” people I had ever met had been TIGHT! I mean run up a bill at the bar and let the poor guy pay it off, tight!! They surely had money because they never spent any right?
The difficulties we face when we talk about money is it is incredibly emotive. Every single one of us has a money story. Have you seen it break up a family when someone passes away? Inheritance arguments? Watch your mum and dad fight about bills as a kid? Have you seen bankruptcy first hand? Did you want something you couldn’t afford? Have you ever had to make the decision between bread and milk in the food shop?
- So take a moment to connect to your negative emotions around money. Close your eyes and think about your deep relationship with it.
- Speak out loud some emotive words you connect with money and then consciously review them.. Where they negative or positive?
- This is an old one but a good one – remember the phrases you were exposed to as a child surrounding money – like “What do you think i am ? Made of money?” – classic
As a kid my Grandmother lived with us, this was handy (from my point of view) because my mum and dad worked HARD! Sometimes more than one job – they were grafters. Being a hard worker in my house was rewarded, it was honourable, it was earnest and it was good. Working hard mean’t just enough money for the essentials and possibly a few well timed treats. Holidays were saved up for ahead of time and TIME being the important thing here was lost …into a sea of WORK that was never gotten back at the end of the pursuits.
Having a job was lucky , a privilege and not something to be sniffed at. Having a secure job you could do well in and that would pay you regularly secured money was king – no entitlement, working class mentality. I grew up in a seaside town that has a million different frivolous ways for you to part with your money. A bit like Pinocchio’s donkey island , it reels you in and spits you out , 45 , divorced , addicted to drink and gambling at best.(if you let it)…. I won’t delve into the worst. My parents knew this, which mean’t there was always an air of conventionalism when applying joy to well ….anything. Like joy is a maddening lake from which you will never return if you venture too far out. My entire identity is shrouded in this conventionalism and as much as it may sound like a bad thing when described this way it is something that has awarded me a level head and helped me make good choices throughout my life and even to this day. I do struggle to let go but I have always had a sense of adventure and curiosity and more strongly than this a sense of new and exciting life possibilities. That spark is the one that lead me on my business journey & that leads me into the life I designed for myself, that I love.
Now you have read mine – whats yours? What money memories do you hold from your childhood. Take some time to write them down & explore the themes your subconscious mind has accepted as fact rather than subjective perception.
So, Why does your negative feelings cause BLOCKS when it comes to money in your mind? Well, your beautiful mind is steered by your subconscious who accepts things learned (often as kids) as fact rather than a perspective that is based on your own circumstance. You see this is why it is so easy for opinion and fact to get muddled up too!! We all KNOW what we know right? When actually we only think we know what we know and can’t be sure.
So your mind is steering your thoughts based on biases that actually may or may not contain much real fact. For instance if you grew up with lots of risk and reward turning into cold hard cash (see the bias in that well known phrase?) then maybe you wouldn’t be so scared to invest in new start up companies or the stock exchange!!
We are all the product of our upbringing and we bring alot of baggage with us into our adult arena. This can give the perfect growing conditions for the poisionous mind mushroom of BLOCKS. An example of blocks would be :
- People like me don’t earn that amount of money.
- No one is buying right now.
- It’s not the right time to sell to people.
- People would never spend that kind of money on MY service,
- I will keep it cheap so it is desirable.
- I never have any money.
- Why do bad things always happen to me.
- Why am I always skint.
- Money isn’t everything.
- Money makes you a bitch.
- Money changes people.
Okay – so not all of these will apply to every person – it is entirely a personal journey through your own tangled web of a mindset but there is real value in being aware of the things you tell yourself and how you communicate struggle to others.
The blocks will blind you from opportunities, potential and positive results. The beliefs you hold will determine your destiny. – READ THAT AGAIN.
The potential to earn money is the sun on the surface of the water you are in and the blocks are holding you down so that you keep drowning, never being able to feel the sun on your face and sweet fresh air in your lungs. The blocks are in your hands, drop them…let them fall to the depths of the ocean where they belong and swim freely, lighter than before to the surface as you deserve.
So you have squandered money away before! We all have! – You may have made bad choices. You may have made perfectly good choices at the time that turned into a situation you couldn’t control. You may have built an empire with a partner and then left EVERYTHING you had built (material & financially wise) behind. You may have declared bankruptcy. You may have been in thousands and thousands of pounds of debt. It matters not. It is time for you to forgive yourself, let it go and move on. Holding onto the difficulties you have had in the past is….you guessed it A BLOCK! so have a read and repeat after me.
- I forgive myself for the choices that didn’t work out the way I planned.
- I let go of the fear that I may lose money again.
- I understand that old habits will test me and that I can let go of those too.
- My relationship with money is my choice and I choose to change it.
As a little exercise in changing your money mindset I would like you to make a list of all the positive financial freedoms you currently have. Time to take note of the abundance that already sits with you. Did you have enough money to buy food this week? Great! Why not check out your bank statements for money coming in! Make a coming into my life list – not a going out of my life list and then sit with it a moment. One of the ways I have heard quite often helps with this practise of acceptance is making a list or a chart on your wall where you right all the + figures of money that come into you.
Take your focus away on what you spend temporarily to look at the sums of money that the universe (sorry to get a bit woo) has sent to you. Then think about the small change that you find lying around your house or the penny you see on the street. One really positive memory I have of my Dad (and my mum actually) was that they would never miss a penny on the street. they would pick it up and take it home. Take care of the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves? eh a positive one for you!!
If I said to you I am seeing red cars everywhere you would notice them more. On holiday my little family and I like to play a game called Spot the Spar (as in the very popular small grocery stores dotted about ). It was just a eye spy game but now every place we travel if there is a Spar we find it. We sniff it out, like intuition we know its there. This should be the way we mentally interact with money. If you recognise that it is like love (all around) you will be exposed to it naturally and potential for it whereas before you were looking at a breeze BLOCK wall. You’ll feel it in your fingers, you’ll feel it in your toes.. well you won’t really but you don’t need Marti Pellow and I to spell it out for you do you?
So it is time for you to totally reframe your thoughts on MONEY. This would be a fantastic time for you to consider ways you can implement money mindset into your daily life.
Can you pop post it notes around your house. or graphics that allow you the opportunity to read a mantra. Can you add a little note to your diary to remind you of the reasons you want more money in your life. Think about these mantras.
- I am a constant source of abundance
- Money is a tool for freedom and adventure
- I can do good in this world with the money that comes to me
- My family and friends will benefit from the money that flows to me
- I am a money magnet
- I deserve to earn good money
- I find it easy to make money
- I love money
- Money is a source of joy
- I love making money
- My business will support others making money
- Financial success is easy for me
- I attract money and prosperity
- Abundance is my friend
- Everyday money flows into my bank account.
I hope this blog will help you n your journey in business and much like you have heard me bang on about how you have to re visit ideal client often – you do need to do the work in this area too. It is not a one off job and done. You will need to consider this as a rolling behaviour to adopt. It gets easier to do the more you do it and it becomes more fun each time you can see it working. So don’t wait get into the practice now!!
This month in our pro members I will be focusing on our internal energies and money mindset. Have you joined my Free group?
come join us !