How Oversaving and Underearning Can Affect Your Business

Have you ever considered how your personal money behaviors affect your business? Oversaving and underearning can have drastic effects on your personal finances, but they can also affect your business. 

If you are a solopreneur or small business owner, it’s important to consider the ways these behaviors might transfer into how you interact with your business finances. Let’s take a look at some possible ways your business can be affected, and what you can do about it:

Restriction 

Underearning and oversaving can deeply limit your business from growing. Both can limit the amount of cash on hand to work with, which on its own can have challenging effects on a business. 

With both underearning and oversaving there is often a deep sense of financial anxiety. This anxiety can bring an edge of fear into the way you handle your business. This fear can be deeply restricting, and limit what you feel comfortable doing in your business, while also taking a toll on your mental health. If you identify with this, I encourage you to read my piece on reducing money stress in your business and my article on working with affirmations to influence your mindset. 

Missed Opportunities 

The restriction and anxiety that come along with underearning and oversaving can cause you to miss key opportunities in your business. Web designer and business mentor Yarrow Magdalena often talks about how perfectionism could be costing you money, and my observation is that the same anxiety underlying perfectionism often dovetails with anxious financial patterns. When we block ourselves from trying something new, taking a chance, or accepting a new project in our business, we can miss valuable opportunities to grow and find success. 

One key to overcoming these behaviors can be to think about the opportunities that spending can help you open up to. In my interview with digital marketing consultant Tracey Lee Davis of ZingPop Social Media, she shared that the way she makes spending decisions in her business is by considering the question “Will this investment ultimately save me time in the long run or make my life easier in some way?” She reported that making changes in her business by hiring a bookkeeper, VA, and CPA have all made a huge difference in her business because they’ve freed her up to do client work. This type of investment also gives business owners time to work on their businesses, not just in them. This can create space for strategic decision making and more opportunities for growth, change, and fulfillment in your work life. 

Embrace the Flow

I’d like to share my own personal experiences with oversaving and underearning. My childhood consisted of a fair amount of financial instability, so anxiety around money became something that felt natural to carry around. I would often feel guilty spending money on things that felt “frivolous,” but through the years with all my work around finances, I have been able to neutralize those fears. 

I noticed this one day when booking a massage with Liz Di Guilio of Myomotive (who I highly recommend if you are in the San Jose Area). I realized that instead of feeling guilty and scared because I was spending money, I was thinking, “I’m grateful to be able to support this business owner.”

This thought immediately brought me back to Lynne Twist’s book Soul of Money and the ideas she shares about embracing the flow of money. If you’re curious about her ideas, read my book review here! Embracing the flow can be a great antidote to the fear and insecurity that mark oversaving and underearning.  

If you enjoyed this blog post, you’ll probably really like my free e-Book, 9 Secrets for Financial Self Care. Click here or below to grab your copy today. 

By |2023-06-22T09:59:13-07:00June 22nd, 2023|Categories: Financial Clarity, Money Mindset, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
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Underearning and Oversaving: The Mindset Behind these Financial Habits

Are you saving too much money? Is your financial life bracketed by scarcity and insufficient funds? Do you identify as an oversaver or underearner? Then I invite you to take this post as an opportunity to explore your emotions and mindset which may be underlying these financial habits.

This post is inspired by Barbara Stanny’s excellent book, Secrets of Six Figure Women: Surprising Strategies to up Your Earnings and Change Your Life. Explore the ideas below and see if they’re helpful for you to explore your own financial behaviors.

Check In

Barbara interviews six-figure earners and contrasts them with women she dubs underearners.  One of the contrasts that is ever present between the two is a difference in mindset.  In her workshops with underearners, she uses a great exercise that I would encourage you to explore for yourself.  She asks them to complete this sentence:  People with money are _______________.  If this as well as the title of this book bring up negative emotions, you will need to change this story before you are able to change your relationship with your earning potential. 

I don’t believe that we all need to strive for a six figure income, or even that money is a measure of our success. But as business owners, if we are not able to support ourselves through our work, we will find it impossible to continue sharing the gifts that we have to offer. 

Similarly, oversavers are hemmed in by their fear of scarcity. Looking at both of these financial behaviors, I am reminded of Lynn Twist’s ideas in her book, The Soul of Money. The author also remarks on how, when we let go of scarcity and stop going after things we don’t really want or need, this “frees up oceans of energy to make a difference with what you have. When you make a difference with what you have, it expands.”

Make the Shift

I believe that we need to shift to an abundance mindset. What do you think of when you think of the word abundance?  I feel that this word includes many things: being grateful for what we have now, for what the future holds for us, for the gifts and talents we are able to share, the connections that we have to other people and the money that our society uses as a measure of exchange. 

Including money in our desire for abundance makes it possible for us to increase our earnings and feel deserving of them. An abundance mindset also helps us to navigate the fear of scarcity that often guides oversaving.

My Mindset

I have been exploring my own money mindset recently. While I thought I had a positive relationship with money, I still found that I had some blocks as well.  Because our society seems to measure a person’s value by their salary, it is easy to base your self-worth on your income.  In our household, my husband earns the money that we base our lifestyle on. When I truly began exploring my mindset, I found that I was seeing my earnings as “insignificant” in comparison to his.  When I began to separate the value that I deliver to my clients from my worthiness as an individual, my outlook on my potential impact also changed. 

The Deciding Factor

The path to making this mindset shift towards abundance includes gratitude, affirmations about your worth, and a decision to make a change.  Many of the six-figure women interviewed by Barbara started out with negative feelings around money, but they recognized that fact, made a decision to change and then put their new attitudes into practice.  The fact that you are reading this blog about money already shows your willingness to change. That is a great start!  

By |2023-06-16T17:26:31-07:00June 16th, 2023|Categories: Money Mindset, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Overcome Underearning: How to Avoid Underselling Yourself

 

A few years ago, I had the chance to speak with a group of businesswomen about their biggest financial mistakes. One that came up almost immediately was pricing products or services too low initially. Women especially struggle with worth and conceptualizing the value of their own labor, whether we’re working for an employer or ourselves.

Actually, I’d argue it can be even easier to get stuck in a cycle of chronically undervaluing yourself when you’re a solopreneur. One woman I spoke with shared about struggling with this. She priced her services too low initially. After realizing this, she found it difficult to raise her rates, because her first clients expected her low prices. She struggled between raising her prices and earning a wage that was too low for her needs. 

Whether you’re in a similar position, or just starting out and not struggling with this, there are actions you can take to avoid this pitfall of solopreneurship.

Establish a Plan and a Purpose for Your Income

First, establish your money why – your purpose and plan for the money you earn though your business. Where will it go? What will it do? An important part of this process is looking through your expenses and determining how much your business will support you with them. Once you’ve established your money why, you’ll be able to set income goals based off this information, so that your income is truly able to cover your living expenses. Once you know how much money you need to make, it’s easy to figure out how high your prices need to be.

Consider Materials and Costs

Ask yourself a few more questions: What products or services are you planning to produce and sell most often? How much time, labor, and supplies will go into production? Account for those costs in your pricing formula, and make sure the answers are what you want them to be. If you’re planning to make most of your money from custom embroidered portraits, but you actually hate embroidery, maybe you’ll want to tinker with your profit model a bit. After this inquiry, you’re well on your way to pricing yourself well. For more resources, check out this article I wrote about my interview with Megan Auman.

Work on Your Mindset

If you’ve already priced your products and wound up in a similar situation to the woman above, you can still double back and figure out your true income targets and prices. The real challenge comes in actually implementing a rate change. Before you do this, it can be helpful to do some mindset work. Raising your rates can be a scary prospect that brings up all kinds of emotional baggage, but if you work on it, you can get to a point where you feel settled. Then, go ahead and raise your prices! You deserve to be comfortable and make a living wage. After all, isn’t that why you went into business for yourself?

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy a free copy of my eBook, Reach Your Life Goals:  a Business Owner’s Guide. Click here or below to download your free copy.

By |2023-06-09T12:45:09-07:00June 9th, 2023|Categories: Profit First, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Is Your Money Affecting Your Relationships?: 3 Tips to Cultivate A Healthier Money Relationship

How we interact with our money can affect how we interact with others, and ourselves. So it’s important to tend to our relationship with money, in order to keep things clear in our other relationships! Today, I’m talking about three different ways that money may be affecting your relationships, and how you can begin to cultivate a healthier relationships with your money. I’ll be referencing The Soul of Money, an amazing book by Lynne Twist, throughout. Check out my book review if you’d like to learn more!

1. Dissolve the Competition

“Money has become a playing field where we measure our competence and worth as people. We worry that if we stop striving for more, we’ll… lose our advantage.” – Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money

As this quote highlights, money in our society is a high-stakes game. The competition and the need to always be getting more, buying more, earning more, and doing more can creep in and take over our lives. This can and does affect our social relationships. The phrase “keeping up with Joneses” is direct proof of how competition around money can affect how we interact with our neighbors, friends, and community members. At the same time, it’s also evidence of how we tend to measure ourselves and our efforts – against our earnings.

To cultivate a healthier relationship with money, and in turn, healthier social relationships, I suggest beginning by removing this element of competition. Work with affirmations or turn to mindset work or journal prompts to find ways to uproot this tendency. Talk openly with other people about your money. That’s a perfect segue into my next point!

2. Practice Transparency

“Our behavior around money has damaged relationships when money has been used as an instrument of control or punishment, emotional escape or manipulation, or as a replacement for love.” – Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money

Find some people who you can really trust to talk to about money. I call this process building a Money Team. In particular, it’s great to have a friend or two who you can open up to about finances.

 

Having a Money Buddy can give you a space to practice financial transparency, and get more comfortable bringing up money in your social relationships. This can be a great way to work on the feelings that come up around money in this arena. Eventually, you might find yourself feeling more comfortable sharing about your financial situation in general!

3. Create a Spiritual Connection to Your Money

“Your relationship with money can be a place where you bring your strengths and skills, your highest aspirations, and your deepest and most profound qualities.”  – Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money

The Soul of Money is definitely an excellent resource in this area. Lynne Twist writes about how money is like water, it’s a resource that’s meant to flow. She encourages us to recognize that money itself is not problematic, and that it is instead the interpretation of money that brings up so many issues.

Doing some personal work around our connections with money can be a great way to prevent it from interrupting our connections with ourselves and others. If you’d like some resources for this pursuit, I have a couple suggestions:

If you enjoyed this article, you’ll probably like being on my newsletter! Click here to subscribe and receive my monthly tailored newsletter full of important financial conversations, and my weekly blog updates.

This post was originally published in 2022. 

By |2023-02-08T15:40:28-08:00February 8th, 2023|Categories: Financial Clarity, Money Mindset, Personal Savings, Personal Spending|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Book Review: It’s Not Your Money by Tosha Silver

I’m curious, what feelings come up for you when you read the title of Tosha Silver’s book, It’s Not Your Money? Do you scoff or disapprove? Are you intrigued? Perhaps something else entirely comes up for you, or a mix of both. Today’s book review is focusing on a book that deals with a popular topic on this blog: money mindset.

However, Tosha Silver’s background is not as a money coach or bookkeeper (like myself). Her works originated from her love for and desire to share yogic philosophy. Her unique background gives this book a powerful spiritual charge. This book was an excellent and insightful read. Here are my top three takeaways:

#1: We’re Not In Charge

The title of this book is central to its philosophy. Throughout, Tosha tries to communicate that we alone are not in charge of what happens. She encourages the reader to “release doership,” embrace surrender, and give everything over to Love. Specifically, she speaks of Divine Love, her vision of a higher power. She suggest surrendering over to this power.

Now, if you’re reading this and raising your eyebrows, I get it. Surrender is nice and all, but applying it to your money in our competitive and driven world is no small feat. However, this book makes a wonderful case and provides a clear framework for doing just that. Much like Lyne Twist’s The Soul of Money, this book encourages us to see money like water – just a part of the flow in the universe.

This piece of the book was interesting for me to read. It reminded me of some other money mindset work that I have read and written about, which emphasizes the importance of releasing financial anxiety and other money baggage. Surrendering the care of our money and our wellbeing over to Divine Love is also, probably not coincidentally, a great way to release financial anxiety.

#2: Language Matters

During the book, Tosha outlines a 5 step process. One of these places great emphasis on the language we use around money. Specifically, she encourages us to examine the language we use around our financial situations. Another piece of this process also delves into working with prayers and affirmations. She introduces “Change Me Prayers,” which are meant to help the reader give up who they used to be to the Divine, in order to allow for change. Here’s one of these prayers below:

“Change me, Divine Beloved, into one who fully trusts that all true needs are always met through your bounty. Let me surrender and allow You to be my Source for All. Let me breathe, relax, and let you lead. I am safe. I am peaceful. All needs will abundantly be met. I am Yours completely.”

Isn’t that prayer beautiful? Definitely not your typical money mindset work! As a fellow lover of affirmations and an appreciator of words, I deeply resonated with these elements of her approach.

#3: Make Space

Another piece of this 5-step process is decluttering. Tosha invites the reader to “let what needs to go, go, so that what needs to come, can come.” This is an exercise in detachment, another theme running throughout the book. She writes, “Detachment is not that should own nothing, but that nothing should own you.”

As a Marie Kondo fan, this was not necessarily a new concept for me, but an exciting one nonetheless. In the past, I’ve talked about reviewing and refreshing your finances occasionally. The idea of incorporating an emphasis on decluttering and detachment is exciting and something I just might try out!

In sum, this book was an excellent book about money mindset work with a deep spiritual emphasis. I’d recommend this book not only for folks interested in money, but also for those less interested, too! The spiritual emphasis makes it inviting for those who tend to eschew material focus.

If you enjoyed this book review, you’ll probably like being on my newsletter! Click here to subscribe and receive my monthly tailored newsletter full of important financial conversations, and my weekly blog updates.

By |2022-02-17T13:01:42-08:00February 17th, 2022|Categories: Financial Clarity, Money Mindset|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Is Your Money Affecting Your Relationships?: 3 Tips to Cultivate A Healthier Money Relationship

How we interact with our money can affect how we interact with others, and ourselves. So it’s important to tend to our relationship with money, in order to keep things clear in our other relationships! Today, I’m talking about three different ways that money may be affecting your relationships, and how you can begin to cultivate a healthier relationships with your money. I’ll be referencing The Soul of Money, an amazing book by Lynne Twist, throughout. Check out my book review if you’d like to learn more!

1. Dissolve the Competition

“Money has become a playing field where we measure our competence and worth as people. We worry that if we stop striving for more, we’ll… lose our advantage.” – Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money

As this quote highlights, money in our society is a high-stakes game. The competition and the need to always be getting more, buying more, earning more, and doing more can creep in and take over our lives. This can and does affect our social relationships. The phrase “keeping up with Joneses” is direct proof of how competition around money can affect how we interact with our neighbors, friends, and community members. At the same time, it’s also evidence of how we tend to measure ourselves and our efforts – against our earnings.

To cultivate a healthier relationship with money, and in turn, healthier social relationships, I suggest beginning by removing this element of competition. Work with affirmations or turn to mindset work or journal prompts to find ways to uproot this tendency. Talk openly with other people about your money. That’s a perfect segue into my next point!

2. Practice Transparency

“Our behavior around money has damaged relationships when money has been used as an instrument of control or punishment, emotional escape or manipulation, or as a replacement for love.” – Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money

Find some people who you can really trust to talk to about money. I call this process building a Money Team. In particular, it’s great to have a friend or two who you can open up to about finances.

Having a Money Buddy can give you a space to practice financial transparency, and get more comfortable bringing up money in your social relationships. This can be a great way to work on the feelings that come up around money in this arena. Eventually, you might find yourself feeling more comfortable sharing about your financial situation in general!

3. Create a Spiritual Connection to Your Money

“Your relationship with money can be a place where you bring your strengths and skills, your highest aspirations, and your deepest and most profound qualities.”  – Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money

The Soul of Money is definitely an excellent resource in this area. Lynne Twist writes about how money is like water, it’s a resource that’s meant to flow. She encourages us to recognize that money itself is not problematic, and that it is instead the interpretation of money that brings up so many issues.

Doing some personal work around our connections with money can be a great way to prevent it from interrupting our connections with ourselves and others. If you’d like some resources for this pursuit, I have a couple suggestions:

If you enjoyed this article, you’ll probably like being on my newsletter! Click here to subscribe and receive my monthly tailored newsletter full of important financial conversations, and my weekly blog updates.

By |2022-02-10T16:07:36-08:00February 10th, 2022|Categories: Financial Clarity, Money Mindset, Personal Savings, Personal Spending|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Avoid This Impostor Syndrome Pitfall By Connecting With Your Values

One major impostor-syndrome-induced pitfall I see people struggle with is this: overcompensation. Perhaps they’re not getting enough paying clients, or not keeping track of their finances. Or they’re missing some other metric in their business that makes them feel like they’re “getting somewhere.”

Whatever the reason, people in this type of situation can sometimes fall into a pattern of overcompensating. This can become a financial or non-financial issue. For example, many people in this situation may feel their circumstances are due to the fact that they need to learn more. Other people can struggle with feeling like they need to “spend money to make money” and get preoccupied with gear, expensive software, etc.

Especially because you’re the one calling the shots in your business, making these decisions all comes down to you. That’s why it’s important to work through emotional mirages like impostor syndrome before making a financial or business decision. Let’s dive into both of these examples, and then talk about banishing impostor syndrome by connecting with your values:

“I Don’t Know Enough”

People with this story can get caught up on an information hamster wheel. This is especially easy to do with the whole Internet at our fingertips! People might feel that their business isn’t succeeding because they’re missing something, or don’t have the right training, etc. As a result, they sign up for courses, trainings, and coaching engagements. Or perhaps they spend a lot of time listening to podcasts and working through free opt-ins. Whether this version of impostor syndrome results in financial investments or not, it can also make running your business feel murky and difficult.

Exercise: Show yourself what you do know. If there’s a particular subject or specialty that you’ve been researching or wanting to get training in, spend some time writing down everything you already do know it. Just taking a breather and doing this for 5 minutes can remind you of all the knowledge you already hold!

“I Need to Spend Money to Make Money”

This is one of those longstanding business myths that many people can get convinced of unknowingly. I wrote about how people just starting businesses can avoid this pitfall here. What’s important is to keep in mind how you want to do things, rather than looking at how other business owners do them. If we play the comparison game we ultimately end up losing. Social media and comparing yourself to other more established businesses can intensify this feeling.

Exercise: Take stock of what you have. What software systems, supplies, gear, business accessories, etc. do you have that you love working with? Celebrate those and be thankful for them, just for a few minutes.

The Answer? Connect With Your Values

Just to be clear, there isn’t really a one-size-fits-all solution to impostor syndrome. But connecting with your values by tapping into what feels authentically joyful for you is a great step forward. You don’t have to be the industry expert or have all the bells and whistles to run an awesome business! You just have to do things in the way that feels right for you. So take some time to consider what that actually looks like!

It might be the case that you really do value education or having the latest tech for your business. Just make sure you tease those values apart from the feelings of urgency and “less-than” that come with impostor syndrome. Let yourself come to conclusions about what you want on your own, without outside influence, as much as possible.

If you enjoyed this post, you’ll probably like reading through my free e-Book, Three Essential Steps to Starting a Business, particularly the section on having a purpose and a plan for your money. Download it here!

☮

Angela

Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash

By |2021-08-24T11:12:22-07:00August 24th, 2021|Categories: Money Mindset, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
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Boost Your Social Impact With the Power of Belief

I’ll get straight to the point – what you do with your business and your money matters. A year ago, protests against racist policing and in support of Black lives erupted around the country. Today, we can reflect on those moments and think about the impacts they had, like the conviction of Derek Chauvin and the reduction of police budgets in more than 20 major cities, and look to the future to see how we might add to the movement ourselves.

Typically on this blog, I share practical tips related to giving, like how to use money mapping to give back and tips for stepping up for your community as a business owner. Instead, this article approaches the issue from a mindset-centered perspective. Many of us feel discouraged when it comes to thinking about social change. However, it is important for us to stay in touch with the belief that we really can make a difference. Internalizing this is the first step when it comes to making social impact with your business. Here are a couple tips on this subject:

Reclaim Your Power

When world and community issues are displayed to us on the news, they can feel huge and overwhelming. At this point, many of us feel helpless – while we might be able to imagine alternatives a better world, who are we to bring it about? The world’s problems are so big, and we feel very small.

This is where we need to reclaim our power. It’s important to recognize that while you may not be able to Wonder Woman the world’s woes away, you are capable of making a positive difference in the world. You can plant flowers, donate, fundraise, deliver and inspiring speech, cook a delicious meal for hungry people, and so on. Even better, your power is multiplied when you join up with other people who also wish to create positive social change.

Get Clarity On Your Values and Your Money

One thing that might be feeding a sense of powerlessness in your life is a lack of clarity with your values and your money. If you feel strongly about social issues, but your schedule, income goals, and spending plan don’t reflect that, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

If you’d like to have more time to volunteer, or more money to pass on as reparations, think of ways you can incorporate these considerations into your schedule and finances, while still caring for yourself. You are in charge of all of these resources. How would you like to allocate them?

See Yourself In Your Context

If you want to use your business to make positive change but you aren’t sure where to start, look around you. Who is your community? Who surrounds you, locally, in your industry, in your interests and organizations? When you take a look, surely you can start to see creative ways you and your business can help fill a need or brighten a day.

There might be local issues you’re passionate about, and there are likely organizations already doing work to improve the issues who would love your help or expertise. The same goes for your industry or a group you might belong to, like your church.

Remember the Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect dictates that small events have a rippling effect that can cause much larger events to occur. While you may feel that your contribution to the world is small, what you do ripples out. I love this quote from author and activist Grace Lee Boggs, who says, “We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it’s never a question of ‘critical mass.’ It is always about critical connections.”

Next week, we’ll look at some of the more practical aspects of giving when it comes to your finances. For now, I hope these suggestions inspired you and gave you a couple ideas.

☮

Angela

By |2021-06-17T11:32:21-07:00June 8th, 2021|Categories: Money Mindset, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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How to Avoid Underselling Yourself

A few years ago, I had the chance to speak with a group of businesswomen about their biggest financial mistakes. One that came up almost immediately was pricing products or services too low initially. Women especially struggle with worth and conceptualizing the value of their own labor, whether we’re working for an employer or ourselves.

Actually, I’d argue it can be even easier to get stuck in a cycle of chronically undervaluing yourself when you’re a solopreneur. One woman I spoke with shared about struggling with this. She priced her services too low initially. After realizing this, she found it difficult to raise her rates, because her first clients expected her low prices. She struggled between raising her prices and earning a wage that was too low for her needs. 

Whether you’re in a similar position, or just starting out and not struggling with this, there are actions you can take to avoid this pitfall of solopreneurship.

Establish a Plan and a Purpose for Your Income

First, establish your money why – your purpose and plan for the money you earn though your business. Where will it go? What will it do? An important part of this process is looking through your expenses and determining how much your business will support you with them. Once you’ve established your money why, you’ll be able to set income goals based off this information, so that your income is truly able to cover your living expenses. Once you know how much money you need to make, it’s easy to figure out how high your prices need to be.

Consider Materials and Costs

Ask yourself a few more questions: What products or services are you planning to produce and sell most often? How much time, labor, and supplies will go into production? Account for those costs in your pricing formula, and make sure the answers are what you want them to be. If you’re planning to make most of your money from custom embroidered portraits, but you actually hate embroidery, maybe you’ll want to tinker with your profit model a bit. After this inquiry, you’re well on your way to pricing yourself well. For more resources, check out this article I wrote about my interview with Megan Auman.

Work on Your Mindset

If you’ve already priced your products and wound up in a similar situation to the woman above, you can still double back and figure out your true income targets and prices. The real challenge comes in actually implementing a rate change. Before you do this, it can be helpful to do some mindset work. Raising your rates can be a scary prospect that brings up all kinds of emotional baggage, but if you work on it, you can get to a point where you feel settled. Then, go ahead and raise your prices! You deserve to be comfortable and make a living wage. After all, isn’t that why you went into business for yourself?

 

 

 

I hope you found this helpful! If this is the type of work you’d like to do with an expert guide, check out my Profitability Coaching Services and schedule a free Financial Self Care Consultation!

☮

Angela

Image Source: Magnet.me

This blog post is a tweaked and re-published version of the original, published in 2019 as part of a series on financial mistakes made by women solopreneurs. You can read the full series here. 

By |2021-05-24T10:43:00-07:00May 24th, 2021|Categories: Profit First, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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How to Use Affirmations to Transform Your Relationship With Money

Speaking your desires aloud holds real power. In my last post, we talked about a couple exercises that involved saying something aloud and recording the emotional sensations that came up. Now, let’s dive into the world of money affirmations. We’ll explore how they counter our internal self-talk, how they work best, and dealing with your own resistance.

Contradict Your Money Recordings

Affirmations are meant to contradict the money stories you’ve recorded in your brain. Often, your beliefs about money come from past adverse experiences, or people who told you discouraging things. For more ideas on how to dig into your past and discover the roots of your money recordings, read “How Your Relationship With Money Affects Your Finances (and What You Can Do About It)”.

Once you’ve identified the early sources of those money beliefs, you can use that information to pick the affirmations that will work best for you. The negative things you regularly tell yourself about money that you might have been dealing with from a young age are the areas you need to work on. Affirmations are excellent tools to use!

For example, let’s say when you were growing up, you were taught that money was the root of all evil. If you want to work on this area, you might choose an affirmation like “Money is a benign resource.” Choosing an affirmation that directly correlates to where you need healing will increase its transformative power.

 Transformative Words

Affirmations work by creating new positive stories about money . They help you rewire your brain and create new neural pathways. They also put your attention on money in a positive way, which can naturally lead to proactivity around your finances.

You will likely find this benefit of working with affirmations has a cumulative effect. You can experiment with this by working with an affirmation for 30 days. Choose one that’s specific to a money issue you’re dealing with. Write down exactly what your situation is like when beginning the experiment. At the end, write down again what the nature of the situation is now, and note the differences. Any changes that result are likely due to actions you’ve taken, even small ones, during the 30 days. The positive light that money affirmations shed on your finances can be enough to help you create transformative change.

Facing Resistance

You may notice that when you work with money affirmations, they activate your resistance. This is especially true if you’re using affirmations to contradict old money recordings. When this happens, it’s good to notice those feelings. What does that resistance bring to the surface? You can decide to delve into those feelings to see what healing needs to be done there, or you can stick with the affirmation a couple more times, just trying it out and letting yourself feel all the feelings that come up.

If you enjoyed this quick guide to affirmations, you might like to read my free e-Book, 9 Secrets to Financial Self Care, which provides you with nine more practices to help you incorporate financial self care into your work and life.

☮

Angela

Image by  Erriko Boccia 

By |2021-02-16T17:52:24-08:00February 15th, 2021|Categories: Money Mindset|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments
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