3 Secrets to Money Success

April 23, 2015 By

MoneyI love secrets!  But what is a secret? It’s something we usually can’t or don’t tell another.  Well, a secret can also be something that is undisclosed or hush-hush.  When it comes to women and money there are lots of secrets in the way of if you don’t tell or talk about it, it ain’t happening.

Well, I’ve got news for you, it IS happening and that usually isn’t good.  So I want to share with you three secrets.  Once I disclose these to you, and you know about them, you’ll be on your way to money success and happiness!

Secret #1:  Discover Your Money Patterns and Behaviors.  In other words, this is how you “do” money consciously or unconsciously.  And believe me, when it comes to money we all do things unconsciously.  You probably say you want more money and to be better at money.  Well, in order to have money success, you need to look at your patterns and behaviors.  One of the ways to identify your patterns and behaviors is to understand your money archetypes.  Archetypes represent a pattern of power within you.  Meaning stories, beliefs, motivations, fears, courage and perspectives.  They speak to you through your subconscious.  When you are aware of your money patterns, you’ll be able to see objectively how you handle your money: your spending and saving patterns, your decisions around money, what you do and what you don’t do. Ultimately you will be better at money so that you can start making the changes you want.

Secret #2:  Create a Positive Money Story.  What is your money story?  A money story is the narrative you tell yourself about money.  Some examples are:  Money is hard to make, I’m not good with money, money doesn’t grow on trees, and things of that nature.  Take a few moments and write down what the money story is that you grew up with.  Is it one that is serving you or is it holding you back?  If it isn’t serving you, change it!  You have the power to change what you believe about money.  Now, there is way more to this topic and when I work with my private clients, we go through several exercises to really get clear on this and to heal ingrained money beliefs and legacies.  But for now, just start thinking about what you want your money story to be right here in the present.

Secret #3:  Empower Your Voice.  Empower means:  Authorize – Allow – Sanction – Give Power to – Make Powerful.  What this means for YOU is that you get to do all those things for yourself.  By authorizing yourself, allowing yourself, sanctioning yourself to be, do and have all that you want, you give power to yourself (and make yourself powerful) simply by connecting with – and creating a healthy relationship with – your money.  Empowering Your Voice is about being confident to speak up for what you want and to get what you want.  Again, this is the tip of the iceberg here and when I work with my private clients we go through a very powerful exercise that has them empowering their voice in so many amazing and unsuspecting ways.  I’ve had women who, after going through the exercise with me, decide to stop hiding out from their spouses.  They finally have what they felt were hard conversations about money but which turned out to bring them closer to their spouse.  I’ve had clients leave jobs they were unhappy in and find ones that made their heart sing.  There is no telling what can come from Empowering Your Voice.  For you, right now, just think about what is it you want and then ask for it — speak up and declare it!  You won’t be sorry, I will guarantee that.

Once you embrace these 3 Secrets to Money Success, you will be on your way to your financial freedom, inner self-worth and money success!

If you are interested in learning more about your Money Archetypes which I mentioned in Secret #1, and taking your very own personalized money archetype assessment, email me at kim@kimravida.com and put in the subject “I want to know my Money Archetypes.”  Yes, it’s that easy!

Do you have ‘secrets’ about money? Do you know your patterns? What’s your money story?  Post them below!

Filed Under: Money Habits, Personal Development, Reaching Goals Tagged With: , , , , ,

Do you have enough money?

March 13, 2014 By

Money BagWouldn’t it be great to have bags of money? That would be enough… wouldn’t it?

But what does having enough money mean to you?  Have you ever said “I just want to have enough money”?  I’m going to guess that yes, you have.  I know this because that is what my clients say to me… and most anyone I talk to says the same thing.  So my question is what does having enough money mean to you?

I ask because it means different things to different people.  For a pre-teen they might want to have enough money to buy lunch at the school cafeteria and a pack of gum at the corner store.  For a college student they might want to have enough money to buy a car and to go out and have fun in it.  For a working woman/man they might want to have enough money to pay for rent, utilities and food and have extra left for fun and shopping.  For newlyweds it might be for their first home and for a family it might be to house, clothe and feed them all and for a retired couple it might be to maintain a lifestyle.  As you can see, the answer is different for everyone.

No matter where you are it matters what enough means to you and it’s important to know exactly what enough is to you.  Many people have no idea what they need to live.  They have no idea how much income comes in and how much goes out.  In order to have enough money, you need to know your figures.  In my business I need enough money to run my business and cover my operating costs and pay myself a salary.  And I know exactly what those numbers are which makes every decision I make a confident one.

I love to share tips so here are several for you to begin your own journey to having more than enough money for living your life:

  1. Know exactly how much you bring in.  Get a sheet of paper and fold it in half.  On the left, write Income and on the right, Expenses.  Then go through your paychecks and add them up for the month (you could do the whole year but get a monthly figure first).  Write that figure down on the left side of your paper.
  2. Know exactly how much you send out.  Add up all your monthly expenses (again you can do the whole year as you probably have quarterly and yearly expenses, but let’s get that figure for the month first).  Go through them a second time, you’ll forget something – I always do.  Write that figure down on the right side of the paper.
  3. Know your bottom line.  Subtract your expenses from your income.  Hopefully you have a bigger income number than expenses number, but if you do not, don’t panic.  Take a breath and congratulate yourself for taking the time to take this first step to discovery.
  4. How to have more than enough.  If you have less income than expenses, it’s time to look at those expenses and scale back or cut some out.  Sometimes when you see your monthly expenses it is easy to know what needs to go… and sometimes it is more difficult.  Yet if you are spending more than you are earning, you need to make changes.  So get to taking things out!  Don’t confuse a want with a need: want = cable TV and need = food to eat.
  5. Give yourself credit.  It can be scary and discouraging yet you are now on the upswing.  Once you know where you stand, it will be hard to continue doing the things you had been doing that brought you to this point.  You are stronger than you think you are.  This is where you tell yourself you are happy and proud of knowing your exact figures.

I know this is not easy.  I’ve been in the “I don’t have enough money” position.   I’ve had that feeling of “Wow, I can barely feed myself let alone my pets.”  I’ve been there paying one bill I thought was more important to pay before another.  I’ve made half payments to just make sure I sent a payment.

On the flip side, I now experience the relief of knowing my bottom line and the figure that is my ‘enough money’.  I know the triumph of making choices that bring me the result I want, which is having enough money.

If you have had money struggles and overcame them, I’d love to hear how you did it.  Please post below!

Filed Under: Money Habits, Personal Development Tagged With: , , , , , ,