How do you handle money?

March 21, 2014 By

smile with cash 2174In response to that question, did you say “Often” or did you say “What money?”  When I ask this question of my clients, I get a lot of unique answers.  Some are so honest and heartfelt while others are quite sad.

One thing I’ve noticed is that most people handle money poorly.  Pun intended.  They have the ‘poor mentality’, which can also be known as a ‘lack mentality’.  The ‘lack mentality’ basically says “I don’t have enough so why bother”.  It is not a great place to be and it will not get you anywhere.  You find yourself with less money than you want and perhaps less than you need.  You get unexpected bills out of nowhere.  You get dragged down even further because you can’t stop thinking “Where is this money going to come from?”  You end up in an endless loop of trying to play catch up and never get caught up.

How you handle money is often how you handle everything in your life.  So if you avoid handling your money, you probably avoid doing and/or handling things in other areas of your life.  If you are late paying your bills, you probably run late for appointments.  If you forget to pay your bills, you probably forget other important dates, too.  See, if you are not handling your money from a place of control, authority or command… then other areas of your life aren’t being handled that way either.  You give up your ability to live your life powerfully, authentically and joyfully.  Yes, all from not handling your money well.

It’s an interesting concept isn’t it?  That is why I brought up the subject.  I know when I first realized that I wasn’t handling money from a positive, empowering point I discovered there were other areas in my life that I also wasn’t handling with confidence.  Once I decided (and yes, it is a decision) to handle money from a positive, empowering place — paying my bills not only on time but early, paying myself, saving money and saying no to overspending — I suddenly had more money and it feel so great!  Once I honored my money and my money habits, other areas of my life changed for the better, too.  It was so cool.

Are you ready to handle your money from a place of empowerment?  I hope so!

I’d like to teach you how to use your archetypes (don’t worry, I’ll explain what those are) to your advantage so you stop doing the things that sabotage your efforts to grow your money tree!  If you are interested, click here for more info.

Filed Under: Personal Development, Self Worth 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: , , , , , ,

What’s Money Got To Do With It?

June 10, 2013 By

financial freedomIf you are trying to lose weight and are unsuccessful, chances are you need some help.  Asking for help is a sign of strength, yet so many people are reluctant to do it.  The main reason I hear is lack of money.  People say “I can’t afford it.”  Yet in my book, that’s an excuse.  I hear lots of excuses from my group and private clients, and it usually all comes back to the mighty dollar.

A coaching client of mine recently lost a significant amount weight, yet she continued wearing her old plus-size clothes when she should have been wearing a size 10-12!  Why?  She told me she couldn’t spend money on clothes because they are expensive and, besides, she still had weight to lose.  As a coach I am supposed to be completely non-judgmental, yet I really got upset with her.  She made these significant strides forward in her health and fitness, creating a great healthy life for herself, yet she was sabotaging her success by wearing clothes that didn’t fit, didn’t look good, and she felt bad wearing!

After getting to the bottom of why she felt she couldn’t spend money, she realized she was caught up in an old money story (we all have them).  She grew up with the message that you “wear the clothes that you have because they are decent clothes and good money was spent on them”.  So we worked on her money stories (oh yes, she had more than one).  In the end she was finally able to go out and spend some money on herself with a clear conscious.  She got new outfits that were flattering to her new figure—and guess what?  She felt like a million bucks after that.

You can see how that mindset of “I can’t afford” isn’t supportive or healthy when it comes to self esteem.  All of us have ingrained messages, which we often aren’t aware of, that hold us back.  Coaching is great at bringing these messages to the surface so we can address them and move on.  Once we know what to look for, we can see them coming from a mile away and head them off before they do any damage.

Since they tend to show up as excuses, here are just a few I hear all the time that are related to money (and old money stories) as well as some tips for letting them go.

Excuse 1:  It’s too expensive, I can’t afford it.  “It” usually pertains to something that—if you did it, bought it, got it or had it—would  make your life easier or better in some way, but you use the fallback excuse above.  It’s so easy to say; it feels comfortable coming out of your mouth and you are used to saying it.  When you hear yourself saying “I can’t afford it, it’s too expensive”, ask yourself what old money story makes you think that way.  Then ask yourself how would you feel if you did have it; what would your life be like?  It might just be that you can’t afford not to have it.

Excuse 2:  I’m not ready to spend the money yet.  When will you be ready?  How is waiting to be ready to spend the money for what you want going to bring you any closer to it?  In weight loss, how is not being ready to buy new clothes helping you?  You have an opportunity to look and feel good immediately yet you make an excuse not to.  Be ready wherever you are.  Change your money story to “I am ready and willing to spend the money now to feel and look great because I am worth it!”

Excuse 3:  I can’t… Clients have said to me:  “I can’t afford a gym membership to get in shape” or “I can’t afford to eat healthy”… I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.  Again, in my book that’s just a bunch of BS.  Here’s why.  Think about something you wish you had done differently in your past, like not joining a gym last year when you first wanted to lose weight or not buying the adorable outfit you saw a few months ago that you really wish you had now the weather is nice.  So now notice the feeling of disappointment or regret you’re experiencing.  Not fun, is it?  Stop having regrets and being disappointed!  What is one thing you want to do but are saying “I can’t”?  Go and do it.

I suggest you tell everyone you are close to and spend time with regularly that you are on a journey.  Whether it’s to improve health and fitness or dissecting your money story or something else, getting help and having accountability to reach your goals will be easier when you have support. It will help you get from “I can’t” to a resounding “I can… and will!”

Go out and spend some money on yourself and feel on top of the world because of it!

I’d love to hear your thoughts; drop me an email or feel free to share your insights and revelations below!

P.S. If you are still having a hard time and feel disorganized and frustrated with money, send me an email.  I have a wonderful new program that might be a good fit for you.  It will bring you financial freedom and inner worth by helping you remove any limits on your money story.  Just put in the subject line:  I want financial freedom!

Filed Under: Self Worth Tagged With: , , , , ,
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