Archive for the ‘Money and Mindset’ Category

We all want to make more money.  I know this from the countless women I’ve coached over the years who have told me so.  The advice I give them on how to change their pricing strategies and how to creatively market their services seems simple enough at first glance.

So I’m often shocked and surprised when even after they follow my advice they still don’t seem to have enough money. So why is it even though a woman entrepreneur can make more money it doesn’t necessarily mean she will keep more money?

I know, it sounds unbelievable at first.  I mean if you’re working harder and harder at becoming successful, why does it seem to just slip through your fingers and out of your bank account?

Our relationship with money is a complex thing.  The reality is nearly ALL women have a secret, haunting issue with money that causes them to freak out and give away their power with money.  And when you lose your power, the cash is sure to follow.

Most possess a fear that somehow, having more money will change them or change their life in some way they can’t control.

So, while on the outside they do everything they can to be successful, on the inside, their mindset and beliefs are sabotaging their efforts.

If you, too, have created that endless struggle with never seeming to have enough money, even when you’re making more, then I know you’ll find these 3 tips really helpful in getting to the bottom of what’s really going on:

Money Will Change You

A lot of women are afraid they’ll turn into someone their not.  But truth be told, money doesn’t change you in that way.  It will magnify your values and your character but not change you into someone completely different.  If you were generous before. you’ll be more so with more cash.

On the flip side, if there are traits and values about yourself that you don’t particularly like then now’s the time to do something about them before you have more money.  Take the time to express your positive characteristics now and stand firm in what you stand for and eventually you’ll see that money will only enhance your quality of your life, not turn you into a mean and heartless bitch.

Who Are You Afraid of Offending?

I can tell you from experience that it’s not uncommon to have someone in your life who you think will be upset, jealous, threatened or disturbed in some way if you make more money.  Typically it’s a family member, but it could just as easily be a close friend too.

Does this feel vaguely familiar?  Ok, well it’s just fear you’re feeling, so go ahead and acknowledge the fear. If you really dig deep here this person more than likely wants the best for you.  They want you to be secure, safe, happy, etc.  So, focus on the positive intentions they have for you instead of focusing on what you’re afraid of.

What’s the Money For?

So, what’s your big money why?  If you don’t know, figure it out.

Making more is great and it allows you to indulge in life’s luxuries.  But once you’ve indulged a few times, eventually you’ll want to connect to your big why which has to do with your heart and spirit.  Maybe you want to finally own a home at the ocean or pay for your grandchild’s college education.

Knowing exactly and specifically what larger amounts of money are slotted for will help you value keeping more of it instead of splurging it on something that won’t change your life in any meaningful way.

Money Equals Self-Growth

Do you want to grow as a person?  Well, money is the perfect catalyst for your self-growth and development.  Not only will you delight in how advanced you become but your new income will give you the opportunity to make a profound and positive difference in the lives of everyone around you.

If you are really serious about making more money then listen up ladies.

You must stop undervaluing your time by spending it in ways that are so far below your skill level they are practically underground. You know what I mean here…the house work, laundry, errands, futzing around with your website, book keeping.  The list is endless.

If you want to make $100, $200 or even $300 or more then you must stop doing those types of tasks.

But how do you know what to delegate first?

Here ‘s a quick list and few tips to help you get started:

1.  Household chores, including running errands, house cleaning, laundry, cooking,  and food shopping to name a few.

2.  Business tasks such as answering emails, invoicing and paying bills, balancing the checkbook, ordering supplies, setting up conference calls and teleseminars, and publishing your newsletter are just a few of the tasks better delegated to your assistant.

Tip #1: Stop Bartering!  When you barter it sends a message of not valuing what you do or how much your worth.  Energetically it sends the wrong message – the message of limitation and lack.

Tip #2: Eliminate (fire) any clients that don’t meet the criteria on your “A” list.  We all have our ideal client in mind…start getting rid of those clients who don’t meet your ideals.

Tip #3: If you want to be a six or even seven figure business owner then you need to start thinking like one.  Ask yourself this question:  “How would a six or even seven figure business owner spend the next hour?  How would a six or even seven figure business owner handle this situation?  How would a six or even seven figure business owner delegate?”

Choose one of these simple ways to start valuing your time and implement it starting today!  Don’t delay – your six figure business is just around the corner!

I don’t know about you, but 2011 is starting out phenomenally for me and my family! I just finished my Money Breakthrough Certification and am ready to start working with women who want to change their money situation once and for all.

Stay tuned for more information, but for a sneak peak go to www.breakthrougyourmoneybs.com for my new FR’EE Mini-Course on Clearing Money Clutter! This mini-course gives you some phenomenal, but simple, strategies to start clearing away the clutter so you can start making room for more.

Here’s what one of my clients had said about this Mini-Course:

“I firmly believe that working with a coach like Maureen is the key to success. Being held accountable and masterminding helped me identify the real reason I was “stuck” in my business. I know I have had a breakthrough using the “Clearing Money Clutter Mini-Course.” In less than 2 weeks I was able to take the principles that Maureen taught me and apply them to clear the clutter in my life so I can make room for all the other things that I desire in my life and business. I do believe that “how you do money is how you do everything.” I feel more in control and look forward to more sessions with Maureen to move me further on my path to success!”

~ Janice Donovan | Market America/Transitions

Go ahead, get your fr’ee mini-course now!

www.breakthroughyourmoneybs.com

We all make resolutions and most people make them in two distinct areas.  The first in health and the second financially.  Did you make financial resolutions this year?  If you did keep reading to find out the best strategy so you can stick to and reach your financial goals in 2011.

1.  Less IS More

I read a blog post last week and under financial goals this is what was written:

1. Significantly increase our giving to needs in our community and around the world. This is an ongoing goal, so we’re keeping it uncrossed off from the list.

2. Pay cash for a replacement washer and dryer for our very used set.

3. Pay cash for a replacement for van

4. Pay cash for a couch for our basement family room.

5. Pay cash for bunk beds for the girls.

6. Fully fund our IRAs.

7. Bump up our retirement savings to 10% of our income.

8. Fund our children’s educational savings.

9. Double our Emergency Fund Savings (Instead of having around six month’s worth of expenses set aside, we’re planning to set aside a year’s worth of expenses.)

10.  Save at least 40% towards our Commercial Real Estate Investing Goal

I was overwhelmed and exhausted just reading this list.  I bet you are too!

Here’s what I suggest:   Have two goals and work diligently on meeting them.  Once you have you can add another goal to the mix.  This way you’re not so overwhelmed that you ditch  your goals. all together.

2.  Get Real

We all have goals and that’s great.  But without a plan the goal is doomed to failure.

Let’s say for a moment you want to get out of debt this year.  Great!  Congratulations, it’s a great goal to have.

Your first action is to determine just how much debt you actually have.  Get out a piece of paper and write down all your credit cards, how much interest they have and the outstanding balance.  Add it up.

Ok, gulp that’s how much debt you have.  How do you plan on paying if off?

You must come up with a strategy if you plan on being successful.  I teach my clients a simple but very effective way to pay down debt.  It worked for me and I know it will work for you too.

Whether you use my plan or develop one of your own.  Start planning to ensure you meet your financial goals in 2011.

3.  Get Accountable

It is much easier to be accountable to someone else when trying to reach your goals.  So, find a friend, coach or family member who can hold your feet to the fire as you try to reach financial security in 2011.  This way ever time you reach for your wallet to buy something you don’t need, they can remind you what your working towards!

Remember, financial freedom and security IS attainable.  You can do it!

Our first responsibility when tackling our money demons lies in the importance of being willing to look at your money beliefs and habits. Wasn’t being willing to look at this issue as liberating as I told you it would be?

Being willing to face your Money BS is an important first step.  But in order to have the kind of Money Breakthroughs that will keep you moving in the right direction it’s imperative that you tell yourself the truth about what you are examining.

Make Sure You Tell Yourself the Truth

Thinking back, I realize that I didn’t always tell the clear and simple truth about my money habits.    Oh, I had been honest about the situation but that is very different than telling the truth about something.

When you are honest you share your thoughts, feelings, emotions, judgments and even how it made your feel in your body. For example, “when I saw all that I had purchased at the store today I was thinking, you fool, you did it again.  I was literally sick to my stomach.”  That’s an honest statement.

The truth would sound something like this, “I purchased four blouses at a total cost of $200, two pairs of pants for $120, and two pairs of shoes for $175.  It was $400 more than I said I would pay.”

No emotions, no judgments, just the plain and simple truth.

Now I want to be clear. I am not saying you shouldn’t be honest in your assessment of the situation.  Honesty is a very necessary step; it clears the way for the truth to be revealed.

What I am saying is just revealing the honesty of your predicament isn’t’ enough.  But here’s the thing – it’s easier said than done.

Our first reaction is to reveal the honesty; to spew out all the emotions, the feelings and thoughts, the rationalizations and justifications.  They come pouring out when we are honest; it’s human nature.  The situation is emotionally charged and that’s why we behave this way.

But peel back the honesty and what’s left is the truth of our behavior. The truth is our responsibility in the mess we have created.  And that my female friend is much harder to disclose.

Remember my story about creating a huge amount of credit card debt and my possible bankruptcy?  I had many honest moments discussing what had occurred in that financial disaster. But when I got truthful I realized no one else made me buy those clothes and shoes and home goods and gosh knows what else.  It was me, it was all me.  That was the truth.

So I want you to get truthful about your past Christmas spending.  A word of caution – do it with a big dose of compassion.

Being willing to look at the situation and being truthful are two very important steps in helping you move towards an even bigger breakthrough. In that breakthrough you will be able to take the kind of action that will help you create new money habits.

What will those actions be?  What are you afraid of if you don’t spend like crazy?  We’ll explore this next time.

During this season of gratitude I’d like you to reflect on the concept of giving your money away or “tithing”.

Did you know that giving your money away actually expands money?  Robert Allen said it best when he wrote, “Giving literally magnifies, multiplies, and exponentializes money.  Conversely, the tighter you squeeze your money, the more compact it becomes.”

People who have been fortunate enough in life to have large sums of wealth understand this concept perfectly.  They understand that by giving their money away they stand to gain far more money in return, so they give generously.

So which are you?  Do you squeeze your money or give it away?

The outside of our business often has an uncanny ability to mirror for us what’s up for us on the inside.  That’s why when my business is experience a lull I immediately see the truth for what it is; an opportunity for a breakthrough.  Typically that breakthrough involves money.  So when there is a lull in my business that lasts beyond a few days my first step is to realign myself with my Money Goal.

Things that you can ask yourself to help you through this lull are:

• Is your money goal big enough?  Maybe you made your money goal a while ago and it no longer is big enough to hold what you really want.
• Does your money goal still hold meaning and significance for you?

• Are you passionately connected to the bigger why of what the money is for?

• By creating a breakthrough about money, which belief are you challenging?

Having the courage to answer these questions completely and honestly will help you get your business out of any slump that you are in.
My challenge to you is to answer each of these questions and if you feel comfortable drop me a note on my blog

Each and every day I am lucky enough to impart extraordinary information to help my clients move from frustrating five figure income into six and even high six figures.  Most of what I share with my clients is about the money mindset shifts one needs to make in order to be a successful entrepreneur.

Mindset in combination with using my keen intuition and facing my fears are the foundation for the success me and my clients have had in our businesses.

Now, just to be clear, mindset is more than just reading some fancy, squishy feeling affirmations every day.  Your mindset is those deep rooted beliefs that you hold near and dear to you and would take an atomic bomb for you to let go of.  These beliefs help you through all of your challenges both business and personal.  Ultimately, your mindset helps you to make the decisions that change your life.

So here’s a list of mindset secrets to help you succeed in business and become that high six figure entrepreneur!

• Face your fears; never let fear influence your decision making ability
• Use challenges to spark your creativity and solve problems
• Never tolerate excuses from others or from yourself
• Believe “Where there’s a will there’s a way”
• Understand there’s real power in asking for help
• Knows that obstacles are a reason to strengthen your commitment to your bigger why
• Graciously welcomes new learning opportunities from teachers, mentors and coaches
• Know you can do, be and have anything you want
• Never, ever play the victim
• Holds firm to boundaries and stand solid in your personal power
• Knows that “NOW” is the right time
• Understands that fear and doubt are not truth
• Let’s go to grow
• Appreciates the growing and learning process and see the results in the transformation of your business
• Practices the attitude of gratitude
• Invest in the best mentoring and coaching

Print out this list and put it on your cork board or wall and reflect on the mindset secrets every day.

How you do money is how you do everything.

I posted that in my money reflections section of my newsletter last week.  I didn’t get one question or comment about it which I thought was kind of strange.

Could it be that everyone understands this statement?  I honestly didn’t think it was possible that everyone understood the statement so I decided to write a piece today that digs deeper into the statement.

Because we live in a universe that is made up of energy it’s safe to say that money is energy too.  Makes sense, right?  Which means if this energy is everywhere and money is energy too, our relationship with money is a symbol of our relationship with everything in our lives.

When you work at improving one area of your life usually other areas are improved as well.  So it’s safe to say when we improve our relationship with money other areas follow suit and get better and better.

So, how you do money is how you do everything.

Think about it this way…

• Do you feel like you ever have enough money? Do you have enough time?
• Do you have a tendency to waste money?  Do you often feel like you are wasting your time?
• Do you know how much money you have in your bank accounts?  Do you have an adequate picture of your physical health?

The goal here is to wake up and start recognizing where we are unconscious and to start changing our habits and beliefs to ones that better suit us.  By doing so we can start to conduct ourselves and stand more powerfully in our lives.

Money and the energy associated with it allows us to do just that.

What would you say if I asked you to name all the ways you prevent money from flowing to you?  Would you be able to answer the question or would you look at me with confusion?

Not sure what I mean?  There are countless ways we block money from flowing into our lives and often times we are completely unaware of those blocks.

Let’s start with Physical Clutter.  Now, you might be asking what physical clutter has to do with opening the floodgates to making more money; but rest assured it has a lot to do with your ability to attract and make more.

Where do you keep your bills that need to be paid?  Are they strewn all over the place, needing  to be filed?  Do you keep some in your office and others in your car?  I want you to go and collect all the bills that need to be paid and place them in a folder with “Bills to be Paid” written across the front.  Make a commitment that each time a bill arrives in the mail, you will put that bill that needs to be paid in that folder.

Now let’s examine the physical clutter that has accumulated in your wallet.  Yup, that’s right…take out your wallet and look at it.  Is it stuffed to the gills with receipts and junk?  Is your money neatly organized with bills in order or is it just thrown in there?

I want you to clean out your wallet so you can make room for more money.  How on earth will you handle more money coming to you if you can’t even keep your wallet clean and organized?  Where will you put all that money?  There’s no room in your wallet unless you clean it out!  Do it today, ok?

The second area worth exploring is Schedule Clutter.  Schedule Clutter is things like interruptions in your daily activities, other priorities that seep into your day and feelings of overwhelm when working.

These too are all energy drains and block the natural flow of abundance and money.  Develop a schedule and stick to it.  Answer emails only once or twice a day.  Turn off that little bell that dings on your computer when you get new emails, or better yet, close out your email while you work.  Don’t say yes to appointments or other distractions that interfere with you accomplishing what you want and need to do each day.  This will help you to accomplish even more in your day and will reduce those feelings of overwhelm.

The next area is Emotional Clutter, which includes difficult relationships, draining relationships and people that have poor boundaries.  You probably read that last line and said, “Oh boy, I know exactly what she means.”

We have all been there, surrounded by people who suck the life out of us, intrude into our lives, and are just plain awful people to deal with.  Don’t put up with it any longer.  These relationships are so detrimental to your ability to increase the flow of abundance and prosperity into your life that it’s scary!  When you stop trying to manage the situations that drain your energy, you find that you have more energy to devote to the really important areas of your life.

The final area I want to discuss today is Money Clutter.  This includes accounts that are not current, being unclear about how much money you bring into your business, and your personal and business debt.  Can you feel how just reading this creates a heaviness and energy drain in your body?  Is this you?  Can you see why this needs to be addressed immediately?

Let’s tackle your accounts that aren’t current.  Paying your bills on time every month will take care of the money clutter that blocks more money from coming to you.  When you ignore your bills because you’re afraid to open your checking account, or you’re not sure if you have the money to pay your bills, you create a lot of drama, stress and chaos.

Starting today, I want you to write down when you will pay your bills each month.  Go to the calendar and pencil in the date and do so for the remainder of the year.  Depending on how your money comes in you may need to pay bills weekly.  That’s ok.  The important thing is that you pay the bills at the same time each week or month and you do so consistently.

By clearing up these clutter areas in your life, you will remove the energy block that is preventing you from attracting money into your life. Don’t know where to start?  Pick one area and take it one step at a time.  I would love to hear how you are going to clear out the clutter to make room for more money in your life!

Do you want to learn more ways to rid yourself of these and other bad money habits?  Then consider requesting an application to my new Mastermind Program – The No Secrets, No BS:  The Nuts and Bolts To Increasing Revenue In This Economy! Just contact Lisa for an application.