For most business owners money can be a touchy subject – feeling like there’s never enough, or worrying about where you’re going to find it next. Some months in your business go well and you feel flush, but they soon get overshadowed by months where you struggle by wondering how you’re going to pay the rent, the staff or the mortgage.
And money can be one of the most emotive topics to talk about because we all have so many hang ups about it. In fact, if you didn’t know you had hang ups about money before you went into business, you would certainly soon have discovered them once you started, because every day you have to deal with it. You make sales, set prices, ask for money, negotiate deals, spend money, budget, invest, save, pay bills and invoices, or borrow money. You have to keep accounts, pay tax, deal with HMRC, and manage your banking and cash flow. You can’t avoid it!
For many people, particularly those in heart-centred, service-based or creative businesses, caring for others, self expression and making a difference feels more authentic and congruent, and is a bigger motivator, while money is frequently given little importance or dealt with in an uncomfortable, awkward way, but the fact is, if you’re not in business to make money, then you’re not in business. You have a very expensive hobby!
Passion for the job is great, but profitable passion is better! And if you want to survive you’re going to have to learn to see money as a tool you need to master and deal with your money dramas.
Whether we’re rich, poor or middle class, we all have a mindset about money – a set of thoughts and beliefs which determines the kind of relationship we have with it and how much, or little we can earn.
The beliefs that block us from charging what we’re worth and building the business we really want stems from our money story, which is usually deeply embedded in our unconscious and developed from our family’s blueprint – the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, habits and mentality – around money.
Common limiting beliefs that come up for people when they start to look at their money story are things like:
– Money is dirty, or the root of all evil, it’s shameful to want it – and is certainly not spiritual!
– People who have lots of it are greedy, bad and not to be trusted
– I’m not worthy or deserving of money.
– Others might be able to make money, but I can’t.
– Money doesn’t come easily so you have to work hard for it.
– There’s a limit to how much good you’re allowed.
And you’ll know you’ve got these kind of unconscious limiting beliefs because they show up in your business as:
– Continually putting other peoples’ needs before your own, frequently giving your services away for free or working more hours than you ask to be paid.
– Disliking wealth and the people who have it.
– Finding it really difficult to raise your fees or ask for money.
– Blaming someone or something else for your financial situation such as your ex-partner or the economy.
– Repeatedly earning less income than you need for no apparent reason.
– Frequently being stressed around money and finding ways to avoid dealing with it.
When you don’t look at your money story and you allow these thought patterns to continue, not only do you feel a lack of financial abundance, but your energy drops and then you can start to feel like you have a lack of time, support or other good things. Scarcity and lack dominate your life, your confidence in your ability to become a success diminishes, and your self esteem can hit rock bottom.
Your thinking is stuck in a negative spiral, and if you want to create a successful business you have to break out of that, turn it around and develop a positive money mind set.
You have to take responsibility for where you’re at, stop blaming anyone or anything else for your situation, and be willing to look at your money story. When you start to notice what limiting beliefs you’ve disguised as the truth be prepared to challenge them. See how it might be serving you to stay small, or a victim, and look for the positive life lesson.
The truth is you have unlimited potential to create anything you desire in life, and it’s only the limiting thoughts in your head that stop you achieving your dreams. So when you actively work on transforming those unhelpful thoughts into more resourceful, positive ones, your energy will shift and you will start to attract more positivity, opportunities and wealth to you.
Abundance expands to meet desires, so how big are you letting yourself dream?
