I’m a child of the 70’s and one of the soundtracks of my childhood was ABBA’s “Money, Money, Money.” Regardless of what decade you were born in, chances are you lugged a money story out of it and into your present life. Perhaps money feels like everything to you in terms of success and security. Perhaps you claim to not care about it, but really crave it more than you bear to admit to yourself. Or maybe you just downright beat yourself up for not being better at getting, managing, and keeping it.
Wherever you fall on the spectrum, you’re in a safe space here. Money is everything (energy) and nothing (paper) at the same time, and none of us come by it without some heavy emotional baggage.
As a creative business owner and recovering financial ostrich, I’m on a mission to dispel the myths so many of us have around creativity, what people will pay for it, and our right to claim as much of it as anyone else. Because here’s the thing, money is what enables us to:
- Buy freedom
- Do the work that you were born to do and fulfills you
- Live free of worry and fear
- Make an impact
Assuming these are all things that drive you (and I’ve spoken with enough of you to think it is 😊) it’s time to take the first BIG step to getting you on the path to financial freedom.
Are you ready? Read on for 3 ways to dramatically increase your freedom, fulfillment, and MONEY.
1) Let go of the shame
How many of you saw Brené Brown’s TED talk on Vulnerability? At 39 million views, chances are you did! I believe the reason it connected with so many of us is it gives us the permission to not only be vulnerable but to see it as a positive step to getting to where we want to be. In her subsequent talk, Listening to Shame Brown states that “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change.” Hold the presses: isn’t innovation, creativity, and change what motivates us as creative professionals? Reason enough to keep listening, right? The first step to unhooking yourself from a negative money story is letting go of the shame that keeps it locked into place. I’ll grant you, it’s not easy, but watching the video is a great first step!
2) Question your beliefs
When clients book an introductory call with me I ask them to answer a few questions before we speak. I can’t tell you how many of them tell me how invaluable that exercise alone is in gaining the clarity they need to move forward. Here’s the thing. We hardly ever ask ourselves questions, let alone the tough ones needed for any meaningful change to occur. I’m as much of an ostrich as the next person, so this is habit I’ve had to really work at, but it’s paid off big time. Are you ready to answer a few questions that will help you move past a negative money story and experience? Good for you! OK, grab a pen, piece of paper and journal on the following questions:
1) What are your 3 most disempowering beliefs around making a lot of money?
2) Who did I learn those from, and was that person worth modeling in that area?
3) How are those beliefs ridiculous or absurd?
4) What is it necessary for me to believe in order to succeed?
3) Write your new money story?
Whether you’re a journaler or not (I wasn’t until I discovered The Morning Pages in 2017). I highly recommend pen and paper again for this exercise. Building upon what’s come up for you in steps 1 and 2, start to write a new money story. One of my favorite ways into this is to write in great detail an ideal day in your life 5 years from now. Imagine that everything has gone as well as you could ever have hoped (and then some!), from the bedroom and person you wake up next to (amazing how often Hugh Jackman appear in my client’s visioning exercise!), to each moment of the day. What are you wearing? What work are you doing, where, and with whom? How do you feel as you move through your day?
Next up, it’s time to put a little reality to the dreaming. Put some numbers next to those dreams and think about what you’d need to make to finance that lifestyle? Is it 200K a year? 500K? A million?
OK, you’ve done some great work! The inner game is the toughest one to crack and once you make these big shifts, figuring out how to actually make the money will be relatively easy! In the next few newsletters, I’ll be sharing more about how to take practical steps to living your new money story, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, I’d love for you to share what’s going on for you as you think about creativity, business, life, and money. Share a win or a challenge. I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
