Alright, let’s dig into the top 3 money mindset problems I struggled with to overcome along my business journey.
Money Mindset Problem #1: I didn’t think I could be trusted with large amounts of money.
When I tell people I used to be terrified of money, sometimes they look at me kind of funny.
“WHY would you be scared of money? Don’t you WANT to make more money?”
If you have never struggled with feeling uncomfortable around money, I completely understand how it seems odd that I was A) trying to grow my business and B) terrified of making large amounts of money.
Nevertheless, I was BOTH of these things.
I remember the first two years of my business, every time I started building momentum, I would do something to stop my money flow.
I would LITERALLY turn off my sales page and tell people that they couldn’t buy anything.
I always had a “good” reason to justify this. Maybe it was because I wanted to improve my course. Maybe it was because I wanted to focus on my current group of students. Or maybe it was because I was going to take some time to research a new marketing strategy.
…but, NONE of those things actually REQUIRED me to turn off my sales pages.
The reality was that I had a deep fear that I could not be trusted with money and for that reason, I had to throttle my growth so I didn’t make TOO much of it. I was convinced that if I made too much, something catastrophic would happen.
To make matters worse, I thought that I was the ONLY one in the world who struggled with these types of money fears and that HAVING these fears meant that something was fundamentally wrong with me.
It wasn’t until I started speaking openly with some of my business friends (not my in real life friends because they would never get it) about my feelings that I began to understand I wasn’t alone.
I started to read books about money mindset and was thrilled to see stories on the pages that matched my own.
Knowing that others struggled with a similar problem made me feel like I was NOT fundamentally flawed in some way and that if other people managed to overcome their money fears, I could, too.
Money Mindset Problem #2: Managing large amounts of money was hard and I just wasn’t good at it.
Having large amounts of money in my bank account made me feel uncomfortable to the point where I wouldn’t even look at my bank statements.
Now, when you are trying to grow a business, NOT looking at your bank statements is kind of a problem…to put it mildly.
My first year of business was especially difficult. I couldn’t even bring myself to open a business bank account. Anytime I would think of it, I’d start to hear all the voices in my head telling me that managing money was something I would NEVER be good at.
So, I did my best to avoid my bank statements at all costs. Sometimes I’d have to look and when I did, I would just burst into tears.
My second year of business I knew that not feeling confident about managing large amounts of money was a CHOICE. If I wanted to START feeling more confident with my finances, it was up to ME to LEARN how to manage then. So, I hired a bookkeeper that would sit down with me once a month and answer ANY questions I had about my profit and loss statement.
At the time, I felt embarrassed to ask so many questions. But, I was determined to learn. Just because I was determined, doesn’t mean it was easy. I would cry for about 20 minutes straight before each monthly meeting with my bookkeeper, mostly from fear and anxiety.
The more I learned, the more confident I became. I even started to look forward to the monthly meetings so I could learn even more about things to track and measure.
Money Mindset Problem #3: One day my luck would run out and my business would fall apart.
If you’re still listening, I know you can relate to feeling like ANY DAY NOW, people will stop buying your courses and your lucky streak will come to an end.
I remember a few years ago I had a huge revenue month and I told my friend, well, this is it. It’s only going to be downhill from here.
I explained to him that it was a gut feeling and I just knew this was my peak.
Later I found out that this, too, is a super common fear amongst successful entrepreneurs. But, at the time I had NO CLUE that anyone else felt that way.
Well, my friend revealed that HE had been feeling the same way about his business.
YOU? I said. But, you’re making over a million dollars a year and have a successful podcast and everyone knows you. He just shrugged.
At that point, I started to question whether that “gut feeling” was really to be trusted. I mean, my friend didn’t have a successful business because of luck. He worked hard and delivered real value to a market that needed it.
Have you ever questioned your ability to sustain success? Have you ever reached a level of success that is so unfamiliar to you and as a result you JUST CAN’T IMAGINE that there is room for more of it?
Well, there is.
Once you begin to expand your circle you will see that there are a lot of REAL PEOPLE (not just famous celebrities you see on TV), that make A LOT MORE money than you simply by selling their online courses.
You have not hit your peak, you’re just getting started.
Now, I want to know YOUR #1 takeaway from today’s episode. Send me a DM on Instagram or join my FREE Facebook group and let me know!
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