If you constantly undercharge and overdeliver, feel in your heart that your mindset about money could benefit with a makeover, or feel nervous every time you price your services or talk with a prospective client, knowing you’re not quite sure of what to say when it comes to the money part, you’re not alone. 

2020 has left many educators, experts, coaches and consultants rattled and nervous about pricing their services. What the pandemic hasn’t changed though is the fact that strong foundations grow a successful business. And a strong mindset, particularly money mindset, is an essential component of your foundation.

In this post I’ll share three ways you can improve your money mindset.

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My money mindset wasn’t always strong. In fact it’s something I continually work on.

You see, as the daughter of a policeman and nurse, I was raised that you had to work hard for your money.

Like really hard.

Growing up I watched my parents work long days (and nights), irregular shift work and even face life threatening dangers on and off the job. At worst, I remember my Mum coming home early from a shift with her nurses uniform, glasses and hair covered in (someone else’s) blood… in the 1980s when everyone was paranoid about AIDS. 

And I clearly remember my Dad having top quality security lighting installed around our home and flipping out if he found us in a room with the light on and the blinds not down after dark, because he’d received ongoing death threats against his family (not uncommon for police officers who have locked many criminals away).

So even though I didn’t choose nursing or policing as my career path, I carried this work-hard, almost a you-need-to-suffer-for-your-salary, mindset into my environmental engineering career and entrepreneurship.

For 13 years I worked at some of the most remote industrial sites in Australia, where 12 hour shifts, and 14 of them in a row, were standard. I even completed my Masters of Science degree while working these crazy hours. 

Not surprisingly given my poor money mindset, when I created my first online business ‘Sustainababy’ in 2009 while on maternity leave from my senior engineering role, I continued this pattern. After all, I didn’t know how not to be a ‘worker bee’.

I’m quite ashamed to say it now, but I worked every minute my beautiful newborn baby napped and I worked late into the evenings when I really should have been resting as a new mum.

Sure my business flew out the gate and pulled in over six figures within its first 18 months, not to mention collected a swag of business awards, but the early signs of burn out were appearing and worse, I just wasn’t happy.

Enter baby no.2, who decided that sleep was optional, and I knew the writing was on the wall…my early signs of burn out had turned into adrenal fatigue and a thyroid condition. If I wasn’t going to stop working, at the very least I needed to work SMARTER, not harder and I seriously needed to upgrade my money mindset.

What followed was a period of transformation in my business and my life. 

I invested in money mindset training and engaged the support of a business coach and mastermind (not to mention decent doctor and naturopath for my health – but that’s another story). 

I then launched my first online sustainable living e-course, which gave me a taste of passive, leveraged income. Plus I sold my e-commerce business and set about creating a membership e-product.

Finally! I was working LESS, earning MORE and I had time to spend the precious early years with my two sons. I also had time to focus on my own health and wellbeing and start the long healing journey for my thyroid and adrenals.

My WHY has always been to reduce the impact of humans on our planet to ensure future generations can enjoy our precious Earth, but I realized along the way that working harder wasn’t sustainable for me.

Working on my money mindset enabled to see that I was working from a place of scarcity. I didn’t have to work that hard to earn my keep. In fact, when I worked less, I actually made more and was happier and healthier!

If this is the first you’ve heard about money mindset, let’s take a closer look and what it is and how you can improve yours….

What is money mindset?

Money mindset is your attitude and beliefs about money and abundance. Money mindset influences how you make financial decisions, like whether to save, spend or invest. It influences how hard you work for your money. A strong money mindset cultivates feelings of abundance and enables you to charge premium prices for your services and maintain strong delivery boundaries. 

What is your money mindset?

Money mindsets are generally negative or positive. You can have a mindset of scarcity or abundance. 

A scarcity money mindset is typically characterised by beliefs that money is in short support or hard to make. Beliefs like:

  • Money doesn’t grow on trees

  • Good things come to those who work hard

  • It takes money to make money

  • Money is evil

  • Money is dirty

  • I never have any extra money

  • Money is hard to save

Alternatively, an abundant money mindset is typically characterised by beliefs that there are opportunities to make money everywhere. With an abundant money mindset you feel like no financial problem is impossible to overcome. You also look at money from a place of abundance and feel like you already have enough, which helps you to let go of unnecessary spending and no longer buy things to “make you feel better”.  An abundant money mindset is characterised by beliefs such as:

  • Money is a resource to create good in my life and for others

  • There’s enough money for anyone who’s willing to out and get it

  • I can always make more money

  • When I manage my money well, more money comes my way.

Are you currently operating from a place of scarcity or abundance?

THree Ways to Improve your money mindset

 

Here are three ways to improve your money mindset

1. Forgive your money memories

 

When I started seriously working on my money mindset the first step I did was journal every negative money memory I had. From losing my sisters lunch money at our school fete in Year 4 (I can’t be trusted with money) to dating a guy who never paid for dinner (I’m not worth spending money on) to losing hundreds of thousands of dollars on a regional block of land we never developed (I’m reckless with my investment decisions).

I wrote them all out and then, line by line I read them out and forgave myself or the person involved. I then drew a line through the memory and continued until I’d forgiven my last money memory. 

The first time I completed this exercise I literally had three pages of money memories. These days just a few come up. Forgiveness has definitely helped me move forward.

2. Emotional Freedom Technique

 

Working on my money mindset with a money mentor involved me learning Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Also referred to as tapping or psychological acupressure, the process simply involves tapping certain pressure points in your body and simultaneously saying your negative belief or money fear, follow by “I deeply and completely love and accept myself”.

For example, “even though no one will join my e-course this live round and I’ll be left with a huge Facebook Ad bill to pay, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”

Now as a scientist I can’t explain exactly how this works, but it manages to make me feel lighter and more positive. For tapping scripts I suggest you google your money fear follow by ‘tapping with Brad Yates.’ Brad has and massive backlog of YouTube videos you can tap along to.

3. Money Mindset Coaching

 

Investing in money mindset training and a business coach familiar with money mindset was transformation in my business and life. 

Improving my money mindset helped me to sell my e-commerce business, launch my first online sustainable living course (which gave me a taste in passive leveraged income), crowdfund over $45K for sustainability projects and grow my coaching business.

 

 

Upgrading my money mindset was the KEY to my big shift in working around the clock and weekends to getting firmer on my boundaries and valuing myself and my services.

It’s been so transformational for me that I decided to train as a Certified Money Breakthrough Business Coach so I could easily help other impact-driven educators, experts, coaches and consultants grow their business online, without burning themselves out in the process.  

If you’re ready to take your money mindset and business to the next level so that you can:

  • Confidently start charging more for your services, which impacts your business take-home income dramatically

  • Up-level your money mindset so that you’re working less, valuing your time and setting great boundaries 

  • Feel confident, calm and relaxed when talking with prospective clients (or delivering your sales pitch on a webinar), knowing exactly what to say when it comes to the money part

My virtual Money Mindset Mastery half day workshop is the fastest and most effective way to make this happen for you.

Click HERE to learn more about my Money Mindset Mastery Half Day Workshop.

 

Final Thoughts

Working on my money mindset has helped move me from being constantly scared about not having enough money, and working non-stop to make more, to feeling abundant and grateful for the money and things in my life. The flow on effect to my close relationships and health have been undeniable.

If you’re ready to work on your money mindset, I’d love to help you reach your money breakthroughs in my Money Mindset Mastery Half Day Workshop.

  

Laura