YES TO LESS STRESS AROUND FINANCES & MONEY.
Oh money. Something we all have. But rarely talk about. We have so many stigmas around money. We believe lies based on what we observed before age seven.
It’s something we don’t learn nearly enough about in school (in my opinion) and quite frankly we often allow it to have far too much power in our lives for better or worse.
This is all magnifies if you happen to be an entrepreneur and are now managing not only your personal finances but also your business’s.
And imma just go out on a limb and say that most entrepreneurs are WINGING their finances with no clue if they’re “doing it right.” I also don’t fully blame them because there is truly no rule book on this. No clear cut road map that fits all businesses. Then you add our personal money mindset issues and limiting beliefs and we have a super ineffective foundation and system for finances.
With all of this I have to make a disclaimer that I’m not a financial advisor or CPA. I’m not a money ANYTHING. I’m an entrepreneur who is navigating this all the same as you.
But I do feel I have some helpful tips for you, and I want to talk transparently about money because I don’t think money remains daunting or taboo when we bring it into the light. Then its power is taken away and it becomes another subject we can learn about, like anatomy, spirituality or language. Money is neutral. It’s an exchange of energy. It is not good or bad in nature. And it’s my personal belief that money simply magnifies our current state.
If your spending habits are an impulsive shit show now, they’ll just be a BIGGER impulsive shit show when you have more income.
Soooo anyway, woah. Let’s get into how to have less stress around money and finances.
Allow me to lay out some of my past money beliefs since you may or may not identify with them –
- Money = stress when you don’t have a lot. And money = greed when you have a lot. People who have a lot of money, who are rich, must be greedy and selfish.
- Money dictates feelings, your emotional state. Good or bad.
Now I will say from a very young age I knew hard work did not equal money. My mom worked HARD. We delivered newspapers on the weekends, and stocked Little Debbies with her on top of working at Safeway. But we did NOT have an excess of money. EVER. I picked up on the fact that hard work didn’t equal money very early in life.
Which has always helped me look at efficiency FIRST. How can we make more by doing less and providing the same value?
Nooowww the big one. My childhood drove me to want to make money and keep it all to myself. I knew I didn’t like not having money.
Therefore if I earned money, I was going to keep it to myself. No one was going to bring me back to those feelings as a child. Because of course I was terrified it would go away or it wouldn’t last or there wouldn’t be enough. This is not a great mindset folks. I don’t suggest it.
Now, perhaps you relate to some of those. Maybe yours are different.
I probable have more I haven’t realized yet. But no matter what this first tip will help you feel stress about money and finance.
Read about it
Become a student of money, and increase your financial literacy. Apply what you can.
We feel left in the dark around money. We are clueless and uninformed, left only with our childhood beliefs around money. No wonder we experience stress around the subject.
And it can be daunting to start because we often don’t know where to start.
My fav books for business are Profit First and You’re a Badass at Making Money. I don’t know of any for personal finance or money mindset specifically but know that following people like Hilary Rushford and Chloe from Deeper Than Money has been great for me.
I want you to see the possibility of being empowered around money, not trying to work a system or wing it, but truly being a good steward of money. The fact that the finances don’t have to be a complete shit show was so refreshing. So search money podcasts, find books on Amazon, follow humans on Instagram and become a student of money. When you do, it becomes more neutral, like I mentioned.
And you know me – knowledge is power. When you learn about money, you feel empowered. Trust me.
There’s always more to learn, but just START learning SOMETHING.
The next one is a bit more tactical and totally depends on the person and business. So please don’t take this as concrete information. (And also remember, I’m NOT a financial advisor or CPA).
Have a date and set your equation
You’ll learn about this in Profit First if you read it but the general idea applies to business and personal finance practices. And it all goes back to the fact that what we measure, we can manage.
Your finances and money managing skills are not going to get better by NOT looking at the numbers. Face the numbers boo. Then set an equation and date to review those numbers, personal or biz or both.
Now, I like every 2 weeks on the 10th and 25th but some people I know look weekly, some people look monthly. That really depends on what you need in order to feel successful. Which may also take some trial and error.
Your equation will depend on needs and priorities.
Lastly is my favorite and by far the most straight forward…
Talk about finances in safe environments
FREAKING TALK ABOUT IT!!!
Talk about money beliefs, talk about what you’re learning. Talk about struggles and what tactics you’re trying! Share podcasts and blogs with friends/colleagues.
Along with knowledge, you know authenticity and transparency are at the center of my biz. I don’t need to reveal every detail of my finances to my audience, BUT I do try to share my numbers with CONTEXT to help open conversions around money as entrepreneurs.
So, who are people you could talk money with? A mentor maybe? A close friend? An internet friend?
Trish and I talk money via Instagram DM’s. And let’s make clear you don’t need to share your specific income or numbers necessarily, but you certainly can if you’re comfortable and it’s welcomed + productive. It is so valuable to just start by talking money mindset before revealing numbers.
Remember that MOST people are not comfortable talking about money IN GENERAL on any level, so be mindful but do try to appropriately open conversations.
Shoot I started by openly talking about on IG, and recently had Chloe from Deeper Than Money speak in the knowledge vault of FitsPRO Foundations so my FitsPROs can get a head start on money mindset and biz finance.
Every time I talk about money people are so grateful.
People WANT to talk about it and learn. I promise. No one wants to be in the dark.
A little money talk and some hopefully helpful tips to decrease stress around finances. Work that money mindset, increase your literacy through education, and talk it up with your trusted humans. It all goes a long way. And is way better than continuing to be in the dark, feeling alone and lost around finances.
If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans.
Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives.
P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest!
