Uncover Your Money Story

Listen to me read this blog post here: 

Do you know that you have a Money Story?

It’s the unique way that you think about, relate to, and deal with money.

And, that Money Story is dictating everything from the number in your bank account to the price point you charge clients to how you feel about spending money on yourself.

When we allow our negative thought patterns about money affect us, it can become nearly impossible for our bank accounts to grow. Business feels like a lot of effort, and we feel at odds with our desires.

Now, you may be thinking, “I don’t know if I even have a money story”. (I get it, that’s kind of how I felt the first time a coach of mine brought it up.) But, I encourage you to remain open to this idea -- for me, it was a true game changer in my business (and life for that matter).

Let’s start here. Do you ever think to yourself?...

I have to worry about money.

Making money is hard.

I can’t buy that -- it’s too expensive.

I’m bad with money.

Money is stressful!

If you’re repeating thoughts like the ones I’ve listed above, you’re basically reaffirming to yourself again and again exactly what you DO NOT want.

You’re essentially doing a 24/7 mantra meditation for money lack.

Hear this: Money is neither good nor bad. Positive nor negative. We bring the emotion into the equation. So, that means, you get to choose how you relate to money! Your perception of money dictates your money reality.

Now, I get it, making money can feel like a challenge until we clear our money blocks. And, that starts with noticing your Money Story -- your “go-to” thoughts, actions, reactions, beliefs, and emotions around money.

When you bring more awareness into the equation, change is just around the corner. I promise.

Don’t let your financial life coast on autopilot, just hoping it will get better. It won’t, unless you plant the seeds for change.

If you want things to shift, you first have to take an honest look at where you’re starting from.

(Side note: This is NOT about getting down on yourself for having a negative Money Story -- that wouldn’t solve anything! This is about shining some light on the issue, and realizing that you don’t have to continue moving through the world with the same “money baggage” if you don’t want to!)

Once you clearly see the negative thought patterns you’ve been locked into, you can choose new ways of thinking and behaving that better reflect how you want to view and interact with money.

Live life deliberately, not by default. Starting now.

With love, P.S. Want hundreds of dollars of FREE tools from business building experts?Join the Business Clarity Boost waitlist here & be the first in line when the doors open May 16th.

Why You Need to "Date" Your Business

The other day a thought struck me.

Building a business is a lot like dating.

It can be exciting, alluring, breathtaking, fun, NEW!

It can also be totally frustrating, tiring, feel like it’s taking forever to get to your desired outcome.

But here’s where things diverge a little bit…

If I were to ask you, what is your ultimate goal for your business?

Your answer would probably be a version of “To be successful!”

And, if I were to ask you, what is/was your ultimate goal for dating?

You’d likely say something like “To find my perfect partner!”

Ok, awesome. You know where you want to go! That’s the first step.

Now, let’s follow that up with Q #2.

Q: When would you like to be super successful in your business?

A: Yesterday! It can’t happen fast enough :-)

Q: When would like that ring on your finger?

A: I don’t know / Soon(ish) / When the timing’s right! We’re totally in love, and things are so much fun! There’s no big rush. I know we’ll get there eventually.

Interesting…

Notice how our expectations are radically different?

Yet, the process of creating a business and creating a life partner aren’t that dissimilar. They both involve love, commitment, dedication, and trust.

When it comes to our business, we beat ourselves up for not being “there” faster. We don’t trust that it’s happening -- that everything we’re doing is moving us in the right direction.

In a great relationship, sure we think about the timeline, but it’s not something we necessarily beat ourselves up over. We have more faith in the process. We trust that if we keep clicking, keep enjoying, keep learning, keep loving, we will find that commitment and love that we’re looking for.

Totally different with our businesses. We start questioning everything because we’re not an “overnight success”. In love, we often want to spend 1, 2, maybe even 5 years getting to know someone before we say “I do”.

We want the journey, the experience, the time.

I wouldn’t trade those 6 years I had with my husband before we were married for anything. During that time we grew together and developed an essential foundation for all that we’ve done, become and accomplished since. I cherish that time.

With our business, however, we want to skip ahead to success -- to that steady, reliable place. We want to skip straight to “marriage”.

But, if we skip right to marriage, we’d be totally unprepared! Not to mention, we’d miss out on so many memories, so many lessons. Simply put, we’d miss out on so much good stuff.

We need the journey to get us ready for the destination.

Here’s what I think. We should want to “date” our businesses. To learn what works and what doesn’t, to try things, to overcome obstacles, to get stronger and do better.

We should embrace the time that it takes, not criticize it. We should look ahead with anticipation of where we’re heading without feeling rushed to get there faster.

Click to tweet this #DoseOfClarity: I’m dating my #business & I’m falling more in #LOVE every day.

[Tweet "I’m dating my #business & I’m falling more in #LOVE every day http://calmbiz.com/?p=5199"]

When it comes down to it, in both business and dating, we shouldn’t want to miss out on all the really amazing new relationship stuff that’s essential to long term happiness!

Every day you have the opportunity to fall more in love with your business.

Don’t wish that time away.

With love,

P.S. There is an amazing group of business-loving women that will welcome you in with open arms -- join us here.

A Year Ago I Was About to Give Up on My Business

A year ago, I had just reentered my business after 4 months of maternity leave. A year ago, I was making almost no money.

A year ago, I was feeling stuck, unclear, and out of alignment.

A year ago, I was about to give up on my business.

I remember thinking to myself…

If this is all it will ever be, it’s not worth it! I should just give up and be a full-time mom.

The BIG vision I had for my business felt so far away. So unrealistic. So unachievable.

But, one thing I’ve come to realize again and again (I guess it’s a lesson I need to keep on learning!) is the more I get tied down by HOW things NEED to happen, the less likely they are to occur at all.

Fast forward to today, a mere 12 months later, and EVERYTHING is different. Everything is better. Everything is working...or should I saying flowing.

If I told you that 12 months from now you will be working only 20 hours a week with amazing clients you adore and making 5-figures in a month, what would you say?

If you had run that scenario by me a year ago, I would have said, Seriously? How?

But you see the HOW isn’t what’s important. The belief that it is possible is. That’s where we need to start.

Too many of us start with the “hows”. We get obsessed with them.

Should I be on Twitter or Facebook?

Should I work 1x1 or run a group program?

Should I host a podcast or write a blog?

But, that’s not where our journey begins. That’s not where success starts.

Our journey to true success begins with a belief that it’s possible, and then the hows naturally fall into place as they reveal themselves along the way.

All we need is a glimmer of possibility. A glimmer that cracks our limiting mindset wide open and opens our eyes (or should I say our hearts) to the idea that anything is possible and things can change FAST.

When we get tied down by the hows, we get completely overwhelmed because we think we need to micromanage every aspect of the enormous big picture. We don’t.

We only need to move forward in devotion to our vision.

We need to seek out what feels good, what feels aligned, what inspires us, speaks to us, elevates us, brings us joy, and move in that direction. That’s the trick.

[Tweet "We design our roadmap to success one good feeling at a time."]

Celebrate every win, no matter how seemingly small, and tap into that deep-down knowing that you are meant for something big, bold and beautiful. (I know you are!)

Most importantly, know that you are deserving of it, too.

12 months from now EVERYTHING will be different.

With love,

P.S. Would this message brighten someone’s day? Why not forward it to a lady in your life who could use a little pep talk?!

I Stopped Weighing Myself & My Business Quadrupled

February 2016 was my best business month to date. I brought in nearly $23K in business while working just 3 days a week.

The whole month felt great and, to be the completely truthful, it felt like the least amount of work I’ve ever done to make money! It felt in flow, nearly effortless, and totally grounded and aligned. So good.

On the other hand, the logic-based thinker in me wants a strategic way to replicate this for myself and also teach my clients how to do the same, so I started looking at all the things that made this month different.

And something very interesting came to light…

I stopped weighing myself this month.

Hmmm….

That got me thinking. Was this related? Or unrelated?

An answer quickly came. As a woman who tends to think EVERYTHING is connected, I believe 100% that there is a correlation here. (I’ll dive into my theory about this below.)

I’m not saying that not stepping on the scale contributed to every single dollar that found its way to me this past month, but I think...no, I know...it’s a key player.

I’ll speak for myself here, but I believe most women can relate: my relationship with my body is always in need of more loving kindness. Always.

As women, even when we’re feeling great about ourselves, our businesses, or our lives, a few pounds on the scale, an overindulgent night out, or a pair of jeans that no longer fit “just right” can totally shift the way we’re thinking and feeling about every single aspect of our lives.

Throughout my pre-teen and teen years, especially, I had a tumultuous relationship with my body and food and too often allowed my happiness and self-worth to be determined by the numbers on the scale.

Lower numbers = Yay! I’m allowed to feel good.

Higher numbers = I hate myself.

I felt I was always battling against my body, instead of working with it.

Luckily, over the last decade a lot has changed for me, for the better. Through heaps of personal development, yoga, meditation, and surrounding myself with positive role models, I’ve come to love, appreciate and honor my body (most of the time, which is all I think any of us can ask for).

But...I was still weighing myself. Every week. A few pounds up, ugh. A few pounds down, yay!

Over the last 10 years my weight hasn’t fluctuated more than 8 to 10 pounds - except when I was pregnant of course! - but I felt I had to have that weekly check-in to keep me “on track.”

I realized that I was still in fear mode around my weight. Yes, after all these years -- the fear was still there! I thought I needed the scale to tell me if I should eat a little more or a little less. Fit in some extra movement or give myself permission to indulge.

So, I decided to do a short-term experiment. No weighing myself for the month of February. If it totally derailed my healthy-ish lifestyle, and I felt like I was ballooning up, out of control, I told myself that I could always go back to my weekly weigh-ins.

Well, I’m here to report that not only are my jeans still fitting just right and my entire relationship with my body and food is feeling even more loving and kind, but I also had my BEST month ever! Making $23K in just over 3 weeks.

Here’s my theory behind no weigh-ins = 4x business.

:1: I was focusing on smaller (or at least unchanging) numbers. Every single week I’d reinforce that smaller is better. Smaller numbers are what I want. Do you see how this might hurt your bank account?

:2: It put my happiness in someone...or should I say something...else’s control. I’d have a great week and then step on the scale and be a couple pounds up, and inside my head I’d hear “ugh”. I want to feel good, not crappy. Stepping on the scale was making me feel crappy, so why keep doing it? Or, it was giving me a momentary “yay!” because of my smaller number (see #1).

:3: I was in total fear mode. I felt that I had to keep my body in-check otherwise my health, weight, sanity would “get away from me”. Fear constricts us, it keeps us (and our potential) small. I don’t want to be small -- I want to be BIG (energetically speaking ;-))! Again, can you see how this would affect your income?

:4: It forced me to trust more. Trust my body, trust my hunger, trust my intuition, trust that I wouldn’t go off the rails if I loosened my perfectionist grip just a tad. And, I’m here on the other side of it still in one piece, still in the same pants and with $23K in new business! Brilliant.

:5: That weekly weigh-in bled over into others areas of my life, and made me think about food/my body/weight at times that I didn’t want to be thinking about those things. It even, at times, would lead to totally unnecessary negative self-talk. Essentially, it took up too much valuable mental real estate. Without that weekly reminder of my “goodness” or “badness”, I freed up space for creativity, joy, inspiration, mindfulness and guilt-free celebration!!!

When you’re constantly sending out signals of fear, saying to yourself “I want small numbers”, and letting negativity chirp in your ear, it’s going to have an effect. It has to. There is no other option. The thoughts we think, the things we do, the words we say become our lives.

I wholeheartedly believe in the connectedness of all things, but somehow I didn’t realize that I was sending out beacons that were totally misaligned with what I truly was after. Ahh...the clarity of hindsight.

I was stuck in a deep groove that I’d been digging most of my life up until now, and finally (after 10 years of reading Geneen Roth books) I was ready -- I am ready -- to opt for trust instead of fear. Growth instead of shrinking. Abundance instead of restriction.

Join me. It’s so much lighter on the other side ::wink wink::

With love,

P.S. Want to read more about how I made $23K in 23 days? I wrote an entire post about what it took to reach those numbers here.