3 Money Beliefs That Hold Women Entrepreneurs Back From Growing Their Business

In coaching women entrepreneurs to transform their relationship with money in their business, marriage and life, I’ve noticed that there are three common money beliefs that consistently come up that contribute to stress, struggle and overwhelm and ultimately cause them to stay stuck at their current income level…

Belief #1. “I’m not good at making money.”

This was a big belief that held me back for years in my business.  I didn’t relate to being a powerful money creator.  I could only relate to managing money – not creating it. 

I knew that whatever small amount of money I had coming in I could pinch and scrimp to make it work out.  I would spend less, choose a cheap dinner when going out to eat with friends, forgo buying clothing – anything to make ends meet.  I was a magician when it came to making money stretch. 

Many women entrepreneurs do not relate to their ability to make great money.  They relate to squeezing by, or coming up with money in the last minute when they get stressed out enough or it becomes a crisis.

How you can begin to shift this belief: 

To begin shifting this belief ask yourself… “What would it feel like to be a powerful money creator?”  And… “If I were a powerful money creator what would I be doing?”  I guarantee you’ll feel some discomfort at first, but eventually you’ll begin to relate with BEING a powerful money creator.

Belief #2. “I have to have everything figured out before I put myself ‘out there’ in a big way.”

Women entrepreneurs too often feel like they have to have everything figured out before they begin promoting themselves. 

There are countless tasks to accomplish in our businesses – it’s actually a never-ending list!  We have to figure out what kind of client’s we want to work with, what our specialty is going to be, get our website up a running, learn how to generate leads…  on and on it goes.

How you can begin shifting this belief: 

It’s not true that we have to wait until we’ve got every aspect of our business figured out before we begin putting ourselves out there.  If we believe this we only get more waiting.  We need to put ourselves out there and begin making money NOW, while giving ourselves the opportunity to tweak our business as we progress. 

We’ll get invaluable information and insight about our businesses if we’re willing to get into action now and start tweaking our business while moving forward.

Belief #3. “I’m too overwhelmed with everything that’s going on in my business and my personal life, and I don’t know where to focus.”

This is a huge challenge, especially when you’re juggling another job or you have a family to take care of.  There are endless things to do.  I know when I became a mom I seriously thought I was going to stop working for a couple of years. 

However after becoming a mother I realized that I knew I was meant to be both an amazing mom and make an even greater difference in my business. 

How you can begin shifting this belief: 

Start with knowing that it’s possible to have a rich life and a thriving business, regardless of how busy or full your life seems.  My son is 21 months old and my business and free time both have tripled over the last couple of years.  In order to begin shifting this belief you have to get very committed to living, loving and working richly.  It literally starts with making this commitment to yourself and then getting the support you need to move out of overwhelm.

3 Money Beliefs That Hold Women Entrepreneurs Back From Growing Their Business – Podcast

In coaching women entrepreneurs to transform their relationship with money in their business, marriage and life, I’ve noticed that there are three common money beliefs that consistently come up that contribute to stress, struggle and overwhelm and ultimately cause them to stay stuck at their current income level…

Belief #1. “I’m not good at making money.”

This was a big belief that held me back for years in my business.  I didn’t relate to being a powerful money creator.  I could only relate to managing money – not creating it…..

Click below to listen to the podcast.

The Simple Secret to Having Stress-Free Money Conversations In Your Marriage – Podcast

My husband swore he was right. I just as adamantly swore he was wrong. “No, the fence needs to go right here!” I yelled as I stomped my foot firmly on the ground for added effect.

“I can’t stand it when you don’t to listen to my position! It’s like you’ve already made up your mind and you refuse to hear any other perspective!” He shouted back.

I hated to admit it (and I certainly wasn’t going to in the heat of the moment) but I knew he had a point….

Click below to listen to the podcast.

The Simple Secret to Having Stress-Free Money Conversations In Your Marriage

My husband swore he was right.  I just as adamantly swore he was wrong.  “No, the fence needs to go right here!”  I yelled as I stomped my foot firmly on the ground for added effect.

“I can’t stand it when you don’t to listen to my position!  It’s like you’ve already made up your mind and you refuse to hear any other perspective!”  He shouted back.

I hated to admit it (and I certainly wasn’t going to in the heat of the moment) but I knew he had a point.

“Here we go again,” I thought to myself. We were trapped once again in our same, familiar pattern of arguing.

My husband and I have always been great at expressing ourselves and holding a space for uncomfortable feelings and emotions.  And because of this we don’t stay angry at each other for long and we don’t carry deep-seated resentments.  But our arguments leaned towards the explosive side of things, almost as if we were using each other to vent and purge our uncomfortable feelings, rather than working towards understanding and compromise.

My desire is to support you in having courageous, stress-free, connecting and productive money conversations with your partner.  It is commonly known that finances are the number one source of conflict for couples.  However, did you know that the cornerstone of financial success for couples lies in improving your communication with your partner?

The quality of your money relationship with your spouse is directly related to your communication skills.  The first step to creating a wealthy relationship is to listen to your partner.

Listening is more important than talking.

Okay, repeat after me, “Listening is more important than talking.”  Did you get it?  I mean did you really get it?  It’s counter intuitive to how we’re wired.  Most of us have a desire to talk first, listen last.

For now I want to invite you to absorb this simple, yet profound concept. Holding the intention to listening, instead of talking is guaranteed to improve your relationship with money in your marriage.

In the heat of the moment when you’re upset it can feel virtually impossible to be receptive to listening, and you’ll probably find yourself saying things that you’ll only regret later.  When you notice yourself doing this it’s best to just stop and request a time out so that both of you can re-group and talk later.

Please keep in mind that these are the listening basics.  My intention is to keep this process simple so that you will actually use it when listening to others.  Remember that in order to transform your financial relationship with your spouse you have to move from KNOWING this information at an intellectual level to actually practicing it.

• Don’t interrupt.  This is still a challenge concept for me to keep top of mind! I’m a really great listener when it comes to listening to my clients, but unfortunately not as great when it comes to listening to my husband.  However, because of my commitment this is something I am working to constantly improve.

  Notice all the times you feel an impulse to interrupt when someone is talking – and choose not to.  Wait to comment until they have fully completed their thought before commenting.

• Really listen.  Focus on listening to what the other person is really saying.  Be present with the actual words they are sharing instead of being preoccupied with what YOU want to say next.  Don’t be in a hurry to share your wisdom, instead focus your attention on being eager to hear what THEY have to say.
• Seek to understand the other person’s feelings.  As you’re listening try to get a sense of what is going on for the other person at a deeper level.  Seek to understand the essence of what they want to convey and what they’re feeling.  Remember you don’t have to agree with what they’re saying you’re simply seeking to understand them.

These steps are fairly basic and straightforward. Practice your listening skills with fairly benign topics at first, so that you’re able to listen when discussing more stressful and volatile issues (like money).

You can choose to make a game out of listening to others.  Make it fun!  Decide that you will really listen to every person that you interact with over the next week (including friends and family members).  And notice how it changes and alters your connections. After one week has passed, commit to listening in this way for another week, and then another.

You’ll find that when you set the intention to be fully present during each interaction – especially the benign ones, that you’ll feel better equipped to hold the space and maintain your listening awareness during money conversations with your spouse.

Do You Focus On The Top Income Producing Actions In Your Business?

* This is a quick tip that I wrote that I’d like to share with you…

Many women entrepreneurs falsely believe that if they’ve made one really good financial move they’ve done enough.  They open a retirement account and continue to invest the same amount year after year without re-evaluating.

Or they try a particular marketing strategy and get frustrated when it doesn’t pan out and result in the kind of money or increased clients they had hoped for.

Not only that but as women entrepreneurs we tend to do the same things we’ve always done and complain when we get the same results.  Dan Kennedy, direct marketing guru and consultant to millionaires says this about predicting personal income – “One year from today’s date, 90% of us will have the exact same amount in our bank account.”

The secret to success lies in taking consistent bite-size steps, continually setting clear income goals and prioritizing “income producing” activities in your business.

This includes being clear on how much money you intend to create in your business EACH month.  To create your “number” don’t worry or get bogged down with “how” you are going to achieve your goal at first.

Simply get quiet and ask yourself how much money you’d like to create in your business this month.  When you have a number in your mind ask yourself what kind of action you can take to achieve your income goal.  And then get into action!  Make sure you focus on taking your “monthly income goal” action steps first thing each morning.

Rearrange your weekly schedule so that you have 1 – 2 hours each morning to focus on the tasks in your business that will put you on the fastest track towards making more money. 

This includes scheduling speaking engagements or teleseminars so that you increase your visibility, following up with prospects and focusing on the actions that will help you create your next big pay day in the next 30 to 60 days.

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