Written by: Eva Gregory, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Whether or not you are a new entrepreneur or have been running your own online business for a while, if you are here, you know already that you need to take steps to transform your business—and your income.
Maybe you love your business, but it’s not bringing in the sort of income you optimistically anticipated. Worse, perhaps you’re barely getting by, or your significant other is griping about how much time it takes and the poor returns it seems to bring.
These are common scenarios among entrepreneurs—particularly those who are heart-centered entrepreneurs who put helping others first. But here’s the thing. There’s no need for you to deprive yourself while helping others. That’s counter-productive—and, what’s worse, may make you feel like a fraud.
You feel caught in the proverbial “catch 22”, where the harder you work, the more you spin your financial wheels.
So let’s look at five simple money mindset steps you can take to get the ball rolling again and break that cycle.
1. Challenge your money belief system
Everyone has a belief system about the basics of life. For example, you can probably put a name to your religious system—even if that name happens to be agnosticism or atheism.
When it comes to religion, most people know what they believe, but the amazing thing about finances is that most people take their money beliefs for granted and don’t even question them.
When you first planned or set up your business, did you stop and think about your money belief system and how it would affect your ability to reach your financial goals? Did you make specific financial goals? Do you know how much you have to spend on your business? Or how much you need to make - or how much you want to make?
Before you ever plan to earn a dime, sit down and think about your financial belief system. Write down all the common thoughts you find yourself using whenever you think of money—for example, “money is the root of all evil” or “I’m not as good, so I can’t charge as much as others in my field” or “I’m new. I need to give discounts”.
It’s like facing a monster in the bushes. When you sit down and really look at the monster in the bushes, you almost inevitably realize you’ve made it bigger than it needs to be and given it too much power. And what’s more, you realize that it doesn’t even exist!
It’s the same with money beliefs buried deep in your subconscious. These are usually so deep, they go back a long way, maybe even back to childhood.
Often, these beliefs are not even yours. They’re beliefs you inherit from parents and other authority figures.
In my case, I grew up in a family where my parents were always struggling when it came to money. So I heard all the typical statements like:
Money doesn’t grow on trees
It takes money to make money, and we don’t have any
Money is not that important
All wealthy people are evil or bad or greedy
It’s so hard to make money
These deeply ingrained beliefs that we aren’t even aware of (but repeat to ourselves repeatedly) are the types of money beliefs it’s tough to transform. I’m willing to bet that if you examined your frequently repeated money mantras, you wouldn’t need an expert to tell you which of those answers are true or valid—and which are negative and self-defeating.
Trust your intuition. Trust your skills and experience. You are more powerful and more capable of generating the income you want than you think. Start by committing to throw out negative money beliefs and replace those harmful, untrue mantras with positive, new ones.
2. Change your money mindset from rigid to flexible
If you have tried to change your money beliefs and experienced nothing but resistance from your subconscious, the most likely cause is a rigid, inflexible mindset. That’s not something you consciously decided. It’s just that you’ve developed and embraced one way of handling finances. And you’ve done it that way for so many years, so it’s hard to step sideways and try something else.
Think of it like a runner running the same path, day after day. First, the grass gets worn down. Then there’s nothing but a thin ribbon of bare mud where the runner’s feet pass daily. Then grooves get worn into the mud, and it becomes harder and harder to vary that path. The runner needs to make a conscious effort to break through new grass—which has grown up all around the path from never being run on.
That is what happens when we repeat the same thought repeatedly or perform the same action the same way.
It’s never a question of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. It’s a question of looking for alternate exits that consist of neither and making the conscious decision to try them.
It’s leaving the easy paths and trail-blazing new ones: Sometimes exciting to do and sometimes frightening, or even just a nuisance to remember to try.
In other words, it’s not just about changing your money beliefs. It’s about changing your responses to money matters and decisions and doing this consciously, noting the results, and repeating new reactions, mantras, or habits until they become your new normal.
3. Stop penny-pinching
You thought this was all going to be about overspending, didn’t you?
Here’s the kicker. Spending too little is just as bad for business.
When you’re constantly on the lookout for free and low-cost tools or working sixteen-hour days because you “can’t afford to outsource,” you’re not doing your business any favors.
Sure, it looks like you’re bootstrapping and working hard to make something from nothing, but what you’re doing is digging yourself a rut that will be nearly impossible to climb out of.
Not only that, but you’re reinforcing a scarcity mindset that will continue to plague you for years if you let it.
Rather than pinching pennies, learn to spend money strategically. Invest in what you need when you need it.
Invest in top-quality products and programs rather than settling for the low-ticket, half-baked plans.
Like quality clothes, cars, and furniture - quality services and software last longer and work better.
And unlike that car, good quality business tools and programs will pay for themselves.
4. Stop undercharging clients and underpaying yourself
This is a biggie. It’s all tied in with your life experiences and your “deserve level.”
Deserve levels have nothing to do with what a person is worth. Instead, it has everything to do with what people THINK they are worth.
If you constantly find yourself undercharging, if your clients are successful, but your fees are still stuck at entry-level, you have a low ‘deserve level.’
In other words, it’s not about what you’re worth at all. It’s about how you feel.
A big clue that you might be suffering from an abnormally low deserve level is if you find yourself feeling like a fraud. That’s got a name. It’s called the impostor syndrome, and it occurs when you think that you ought to feel as perfect as your icons and ideals seem to feel.
However, talk to any highly successful entrepreneur, and you’ll find that they too often suffer from impostor syndrome. They have just learned how to name it, set it aside, and go for what they want.
Even if you are just starting, never undercut your value. Don’t discount prices. Instead, run time-limited “introductory specials”—and stress that time limit. Or offer your introductory rate to ‘the first XX people who sign up.’ Make sure people know any lower rate you set is strictly time-limited, numbers-limited or introductory. Focus on your clients—not on your low deserve level—and make it a privilege to be one of the first few to experience your work.
5. Find a goal that lights you up
Find a goal that is going to inspire you. It should feel as if every morning is the first day of a dream vacation, as if you’re playing, not working.
The reality is that no matter how much you love your work, every day is not like that. There are boring tasks to take care of, difficult moments to face, hard decisions to make, and days when the routine feels stressful instead of empowering. But there are ways to minimize these and revitalize your business.
When we believe in what we are doing on a deep emotional level, we do more, achieve more, and enjoy it more on our way to our goals.
People don’t make commitments to things that don’t inspire them. If someone dislikes what they are doing or doesn’t believe in it, it won’t be long before they find ways to procrastinate, avoid tasks related to the goal, or distract themselves. Then the dreams and desires fall by the wayside.
When you believe in something strongly enough, you’ll get into the habit of investing in inspired action, and you not only move forward, you create momentum—kind of like running down a hill.
Or think of downhill ski racing. You start at the top of a hill, and you push yourself off. You start at a good speed, but momentum soon makes you gather speed, so you have to focus on controlling it and reaching the finish line.
That momentum is what makes every money mindset and business habit easier and easier to practice every time you repeat that habit. Or mantra. Or action.
Stuck people often don’t realize that it’s hard at first to break a pattern or change a habit. But the truth is, every time you repeat that particular mantra or habit, it becomes easier and is naturally self-reinforcing.
There’s another, even better side effect of breaking out of old, comfortable but negative patterns:
You start to experience success—and success breeds confidence.
The truth is, although there are steps you can and should take to deal with old negative patterns, it’s not all about fixing your self-confidence first, then succeeding at something. It’s about taking inspired action.
It’s about making a commitment that helps you to step out of your comfort zone, acting—then surprising yourself with success.
Because success breeds self-confidence, it’s the confidence of knowing you can do something again because you did it before. It’s the confidence of seeing a good result from your action.
And you are more likely to make that commitment and take that action if you have a goal that drives you and inspires you.
Eva Gregory, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Award-winning transformational catalyst and business mentor Eva Gregory is the founder of the Enlightened Business Success Academy. She helps established coaches, thought leaders, and spiritual entrepreneurs worldwide scale to six figures and beyond by integrating Inner Guidance with proven business strategies that are working today in an ever-changing market. It's the combination of practical, step-by-step business training and intuitive spiritual awareness that sets her apart from others in her field. Eva was named International Coach of the Year, was named one of Women E-Commerce Association's International Top 100 Who's Who Among Women, and received the California Excellence Award from the Small Business Institute for Excellence in Commerce. She was the recipient of The Law of Attraction Leaders Award for Best Law of Attraction Coach 2 years in a row. She is the author of "The Feel Good Guide to Prosperity" and "Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction," which she co-authored with Jack Canfield and Jeanna Gabellini.
