If you’ve not heard the term ‘money mindset’ before, you may not be aware of the implications it has for you and your business. We all hold our own beliefs around money and these drive our decisions around saving, spending and handling money. Our money mindset can have a huge impact on how we make important decisions about where to direct our financial resources and how we invest in our businesses. If your beliefs surrounding money are largely negative, you may just find that your money mindset is holding your business back.
What is money mindset?
Simply put, money mindset refers to your unique set of beliefs about money within the world around you and your own relationship with money. Your money mindset influences what you believe you can or cannot do with money and it can even influence how much you believe you should have. Money mindset isn’t just about spending, it’s about receiving money too, meaning it can impact how you invest in your business, as well as your pricing structures and budgets.
We all have a money story
Our ideas around money are formed at an early age. Think about your own memories surrounding the way your parents dealt with money and how it was discussed in your family. Our own childhood experiences can have a huge impact on the way we view money in our adult lives. For example, if you’re constantly being told, ‘you have to work hard to earn money’ or ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ you’re likely to find that has affected your current beliefs and behaviours surrounding money and your relationship with it. Personally speaking, I had a huge lightbulb moment when I realised my own childhood experiences around money had massively influenced the way I viewed it as an adult. I was always taught that money was hard to come by and not something that was readily available and I’ve had to learn to change my thinking to take my business forward.
The abundance money mindset
Someone who views money with a mindset of abundance believes that there’s always enough money out there, you just need to find a way to access it. People with this kind of money mindset will look at expensive items as an investment rather than a burden. Compare this to someone with a scarcity mindset surrounding money and they’re likely to think, ‘oh, that’s too expensive’ or ‘I can’t afford to buy that.’ A scarcity mindset will focus on debt and not having money and this can almost become a self-fulfilling prophecy. A person with an abundant money mindset will create more opportunities to make money and are likely to see their income grow as a result. If you’d like to find out more about the difference between abundance and scarcity mindsets, take a look at my recent blog post, ‘How having an abundance mindset can benefit your business.’
How do you speak to yourself when it comes to money?
It’s worth taking some time to identify how you talk to yourself about money. Be really honest with yourself and look into your past. Do you believe statements such as, ‘I’m no good with money,’ ‘I always make the wrong decisions around money,’ ‘my partner’s income is the ‘real’ money.’ Or do your beliefs take on a different form, ‘I can always find ways to make money,’ ‘I’m great with numbers,’ ‘I’m pretty savvy when it comes to money.’ Identify what your own money blocks might be and start thinking about how you can tackle them.
How your money mindset impacts your business
Your beliefs surrounding money are likely to be reflected in how you invest in you and your business. If you have an abundance mindset, you don’t think ‘oh, that’s expensive’ when you’re looking at a new training course or networking group, you think ‘this is a great investment in my business, sign me up!’ You’re happy to invest in your business going forward as you know you’ll reap the rewards in the longer term. You decide to take on that new employee, invest in a new product range and outsource your business processes. With this in mind, it’s easy to see how holding negative beliefs surrounding money could be impacting the growth of your business, right?
It’s worth remembering that money mindset isn’t just about spending, it’s about receiving money too. Someone with negative beliefs surrounding money is likely to see this reflected in the prices they’re charging. There’s often a sense of fear around being ‘too expensive’ or not being ‘worth it.’ You might find your money mindset is reflected in negative self-talk and self-sabotage too, ‘people like me don’t get rich clients’ or ‘no one’s going to pay those prices to work with me.’ Sound familiar?
Is it time to change your thinking?
Once you’ve identified your money story, you can begin to look at your own behaviour with money in the here and now, start joining the dots and identifying patterns. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to stay stuck in the same negative money mindset, I’ve changed my relationship with money and you can too! You can move forward and stop allowing your money mindset blocks to hold you and your business back. If you want to explore your money story in more detail, you can download a copy of my money mindset workbook to help get you started or book in for a free discovery call to see how I can help.