One of Many

Woman looking to create change

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Personal finances – where to start

By

Joanna Martin

Founder: One of many. Author. Ex-doctor. Entrepreneur. Sister. Sometime Actor. Baby Wrangler. Personal Chef. Mother.

Latest posts by Joanna Martin (see all)

Did you know that in the UK, where I live currently, it’s estimated women are going to hold more than 60% of the country’s wealth by 2025 ?

We are a veritable army of change waiting to be tapped into. If we equip and empower ourselves around money and start making decisions which are in line with our values, then we could transform what the world looks like.

So it’s exciting times with regards women and wealth.

But these are also hugely stressful times for a lot of us, right?

Money can be stressful

To take the UK again, only 7% of the population in this country are on track for the retirement that we want. I’m a little bit concerned about our pensions, if I’m honest. And I’m not alone.

Research tells us that 4.5 million women in the UK are losing sleep over their money situation, and it’s not just that they don’t have enough in the bank right now.

57% are losing sleep because they don’t have enough savings – they’re worried about their future. And 28% are doing okay month by month but they’ve got a huge debt that they don’t know how to manage.

All together, that’s a hell of a lot of sleep we’re losing.

It’s impacting our quality of life. It’s impacting our well-being. And arguments about money are the number one top predictor of divorce.

So unless we do something about this money stuff, our very vitality, our health, our happiness and our relationships, will continue to suffer.

Our money confidence is often our lowest area of power

Here’s a quick challenge: think about your work confidence. Whatever you do, how confident do you feel that you’re the master of your own destiny there? That you can show up, that you can do something to make a difference?

Maybe it’s 100%, it might be 50%, or it might be 10%. Go with the first number that comes to mind.

Now, compare it to how confident you feel about your ability to manage and grow your money: your money confidence.

Interesting, right?

What I think we’re seeing at the moment is that over the last 100 years or so, as women have started to become empowered in the public sphere, we’re finally feeling confident in work.

We’ve fought our way through that glass ceiling and showed up, and we’re performing. Yes, there’s still a long way to go, but we’re doing great.

However, our money confidence is often lagging behind.

(Perhaps it’s still being informed by the last few millennia where we have not been involved in commerce at all.)

We still have a tendency to give our power away – to our partners, financial advisers, or even our parents. And where we are giving our power away, then we are not fully stepping up to the responsibility, or the opportunity that’s there for us.

Because let’s face it – the world needs changing.

And we can change it with our economic power. We can change it with our empowerment. But if you’re giving your power away around money, then you’re giving your power away full stop.

Personal finances: where to start

At Be Wealth, our brilliant retreat all about women and their relationship to money, we use a simple model called the 4 Stages of Wealth to identify our financial priorities and challenges, regardless of how much money we do or don’t have. At the retreat I take a spot survey in the room, asking the women there to put up their hands to say which stage of wealth they’re at.

It’s always a fascinating exercise to me, and not for the reason you might think.

What I see first of all is that an overwhelming majority of women in the room who are at the first stage of wealth – stability, where whatever they have coming in the amount they have left over at the end of each month is zero – feel shame.

They’re like, “Oh, god, I don’t want to admit to this! I’m so embarrassed”

And then, those who are at the next stage: security – where their expenses are a little less than their income, so their savings are increasing gradually to make a rainy day fund – are also thinking ”Oh my god, I don’t want to admit to this. I’m so embarrassed…”

But then those at the next stage, who you might think have got it sorted – because their passive income is making them more than their expenses – also say “Oh, I don’t want to admit to this in public! I’m so embarrassed”.

It doesn’t matter how much money we make, we have money shame

And I believe this is the root of so much of the problem.

We’re embarrassed.

We’re embarrassed because we’re making more than the person we’re sitting next to.

We’re embarrassed because we’re making less than the person we’re sitting next to.

We’re embarrassed because we’re not further along than we “should” be based on what our parents, or our society, tells us.

I would go so far as to say 99% of the women I have spoken to around money have some kind of money shame.

And when you have embarrassment around talking about money, you cannot transform it. Because if you can’t talk about it, you can’t learn about it, and education is the thing that can turn a situation around.

If your financial situation at the moment is not what you want it to be, it’s probably because at some level, you’re embarrassed to have conversations around money.

But if you were never taught how to manage money, if you were never taught to understand how it accumulates and how it grows and how it works, how could you possibly ever do anything about that?

We need to talk about money

I believe if we really wanted to change the way that power is arranged around the world we could do so, purely by changing whether or not money is talked about.

If everybody started talking about money: how much we have, how much we don’t have, what we know about it, what we don’t know about it – if we took it out of the closet, so to speak, I think things would shake up hugely.

But we will not be able educate ourselves until we overcome this first step of speaking about it.

And it’s absolutely time to do something about this, because we have an opportunity right now to transform the world. Not just our own personal financial world, so we can have the retirement that we want, and make the kind of impact for our kids that we want, or have the lifestyle that we want. Of course we know we can change that world if we sort our money stuff out.

But I believe we can change the world for even more people if we actually transform our relationship to money. If we let go of our money shame, and actually get educated on how the damn thing works.

What do you think? Can you relate to a feeling of embarrassment or even shame when it comes to talking about your finances? Let me know what your relationship to money is in the comments.

If you’d like to explore a new way of thinking about money that takes away the shame and gives you practical, powerful actions to take at whatever stage you’re at, come along to Wealth Insights. It’s our focused money workshop that gives you the chance to talk about your finances in a safe and friendly environment – and leave with a map of how to change your financial situation for good.  Read the full details and book your place here.

Our intention is simple. To support professional women to handle the day-to-day so they can unleash the bigger impact they feel called to make in the world.

We believe real leadership is less about skill, and more about having a well of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual strength to draw on. Every week we support thousands of grassroots leaders globally with our free articles, videos and online trainings with powerful tools and methodologies created BY women FOR women.

Become One of many™ women creating strong, meaningful connections in our community.

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Can wealth make you happy?

By

Joanna Martin

Founder: One of many. Author. Ex-doctor. Entrepreneur. Sister. Sometime Actor. Baby Wrangler. Personal Chef. Mother.

Latest posts by Joanna Martin (see all)

Can wealth make you happy? If you don’t have much money it’s tempting to think that it can; if you know you have plenty, you’re probably wondering why it doesn’t.

The fact is, wealth alone is the wrong measure to be looking at when it comes to our happiness, and here’s why: In every area of our lives, our ultimate fulfillment comes down to one thing.

Our values.

The real question we need to be asking

Before you know whether money will make you happy, you first need to be clear on your values.

Your values in relation to your wealth is something we look at in depth at our BeWealth retreat, but in a nutshell, values are those things which are most important to us. They provide all of our upfront motivation in life – you can pretty much guarantee you won’t spend time or money on something if it’s not of value to you.

Values are usually single words or short word phrases like love, achievement, pleasure, joy or freedom, and while they’re nouns, they’re usually things that you can’t put in a wheelbarrow. It’s not books that you value, for example, it’s education.

Using the wheelbarrow test, is money a value? Probably not, because money you could put in a wheelbarrow. It’s what money provides you that’s actually important to you.

That tells us that money in itself can’t be one of our values.

How can you know what is? Take a look at what you choose to spend your time, energy and money on.

If you’re always squirrelling funds towards your next holiday, it might be that you value travel, or adventure, or sunshine. If your amazon wishlist is longer than your arm, it’s a fair bet that reading, learning, or escape is one of your values.

And the books on your shelf are another great clue. Maybe you’re obsessed with spirituality, interiors, or rich imaginative worlds.

Your values are what bring you joy, fulfillment, and happiness.

When you know your values, your relationship to money changes

If money is an area of your life that’s currently causing you stress, looking at it through the lens of your values can give you fresh clarity into what action you need to take.

Say you’re fretting about money because there just never seems to be enough left over at the end of the month. When you think about your values, perhaps you find that security is something that’s really important to you. You want to know that if something unexpected happened, you’d have the funds you needed to fall back on.

If security’s important to you, you probably want to spend some time and energy learning about budgeting, money management and insurances. Perhaps you want to have a chunk of cash earmarked as a “rainy day” fund – like 6 month’s worth of living expenses – so you know the mortgage will be paid no matter what.

Or perhaps helping the environment is a really strong value of yours. Setting up a regular donation to an amazing organization helping preserve ecosystems, plant trees, or support indigenous communities might be a way to feel incredibly fulfilled about where your money is going. Volunteering a few hours a week to clear up a local beauty spot would cost nothing, and yet be a big investment in your happiness.

Whether you’re donating five dollars a month or investing tens of thousands, the fact that your money is aligning with what matters to you is what will ultimately lead you to happiness.

Can wealth make you happy? It’s what you do with it that counts

When we feel stuck, small or uncomfortable around money it’s often because we’ve been taught to use it in a paradigm that doesn’t line up with what really matters to us.

What we’ve learned about money is often outdated, and not particularly useful for us. That is, if we were taught anything about money at all! It’s not uncommon for women to be very successful at work but not understand anything about how money actually works.

After all, it’s only relatively recently that women have actually been allowed, from a societal perspective, to be involved with money. In the UK, it wasn’t until 1975 that a woman was allowed to open a bank account without her husband’s permission. To say nothing of the fact that for millennia, commerce was a strictly masculine domain – one in which we simply didn’t have a say.

When you consider that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, going back for hundreds of generations, were not allowed to learn about or handle money, it makes sense that historically we don’t have power around it.

But things have changed dramatically for women in the last hundred years. It’s time for that shift to start to take root in the realm of our finances.

Build the future you want to see

If you’d like to explore a new way of thinking about money that empowers you to have the impact you’d like in the world, click here to request a brochure on our money training. We’ve helped hundreds of women around the world get their money stuff sorted so they can focus on the difference they want to make.

Our intention is simple. To support professional women to handle the day-to-day so they can unleash the bigger impact they feel called to make in the world.

We believe real leadership is less about skill, and more about having a well of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual strength to draw on. Every week we support thousands of grassroots leaders globally with our free articles, videos and online trainings with powerful tools and methodologies created BY women FOR women.

Become One of many™ women creating strong, meaningful connections in our community.

 

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What are good money habits?

By

Joanna Martin

Founder: One of many. Author. Ex-doctor. Entrepreneur. Sister. Sometime Actor. Baby Wrangler. Personal Chef. Mother.

Latest posts by Joanna Martin (see all)

In my work I’ve met many women who have made and grown wealth for themselves and their families. And as I’ve talked to them about how they created and sustained that wealth, I’ve noticed certain patterns. So many of us many of us didn’t grow up with strong role models of how to create wealth. Maybe you’d like to make more money, but you’re unsure: What are good money habits?

Very few of the wealthy women I spend time with didn’t wake up one morning with a huge number in their bank accounts, and then learn how to manage that money. Instead, they developed strong financial skills which led to the wealth they enjoy. Financial skills spring out of good money habits. As part of our 10-Week Wealth Turnaround we focus on 10 good money habits. I’ve picked off 5 of these that can implement no matter what the balance in your account right now. So, as you read this today, think: which of these will you implement first? Let us know how you go in the comments!

What are good money habits? 5 starting points to get your money working for you

1. Millionaire women know why

The really wealthy women I know are always clear on one key thing: the answer to the question WHY?

And the answer has a couple of parts.

First they understand WHY they are in the financial position they are in. They take ownership of the good decisions and bad decisions they have made. They bring consciousness to every spending, saving and investing decision.

The second part of the answer to “Why?” is the WHY they’re BUILDING that wealth. When it comes to earning, managing and multiplying their money, they have a clear vision for their money. They know what’s important to them, perhaps their family, their business or their desire to give to the causes that really matter to them. No matter what they have something fuelling and driving their desire to grow wealth, beyond “I just want more money.”

Action: Set aside twenty minutes to journal your WHY when it comes to money. Answer the following questions:

  1. Why are you in the financial position you are in. What good choices have you made, and what not good choices have you made?
  2. What do you want money for?
  3. What would life be like if you were receiving the kind of income you want?
  4. Why is money important to you – does it represent approval, stability, security, power or freedom, for example?
2. Millionaire women are accountable

We’re talking about money habits, but accountability starts with taking responsibility for our own power. The millionaire women I know are really clear about where they put their energy. They don’t lay blame, justify, or make excuses when it comes to their results. If they want things to be different, they take responsibility for making the changes that are needed.

They’re also accountable to others around them, answerable to any promises they’re making.

Finally, they’re accountable in the more usual sense of their financial accounts. They know what’s going in and what’s coming out when it comes to their money.

When we look at the stages of wealth, accountability is one of the key ways we move from financial instability to a place of financial stability. So if right now you’re not sure whether you’ll be up or down financially from month to month- the first and most important habit you need to implement is the habit of accountability.

Action: It can take a few hours to get a clear picture of your finances, so make time for it. Schedule a coffee date with yourself to get really clear on where things are: your debts, savings, and what’s coming in and out for the month. Getting a clear picture of where you are is essential if you’re to start steering your financial ship in the direction you want to be going.

3. Millionaire women manage their money effectively

This habit probably doesn’t come as a surprise – after all, we’re talking about women who are millionaires. They know how to manage their money effectively to make sure that they’re creating the financial future they want.

You might have read things like this before and thought: “Fine, I need to be ‘effective’ – but what does that actually MEAN?”. Well, at the very least, it’s about allocating something towards your financial future every single month – making that a part of the work your money does however much you earn right now.

In the great book The Millionaire Woman Next Door Thomas Stanley shares that 68% of millionaire women know exactly how much they spend every month on living: mortgage, fuel, food etc. They are brilliant budgeters. Of the other 32%, the “non-budgeters”, they make a commitment to INVEST money first each month and then only spend what is left over.

Either way millionaire women organise the money they have, and routinely put some aside to invest (not save) for the future.

One of the biggest mistakes I see women making is thinking that they’ll start to invest their money when they’re making “enough”. Most of us will never grow the kind of wealth we want without a commitment to investment right from the start. Just telling ourselves we’ll invest what’s left over isn’t sufficient. We must start the investing habit first. Creating your financial future means becoming conscious of the flow of money through your accounts. When we start to plan for the future immediately, we open up the amount of focus we give our financial future. So even if its $1 a month, starting the habit of investing in the future is the crucial step.

This is how we start to become truly conscious of our finances.

Action: Are you confident you understand the flow of money in your life? If you’re not really clear on how much you’re earning or spending, go back to the previous step – getting a clear picture of your finances is essential before you move into actively managing your money. Once you understand what’s coming in and out, you can start looking at what you want to invest in your future. Even if it’s only a small amount at first, this habit is one that will pay off in the long term. How much will you commit to investing monthly?

4. Millionaire women get their money working for them

In a culture which encourages us to continually spend, spend, spend, the millionaire women I know don’t only play the role of consumers in the marketplace. They’re in the habit of seeing themselves as creators of opportunity.

That means thinking of money as a way that we can make things happen for ourselves and for others, not just through our spending but through our investments. Investors see their money as a way of creating opportunities, whether that’s through property, the stock market, becoming a partner in a business, or something else.

Action: What would you like your money to do if it was working for you, instead of the other way round? Brainstorm a few priorities to investigate further, if this isn’t a part of your current finances.

Not sure where to start? Move on to habit 5 – it might be time to make some financial education your first investment.

5. Millionaire women educate themselves

If we start early enough in life, and have the right level of income, simply saving part of what we earn could possibly lead to wealth. But for most of us, creating the wealth we want to requires a little more. Usually our money needs to work a little harder than your average savings plan allows, to really provide for a financial future.

Most of us aren’t born knowing this stuff, so the first step is education to learn how to get our money working harder than a 0.5% annual interest rate in a bank!

Action: When it comes to finances, what do you wish you knew more about? Real estate investing? Stocks? Precious metals? What interests you to learn more about? Do a quick bit of reading today. Great authors on the subject are:

Rebecca Robertson of Evolution Financial Planning.

Gill Fielding of Fielding Financial.

Barbara Huson of Barbara-Huson.com, Author of one of my favourite books on financial power for women “Sacred Success”

Wealth Insights is our own half-day foray into reclaiming your power when it comes to money, and really increasing your wealth. Click here for upcoming events.

The bottom line when it comes to creating good money habits

At One of many we believe wealth is one of the most important areas of women’s power, and we’re on a mission to empower every woman in our community to create and manage the wealth she wants.

Do you recognise these habits in yourself? Is one of them a particular challenge for you, or an area where you have a tip to share for someone else? Let us know in the comments – your experience might be just what another woman needs to read today.

Our intention is simple. To support professional women to handle the day-to-day so they can unleash the bigger impact they feel called to make in the world.

We believe real leadership is less about skill, and more about having a well of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual strength to draw on. Every week we support thousands of grassroots leaders globally with our free articles, videos and online trainings with powerful tools and methodologies created BY women FOR women.

Become One of many™ women creating strong, meaningful connections in our community.

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What is true financial freedom?

By

Joanna Martin

Founder: One of many. Author. Ex-doctor. Entrepreneur. Sister. Sometime Actor. Baby Wrangler. Personal Chef. Mother.

Latest posts by Joanna Martin (see all)

What is true financial freedom? The phrase has a delicious ring to it – but for an awful lot of us the actual definition isn’t clear. The reality is, unless you know what you’re aiming for, it’s impossible for you to create strategies that will get you there.

When it comes to financial empowerment, too many of us get confused about the basics – like what is true financial freedom – meaning we don’t focus our energy where it’s most effective.

And this stuff matters. According to CNN, the largest growing economic force in the world isn’t China or India – it’s women. We account for 85% of all consumer purchases. If we were all able to make conscious, empowered choices around what we spend, rather than making those decisions unconsciously, we really could change the world.

Financial empowerment is a really important strand of our work here at One of many, because our finances are one area where a lot of us experience a great sense of disempowerment. To be clear, I’m not just talking about how much money you have.

When I talk about financial empowerment, I mean being really clear on what your financial situation is, taking responsibility for it, and understanding the strategies you need to move forward to the next level of growth. Without that level of understanding of wealth, you won’t be truly empowered.

What is true financial freedom?

So what is true financial freedom? The first thing a lot of us think of is an emotional state.

“When I’m no longer stressed about money” or “Never having to think twice about buying what’s best for my family.”

Sound familiar? But these kinds of woolly definitions can actually hold us back, because they don’t give us a clear sense of what we need to do in our lives right now to change things.

(After all, it’s perfectly possible to have millions in the bank and still think twice about buying things – or to be earning very little, but feel great clarity about how you’re moving forward.)

At One of many, financial freedom has a very specific meaning, and that’s what I want to share with you today. It’s one of the 4 stages in our “pyramid of wealth” – a really simple model we use to help us understand where we are financially.

The 4 stages of wealth

1. Stability

Let’s say you work for a salary of $30,00 per year, and your living expenses come to $30,000 – you’re at stability. Your earnings equal your outgoings. At the end of each month, you’ve got nothing left over in the bank account, but your expenses and your income is steady.

2. Security

If you’re earning $50,000 and your expenses are $40,000 per year, you’re probably at stability. Your expenses are covered by your earned income, with a little bit left over. At this stage, your family has a “rainy day” fund that means you’ve got the money in the bank to cover your expenses for the next 3–12 months. You’ve also got relevant wills and insurances in place to make sure you’re covered in the event of an unexpected emergency.

3. Independence

This is the “financial freedom” which a lot of us find hard to define. We describe it very simply: At this stage, whatever your living expenses are, they’re covered by the money generated by your assets – like income from property or stocks and shares.

Any amount of money you earn is a bonus because at this level, your living expenses are covered by your asset income. In other words, once you reach financial freedom, you don’t have to work any more to maintain your standard of living: your investments will cover your day to day costs.

4. Affluence

The final stage of wealth is affluence. As with independence, your living expenses (say $100,000 per year) are completely paid by the income from your assets.

This is the point at which you begin to diversify – to invest in lots of different assets, and to begin to understand how you can make a difference with the money you invest. At this stage, we start to become interested in what we can invest in, and begin to understand entire markets and the part we can play in them.

When we don’t have stable finances

You might be reading this thinking “Jo, that’s all well and good – but I’m not sure I’m on the pyramid at all!”. Maybe you’re a self-employed person experiencing “feast and famine”, your expenses seem to vary wildly, or you’re just not sure what your finances really look like.

First of all, you’re not alone! Instability is the step most of us are at before we get onto the pyramid, and it’s worryingly common among women. (After all, for a long time, women weren’t permitted to have any access to money, or educated about how to manage it – and these old patterns often persist.)

How do I change the stage I’m at?

Step one: Instability to stability

The key to making this first transition is accountability. This means tracking exactly what all of your incomings and outgoings are and being accountable for earning income. (At this stage, sometimes the simplest thing to do is to get a job.)

Step two: Stability to security

Accountability isn’t enough here, because reaching security means increasing your income or reducing your expenses. Now, the key is finding your flow. That might look like doing something you’re passionate about so your ability to earn income is greater, or tapping into a bigger flow of money by aligning yourself with a business or organization where the money is flowing.

This is something we explore at a much deeper level at BeWealth, where we use the Energy Outcome Matrix to get clear on the different elements to wealth creation and tell us where we need to be focused.

Step three: Security to freedom

Achieving financial freedom requires learning about investment: investing in oneself; investing in assets; or perhaps investing in teams to run your business for you. Just earning more won’t make that change. Now, the focus is on investing in assets which can generate money. And for many of us, the first step to that is investing in our own education so we can feel confident about making those decisions wisely for us and our families.

Step four: Freedom to affluence

The final stage of the pyramid is all about balance. We learn how to balance different kinds of assets, and to understand the balance sheets which tell us what’s going on in our finances. We also learn to balance our own energy, so that we’re paying attention evenly to every area where we spend energy.

Take action today

Finances can bring up all kinds of emotions and triggers for a lot of us, and it’s not surprising to find that there’s a temptation to “stick our heads in the sand” and ignore what’s going on. Looking at wealth in stages like this helps us understand where we’re at without judgement or emotion, but simply asa stage on a journey. So today, get honest with yourself: where are you right now?

Wherever you are, take a few minutes to notice the habits and the thinking that have got you to that level and be grateful for that. But notice that the same habits and thinking could keep you stuck here. What is it you need to get to the next level? In the next twelve months, what’s the big thing you know you need to do to change your financial circumstances and be in a place where you’re ready to move to the next stage?

The more we talk about these things, the more we can support each other to get empowered when it comes to money, relationships and health. If this is helpful to you, let us know in the comments below!

Our intention is simple. To support professional women to handle the day-to-day so they can unleash the bigger impact they feel called to make in the world.

We believe real leadership is less about skill, and more about having a well of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual strength to draw on. Every week we support thousands of grassroots leaders globally with our free articles, videos and online trainings with powerful tools and methodologies created BY women FOR women.

Become One of many women creating strong, meaningful connections in our community.

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Grass Roots Women Who Inspire – Cat’s Story

By

Joanna Martin

Founder: One of many. Author. Ex-doctor. Entrepreneur. Sister. Sometime Actor. Baby Wrangler. Personal Chef. Mother.

Latest posts by Joanna Martin (see all)

Cat’s Story

For as long as I can remember I wanted to make a positive difference in the world. I even started out in my career as a biomedical engineer in Australia, designing aortic stent grafts and literally saving lives! But the problem was… it was boring. I wanted to do something that was exciting and fun.

In looking around at what else I could do I met a graphic designer. Now that was a job that looked like fun. I’d get to make stuff pretty all day and make a living out of it.

It was time to for a change in career

I found a graphic design course that I could take in only 12 months, and broached the idea with my partner Scot. He wasn’t entirely thrilled at the idea of me throwing in my high paid job to become a student again, but we agreed that I’d make up for the disparity in earnings in the future.

So, with no time to waste, I quit my engineering career and signed up for the course – thinking that surely this would be all I needed to make it big in the world of graphic design. Huh!

Twelve months later I made a list of top London design agencies I wanted to work for, and with a flimsy qualification in hand, Scot and I sold all our belongings and bought a one-way ticket to the UK.

Excitement. Fame. Fortune. Here I come!

Only thing is that tens of thousands of design graduates turn up in London every year looking for a design job – and most of those have Bachelors degrees. It was a shock to the system, but the situation forced me to get creative with my application process. I carefully targeted the creative directors at my top 10 agencies and sent them postcards of myself outside their door, explaining exactly why I was determined to work for them. Three months after arriving in London, I secured a foot-in-the-door at the agency which had been top of my list.

The cold hard reality

I quickly discovered that graduate designers typically work for minimum wage or ‘gulp’ for free!

The excitement kept me moving forward, but I had a sinking feeling that it was going to be a LONG time before I could ever make things up financially to Scot. And with the cost of living in London far higher than my income, I moved further and into a feeling of being indebted.

Working at an agency was fun and fast paced. I learnt a lot and got to work with some very prestigious clients. But after a number of years of doing it tight financially, I realised that I was never going to make up the financial gap with a regular agency job.

I turned to freelancing!

With a much higher daily rate, and the freedom to get experience from a range of clients, and change my focus to brand strategy and customer experience, I thought that I was set. But there’s nothing that messes with your mind quite like running your own business.

When I was busy things were fine. When I wasn’t things weren’t so fine. I quickly descended into a desperate cycle of taking whatever work was on offer and working my butt off for several months, and then spending the next few months stressing that I didn’t have enough work.

The freelance gig gave me the freedom to travel and make it back to see my family in Australia semi-regularly. But Scot (now my husband) could rarely travel with me because he was working in a full time employed position. He was the one who was being responsible and providing the stability for us. He was being a grown up. Whereas I felt broke all the time. I felt like a fraud, pretending I had my own business, when I my cash flow was so erratic I couldn’t be relied upon to pay the rent. It didn’t feel great but I had no idea how to change anything.

Money became a taboo subject

Best avoided if you didn’t fancy an argument.

In despair, I threw tens of thousands of dollars at personal development and wealth creation seminars. I learnt about property investment, passive income, multi-level-marketing. Basically, anything that might change my situation for me!

I’d leave each event hopeful, but after a few weeks the enthusiasm would fade and all that I was left with was a growing credit card bill.

I decided that the only solution was to work harder.

Work harder and I’ll make more money, I rationalised. But as I doggedly pursued more clients, and increase my earnings something else started to nag at me.

The work I was doing was now ENTIRELY about the money!

I wasn’t making the sort of positive difference in the world I had always wanted to make. In fact, some would go so far as to stay that my work was actually harming the world – selling people more stuff they don’t need, in order to make even more money for the 1%.

I started to make up for my growing sense of guilt, by doing the odd side-project for a cause that I could believe in. Doing good with my work felt so good that I started giving my time away to friends and family for free, afraid to charge for my services.

After all…

You can’t do good AND make money.

Or so the voice in my head would tell me.

But there are only so many hours in the day, and when you start spending more of your time working for free, the logical result is that you spend less time doing the work that makes you money.

There had to be another way of doing things?

Faced (yet again) with the same financial frustrations, I found myself registered for the Be Wealth retreat – not really expecting anything to change, but there was something in the idea of a ‘Soft Power’ approach to wealth that intrigued me.

All those other wealth seminars I’d attended, they’d pump you and challenge you to go out and fight for what you wanted.

I could see that they worked for other people, but that approach just never felt quite right for me. Jo Martin and One of many had made me start to question if maybe the difference was that they were geared around a masculine way of doing things.

What if I could approach things from a more feminine perspective AND still achieve the same results?

I decided to attend with an open mind.

Be Wealth started with an honest and objective look at the facts

Instead of teaching some ‘get rich quick’ strategy, Jo made us take an honest and objective look at ourselves.

We started by facing the real numbers in our individual money situations. I was amazed to discover that despite feeling like a financial failure, and not always having dependable income, that I had actually earned as much over the last decade as Scot had in his stable and steady job.

It turns out I was doing pretty well with the ‘making’ money, I was just lacking in follow through with the ‘manage’ and ‘multiply’ parts of wealth creation.

Jo also taught us about the four stages of wealth – Stability, Security, Independence and Affluence – and I realised another reason why all those wealth seminars, hadn’t worked for me. I was so far in the realm of instability that I hadn’t even reached the first stage of wealth yet! You can’t just jump straight to financial independence or affluence.

Each stage of wealth builds upon the next, so if I wanted to improve my wealth situation I needed to do the work to progress through each stage. Because as Jo explained, the strategy that gets you to one level is NOT the strategy that will get you to the next level.

It fascinated me that stability is also about accountability – something I was definitely lacking. Scott and I never even spoke about our finances. I immediately knew this had to change.

We explored our beliefs and values

I don’t know quite how Jo, Annie and Susie do it but they get right underneath all your programming.

I unpacked the story I had been telling myself about how I didn’t care about money. How I believed that it was more important to be making a difference than making money, and that you can’t do good AND make money at the same time.

A huge shift for me was when I realised that not caring about money was actually preventing me from making a bigger difference in the world!

I realised that working for free on projects that I believe in was actually harming those projects. I wasn’t able to dedicate the time and resources to the projects that they deserved. I wasn’t able to help them make the impact that they possibly could have – all because I was afraid to charge money for something that was doing good.

To say this changed everything is an understatement!

I immediately went back home and created a real, bonafide, creative business out of helping solopreneurs with a social mission, build a brand and make a bigger impact.

Within 12 weeks that business had billed £32k… which was more than I had billed in the rest of the year combined. And I was on holiday for one of those months!

I made the decision to take control of my finances, once and for all.

I realised that I had been behaving like a child when it came to finances. I was abdicating responsibility to Scot and that had to stop. We could be a team, but I had to contribute in more than just the ‘making’ phase.

Importantly if we wanted to create financial stability… and then financial independence, I needed to take responsibility and we needed to start communicating.

Rather than simply wanting to come back and make vague promises, I decided to let my actions speak louder than my words. I started to pay myself a regular wage from my business, and I implemented Jo’s jar system.

The massive surge in my regular income, and the carefully implemented money management system, definitely attracted interest from Scot, and paved the way for a very frank conversation about desires, needs and values.

This time something was different. We didn’t argue or get emotional. He could hear what I was trying to say. He could see that I was really taking action. He could trust that I was serious.

Less than a week after that conversation, Scot gave notice at the job that had been getting more and more stressful for him. A month later I became the sole breadwinner in our family whilst Scot concentrated on learning to trade the financial markets.

Suddenly I was the strong and stable financial person in our relationship

As Scot focused on learning his new trade, I grew my business – hiring team members and taking on more and more clients who were doing amazing things in the world.

I revelled in the fact that I was really making a positive difference in the world, and supporting my husband to pursue something he enjoyed.

After six months of working side-by-side in our 1 bedroom apartment Scot and I made the decision to take an even bigger leap. We packed up all our belongings, and set off with laptops and backpacks to travel and work as digital nomads. After more than a decade living in the UK far away from our families, it was a joy to spend a summer in Australia with no rush of moving on.

As I write this we are both sitting by a pool in Bali…

Scot watching the markets, as I exchange emails and the occasional skype call with team members plotting how we can better serve our clients and help them make an even bigger difference in the world. It’s a joy to empower others to share their messages in a bigger, bolder, brighter way.

There are still real challenges. I’m still only finding my feet in financial stability. And I have a lot to learn as I endeavour to progress on to the next stages of my wealth journey.

But the changes in my life have been so dramatic and phenomenal, and I still need to pinch myself to check that it is real.

It feels cheesy to say that this all wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t attended Be Wealth. But for once it feels great not to have had to battle through and learn all my lessons the hard way.

I’m so incredibly grateful to Jo for helping me get unstuck and showing me that there really is a different way.

Cat is an amazing designer and helped us create all our branding. She’s niched herself to help solopreneurs with a social conscience stand out from the crowd. Well done Cat!

Let me know in the comments if any of Cat’s story resonates with you.

And if you’d love to transform your relationship with money like Cat did then take a look at our upcoming Wealth Insights event in London.

It is a 3.5-hour tour-de-force live seminar into what keeps some of us women stuck around money, what millionaire women do differently, and how you can finally set you and your family free. And the best part is a ticket is only £27, and all ticket sale profits support an awesome not-for-profit.

Our intention is simple. To support professional women to handle the day-to-day so they can unleash the bigger impact they feel called to make in the world.

We believe real leadership is less about skill, and more about having a well of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual strength to draw on. Every week we support thousands of grassroots leaders globally with our free articles, videos and online trainings with powerful tools and methodologies created BY women FOR women.

Become One of many™ women creating strong, meaningful connections in our community.

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The Missing Piece to Manifesting Money

By

Lara Waldman
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Lara Waldman

The Abundance Activator | Inspirational Speaker | Healer | Abundance Coach | Author
Lara Waldman
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Lara Waldman – The Abundance Activator

For many years we have been hearing about The Law of Attraction and Manifestation; how it’s possible to create the life that you desire by thinking and believing that it’s possible. But there has been a very important missing piece.

In this article I’d like to share exactly what that missing piece is and give you a simple 5 step strategy to money manifestation mastery.

Let’s start at the beginning and consider…

The Deeper Purpose of Money

Money is a vehicle to realising your dreams in the physical world. Money helps to ground the calling of your Soul and anchor it here on the planet. Money is not the source of your happiness but a vehicle to express your full essence and Purpose in the world.

Money is an amplifier. Money exposes your deepest emotions, thoughts and beliefs that keep you small, stuck and limited. Your relationship with money can trigger and expose some of your deepest fears, frustrations and challenges.

Used consciously, money can also expose your greatest purpose, your true essence and the gifts of your Soul that you have come to this planet to share with the world.

The energy of Money is neutral. It does not judge good or bad. It simply wants to create and grow. Money can support you to create and grow your dreams into physical reality if you choose to use it in this way.

When you use money consciously in this way, it can be your greatest support to help you realise your purpose and make the impact that you were born to make.

This leads me nicely to the missing piece.

It’s all about where your desires are coming from.

You can create the life that you want lead by the desires of your Ego and many people do create from this place. The problem is that creating your life from your Ego desires can also create pain and suffering along with it, not only for you, but for others as well.

But there is another place to create from. When you create your life in alignment with your Soul’s Purpose, you will be making choices that serve not only yourself, but also the lives of others and all life on this planet. Your Soul, your Higher Self, will always lead you to greatness.

When you consciously create your life in alignment with your Soul’s Purpose, then your life flows with greater ease. Don’t get me wrong, life will still present its challenges, but generally speaking life will be flowing with you, rather than against you.

So the missing piece is a simple question to ask yourself…

‘Is what I am asking for in alignment with my Soul’s Purpose?’

If it’s not, then you have yourself a problem.

Your Soul, or Higher Self, has come here for a reason. Your Purpose is far greater than what you are aware of on an Ego or personality level. If you create your life out of alignment with you Soul’s Purpose, then you will soon find out about it.

When you fall too far out of alignment with your Soul’s Purpose, you will get what I lovingly call ‘A Slap from The Universe’. For many people this can look like a difficult life changing crisis.

I have been ‘slapped’ by The Universe many times in my life. I have also supported hundreds of women through many of these turbulent life changing moments. What I have learned is that if you create your life out of flow with your Soul’s Purpose, life will force you to stop and listen.

It is my passion to empower women with The Law of Attraction and Money Manifestation to consciously fulfil their great purpose while living life to the fullest. By saying yes to receiving money in alignment with your Purpose, you are saying Yes to creating a life of greater Ease, Joy and Fulfilment.

It’s time to say good bye to unnecessary pain and suffering when it comes to money and start enjoying your life to the fullest by making the difference that you were born to make.

Take Your Power Back

You are the creator of your life. There are areas in your life where you unconsciously create a life you don’t want, rather than consciously creating a life that you do want. It’s time to let go of victim consciousness, of life happening to you and get into the drivers’ seat of your life.

Money Manifestation Mastery is about remembering just how powerful you truly are. Most people have not been taught this. Most people have been trained in victim consciousness. You have been trained that there are limited options for you and your life.

The truth is that you are a master creator. It’s time to reclaim this power and start using it consciously. This will not only create an awesome life for yourself but for everyone whose life you touch. By transforming your world, you transform the world of others. As within so without.

5 Essential Steps to Manifesting Money in Alignment With Your Purpose.

Step 1: Put In Your Order To The Universe– get clear on what you want

Most of us are very good at focusing on what we don’t want. When I ask women ‘What would you ask for if I had a magic wand?’ the majority of them will start talking about what is not working, what happened in the past and why. Most people are programmed to focus on the negative, to focus on what is not working.

The key to creating the life that you desire is to focus on what you do want.

I will ask you now, if I had a magic wand and you could have anything you like, what would you ask for?

Let’s start with money. How much money would you LOVE to bring into your life and business, with ease (not with hard work and struggle)? What would that figure be for you? It can be monthly amount, an annual amount or a lump sum. This is your Money Goal.

The great thing about Money in relation to your purpose is that larger amounts of money are more in alignment with your Soul than smaller amounts. This is because your Soul is infinite! You do not need to confine yourself by lack or limitation when it comes to money and your purpose. Allow yourself to dream big!

Money Goal

How much money would give you the feeling of financial freedom? What would make you feel really relaxed and happy when it comes to money? This can be an annual amount of money or a monthly sum of money.

Daily Action:

Ask to The Universe and Your Higher Self (aka Soul)

What would it take to bring in X amount each month/year?

Money Fuel

Next you want to get clear on what I call your Money WHY. This is your money fuel. Your money fuel is the reason behind your Money Goal. Your Money Fuel highlights what is really important to you and what you are truly asking for through the vehicle of money. Your Money Fuel will be the thing that motivates you to create your Money Goal.

Human beings are ultimately motivated by feelings. Make sure to include the feelings that would come with your money goal being realised. The feeling that you want to feel is ultimately what you are asking for!

For this next section, please get a pen and your journal or piece of paper.

Money Fuel Exercise

Take your Money Goal and ask:

Why is this amount of money important to you?
What would be the impact of this amount of money?
What does it do for your life and the lives of others?

Now take the answers to those last questions and ask the 3 questions again of the first round of answers.

Why is this amount of money important to you?
What would be the impact of this amount of money?
What does it do for your life and the lives of others?

Now take the answers to the second round of questions and ask the 3 questions one more time.

Why is that amount of money important to you?
What would be the impact of that amount of money?
What does it do for your life and the lives of others?

With each round of questions, you are unlocking your deepest desires behind your money goal. The answers to these questions will highlight your true Purpose.

Your Purpose

Your Purpose is not just what you do in the world, it’s how you are BEING in the world. Part of your purpose is to BE the truth of who you are.

Your purpose is to fully embody and express your truth in the world. There are different vehicles for your purpose to be expressed, ie: business, but ultimately it’s about sharing the gift of who you truly are with the world.

When you are deeply connected to your Purpose and your Truth, you will then be divinely guided through your life.

Step 2 Release Your Money Blocks – get out of your own way

Your money blocks are the negative thoughts, beliefs and emotions that often come up the moment after you connect to your dreams. When you opened up to what you wanted, did you notice any negative, limiting thoughts or beliefs come directly after? These are your money blocks.

Your money blocks seem very real, but they are not. They are simply negative thoughts, beliefs and emotions that you absorbed and picked up on from the world around you. You learned these patterns from your family, your ancestors, the culture that you were raised in, as well as the society that you grew up in.

Your Money Blocks hide the truth of who you are. They cover up the light of your Soul. They are designed to keep you small, limited, stuck and hidden.

Your Money Blocks stop you from stepping into the unknown. Ultimately, they are designed to keep you safe in your comfort zone.

Having these blocks is a part of your human experience. Your money blocks are part of the journey called Life, but you can also consciously release them over time. This is where you have the power of choice and the ability to consciously create your life for the better.

We could spend a long time analysing all of your money blocks, which would be interesting, but it won’t necessarily release them. Would you be willing to simply let them go?

It’s super simple to release your money blocks but you need to release them on a regular, consistent basis. Your money blocks are sneaky and feel so real! The trick is to recognise your money blocks, see them for what they are and be willing to let them go.

Your money blocks want to keep you exactly where you are in the safety of your comfort zone. Your money blocks would rather keep you in the pain of what you know, rather than the potential risks of the unknown.

Your Money Blocks, although with good intentions of keeping you safe, are actually holding you back from creating positive change in your life. It’s time to let them go if you wish to move forward with your life.

Exercise

After you ask for your Money Goal:

What would it take to bring in X amount each month/year?

You then say:

‘Anything and everything that is stopping or blocking me from welcoming that amount of money into my life with ease, I let it go now.’

The key here is not in the words that you say but rather in your intention behind the words. You need to really let go or at least be willing to begin the process of letting go of your Money Blocks.

You are so powerful, more powerful than you realise. When you make the choice to let go of your money blocks, they will begin to dissolve away.

Some money blocks like to grip on for dear life, so you need to do this practice every day to chip away at them. Eventually your money blocks will dissolve with time, patience and love. Releasing your money blocks is a daily practice.

Step 3 Make the choice to have your Dreams Now – bring them into the present

Money manifestation works when you get 100% behind what you are asking for. You have to make a choice that you are going to do this and have this, even though you don’t know how. You need to decide that what you are asking for is going to be your reality, because you choose it to be so.

You do not need to know how you are going to make it happen. The how is up to The Universe and your Soul. All you need to do is decide and be willing to take the next steps forward towards your dreams.

You are the creator of your life. You create your life by getting clear on what you want and where you want to go. It’s time to get into the drivers’ seat of your life.

Bring Your Dreams Into The Present

When you think about your money goal, where is it? Is it in the future somewhere? Do you see or imagine your dream outside of you? Most people do.
The trick with money manifestation is to bring what you are asking for into the present, as if it’s real now. You become it now.

Most people say…

“I will be happy, peaceful when I have X, I will feel free when I have Y”.

The trick with manifesting what you desire is to start feeling what you want to feel NOW. So if you are asking to feel Joy, Freedom or Peace, start connecting to those feelings every day NOW.

As you become what you want NOW, you become a magnet to more of the same. This is how The Law of Attraction Works.

On a deeper level what you are doing with money manifestation is connecting to the truth of you. When you are aligned with your Soul and your purpose, you will feel Joyful, Free, Peaceful, Connected, Expansive and fulfilled. When you are feeling any negative emotions, it simply means that you have fallen out of alignment with yourself. It’s a sign something within needs your attention.

Exercise

Become The Vibrational Frequency of That Which You Desire

How would a person with X amount of money (your money goal) walk, talk, be? Become the energy of someone with that amount of money now. Your body knows how to do this. Sit, close your eyes and ask your body to become the vibrational frequency of a person with X amount of money. Then see what you feel!

Do this every day.

Step 4 Listen To Your Intuition

As soon as you ask for what you want, the answers come. The Universe will give you energetic breadcrumbs to guide you towards your dreams, but you have to listen. Your Soul, or Higher Self, will guide you forward.

The Universe and Your Higher Self speak to you in many subtle ways. You will get messages that lead you towards your dreams if you are listening and paying attention to those messages.

One of the main ways that The Universe speaks to you is through your intuition. You will get ideas, insights or awareness that are guiding you to the next step towards your dreams. But so often you will reject those ideas or insights as soon as they come it.

The key is to listen to the subtle messages from the world around you. The answers are there, but are you listening?

To help yourself listen to your intuition it helps to get still and quiet. Sit, breathe and tap into your inner knowing. I personally recommend a daily meditation practice.

Step 5 Take Guided Action

The very important step to realising your money goals is taking guided action. You need to take action on your intuitive ideas, or at least be willing to explore them more.

The key to guided action is taking action towards your dreams lead by your Higher Self and not from your Money Blocks aka your Ego.

Your Money Blocks will keep sneaking up to stop you in your tracks. They will feel very real. You must keep releasing them as they come up and not let them run your life anymore. Keep releasing your money blocks every day.

Your intuition will never speak to you in a fear based way. If your thoughts, feelings or emotions are fear based or negative in any way this is not your intuition speaking. Your intuition will be calm, clear and free from emotional drama.

You will realise your dreams one step at a time. Sometimes you will move forward with great leaps and bounds and sometimes you will move forward with many little (sometimes wobbly!) baby steps.

Please remember patience, trust, compassion and perseverance on your money manifestation journey.

Money Manifestation Daily Actions

1) Meditate:

To help you connect with your intuition I recommend meditating daily. To do this, sit quietly with your eyes shut and breathe. When your mind wanders, come back to your breath. Sit for a minimum of 10 minutes or until you feel your mind slow down. I personally recommend a minimum of 20 minutes a day. Your mind will wander! That’s normal. Just keep coming back to the breath, back into the present moment, when you notice your mind wandering.

When your mind has settled connect to your Money Goal and Your Money Fuel.

2) Ask The Universe and Your Soul:

What would it take to bring in X amount each month/year?

What would it take to feel, have, experience….?
(fill in the blank with your money fuel)

3) Money Block Release:

Anything and everything that is stopping or blocking me from welcoming my money goal and my money fuel into my life with ease, I let it go now.

4) Bring your dreams into the present.

Become the vibrational frequency of that which you desire. Imagine what it would feel like to have that amount of money. Bring up the feelings of your money fuel. Become it now.

5) Ask your intuition:

What action can I take now that will create the greatest result?

6) Take Guided Action

Listen to your intuition. Write down any ideas and take action on the next best step for you at this time on your journey.

Do this practice every day.

Your dreams are on the other side of your comfort zone. Moving beyond your comfort zone is not always comfortable, but so very worth it. I promise!

Never give up on your dreams. You are here to make a very important contribution to this world. Make the most out of what life has to offer you.

Much Love and Abundance,
Lara Waldman
The Horse Woman without a Horse

To master your money manifestation and discover more powerful exercises, tips and mind-shifts to increase your abundance check out Lara’s new book
‘Money Manifestation Mastery’ via this link:
http://larawaldman.com/book/

About Lara

Lara Waldman is The Abundance Activator. Lara is an Inspirational Speaker, Healer, Abundance Coach and Author of the book “Money Manifestation Mastery – 5 Steps To Abundance Activation”.
Lara empowers Female Entrepreneurs and Business Owners to attract more money into their life and business. She teaches women how to use Money Manifestation as a vehicle to fulfilling their Life’s Purpose and making the change they were born to make.

Connect with Lara:

Web: www.larawaldman.com
Social: Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

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The Magic of Repeating Yourself

By

Dawn Grossart

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Women like you and I are in a powerful place. Thankfully, we’re in it together and it’s true that we really do have the knowledge at our finger tips and the capacity to create, and experience, the lives and businesses that Dawn Grossartwe truly desire. Does that seem far fetched to you?

For many this is still a theory, yet to be experienced for real. You know “there’s more”, and yet it often feels just out of reach. Can you relate to this?

If you have a vision of yourself in different circumstances – of any kind, take heart know that it’s possible to get there, but the path may bring up many demons along the way. (Ain’t that the truth!)

If you ever have those demons pop up, read on!

Setting out to get the to the heart of the matter of mind-set development and brain reprogramming – and having read the works of many, many giants on the topic, I connected with a carefully handpicked selection of 25 experts recently which includes Hay House and New York Times Best Selling Authors and highly acclaimed International Speakers who generously shared their wisdom and experience of how they have evolved their thinking to evolve their lives.

“”…You’ve might have heard that many times too? It’s also the key to unlocking the door to reprogramming your brain – your thinking, your words and your actions, which creates everything you experience.

Almost every person had a story of adversity – and of overcoming it. The Hero, or Heroine’s Journey is part of the human experience for so many, and the reason for sharing that, is to focus on the overcoming part. To realise that if one person can create the outcome they desire, so can you. So can we all. But we have to make choices. A decision to be prepared to face whatever is in front of us and to take action with faith, and be connected to a desire, a reason why, that’s so strong it will keep you on the path, no matter what.

Now that might sound like a tall order? Well, back to the repetition I mentioned before. Careful to take note that progress is being made, and not to keep repeating what isn’t working, among many other things, these habits came out on top:

  • A daily personal exercise routine that gets energy flowing around the body.
  • Writing or journaling as a way to connect with the inner self – ask questions, purge frustration, get clarity.
  • Mentally focussing on a specific desired outcome and visualising that outcome like it has already happened, embodying the feelings.
  • A meditative practice that allows you to listen to inner guidance. Sitting, running, swimming..whatever takes you to that zone.
  • An awareness that there’s a part of you that you have to fight against sometimes to get to where you desire – resistance and fear are normal; and have a strategy to over come it. (nb If you experience resistance and fear and you’ve not read “The War of Art” or “Turning Pro” by Steven Pressfield. Get them. Read them, and know that what you experience as resistance is part of the process you have to overcome).
  • Connecting with people regularly who were positive, driven, happy and motivated.

Now I’m not suggesting that everyone has to have the Heroine’s Journey experience , but when you have awareness of what’s possibly going on for you inside your head, and that it’s possible to tame the tiger, you have the power to create a solution, a strategy to support you. So much of what we have to overcome at times is inside our own heads, so getting firmly committed to ourselves is the very first step. And keep recommitting until you get there.

Personally, I believe wholeheartedly:

  • That anything is possible.
  • There are at least 3 solutions to every challenge
  • That we are programmed to grow and expand throughout our entire life.
  • Challenges, when they come, are opportunities.
  • We’re not meant to do this alone.

Your mindset is one of the most essential keys to creating and experiencing whatever it is you desire. Do an mindset audit. What are your beliefs? Question them. Tune them up. Create the positive focus. Build the muscle everyday that you CAN be all that you desire. And enjoy the process of expansion as you start to feel life shift in your favour.

Write down your top 20 beliefs about money, abundance and happiness. What do they reveal? If you write what you’d choose to believe – what would that look like instead?

If you’d love to go deeper on this one, and receive all of the steps and strategies in full, you can access the interview series yourself. Tune in and hear what the lovely Jo Martin had to share on the subject, as well as other highly acclaimed speakers on Self-Love, Money Mindset, Creating Happiness, Busting Through Limiting Beliefs, Motivation and Emotional Healing and more.

You can pre-register for The Wealth Mindset Expert Series and access them here (they’re released next week!)

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You’re Not Meant to Earn Financial Freedom

By

Joanna Martin

Founder: One of many. Author. Ex-doctor. Entrepreneur. Sister. Sometime Actor. Baby Wrangler. Personal Chef. Mother.

Latest posts by Joanna Martin (see all)

My friend Ann Wilson is just so clever. So clever that we featured her on the Soft Power Summit a few months back, with rave feedback.

Here at One of Many, we are all about elevating you out of the “stuff” that’s keeping you from becoming the leader we hope, and know, you can be. First that means taking care of some of the necessary stuff, like health, career fulfilment, relationships, and of course your finances.

Now people get all weird around money. There is this whole “deserve” mentality, and a lot of “tall poppy” syndrome too. It’s all actually pretty unhealthy really when you realise that being financially secure actually means:

  1. That you stop worrying about how to get through each day, and start thinking what you can really achieve in life.
  2. Thanks to women’s inherent sense of nurturing, when we are free to start thinking what more we can do/ achieve, we usually want to use the excess money or time to do something good for our community.

Clearing your “stuff” around finances, really can only be healthy, for you, and everyone around you. So that’s why I love Ann Wilson, the Wealth Chef. She teaches you how to get financially savvy, and how to plug the never ending expenses hole (ever noticed the more you earn, the more you spend?)

Now, who wouldn’t want to wake up in the morning to all the income you need flowing into your bank account?

Well I know I want that for you, because I know that that would free you up to step up as a leader in your community. You could get creative, play to your passions, make a real difference, travel… learn… teach.

But “that woman” waking up with all that money in the bank isn’t trading money for her time. She is getting savvy. She’s educating herself on ways to get her finances working for her.

Now there’s a few ways to get your money working for you, and I have invited Ann Wilson to tell you a little more about one way; “Asset-based income streams”.

I’m sure you’ve heard about people creating passive income streams – income that comes into your life without you having to work – but how are they doing that?

How do these asset based income streams work and more importantly, how can you create it in your life in a way that fits into your already busy life so you can provide financial security for you and those you love?

Take a look at this video (& the other 4 she has created) with love from Ann (and me!)

annwilsonvideo

Ann Wilson. International Wealth Mentor.  Bestselling author. Generally Clever Woman!

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7 Signs Your Mindset for Money Could Use an Upgrade

By

Melanie Benson Strick
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Melanie Benson Strick

Melanie Benson Strick, America’s Leading Small Business Optimizer, guides thought leaders and creative entrepreneurs to achieve optimum success by eliminating unconscious barriers.
Melanie Benson Strick
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Latest posts by Melanie Benson Strick (see all)

Your mindset – your beliefs, ideas and attitude — has a huge impact on the level of success you can achieve. Think of your mindset like your lens of possibility. If your lens is cloudy and distorted, you can’t see all the possibilities easily.

If you are a leader, visionary or entrepreneur type, having a healthy money mindset is essential to carrying out your mission in the most effective, and profitable way. When you can see possibilities clearly you make better decisions, which obviously will lead to greater profits and impact.

But here’s the crazy part. Most people really don’t know that their mindset has become a bottleneck to their next level of success. Because that way of thinking is their NORM it’s accepted – and even worse – you just work harder to be successful in spite of your lack mindset.

If you want to be able to elevate your success you’ll need to upgrade your money mindset pronto!

Here’s seven signs your money mindset needs an upgrade:

  1. You hold back from investing in your business growth because you can’t afford it.
  2. You alternate between a big payday and scrambling for sales.
  3. You routinely make “just enough” to cover all your bills.
  4. On some level you see wealthy people as “bad” or you are worried you will be “like them.”
  5. The fear of what you will have to give up or change to be successful a recurring concern.
  6. You are still doing it all yourself because you can’t financially justify paying others to help you.
  7. You are busy – a lot – but your effort doesn’t translate to more money in the bank.

Suspect you might have at least ONE indicator? Don’t worry, you and 95% of the human population! But the more indicators on this list you have the more likely you are to be secretly pushing away the very thing you deeply desire — more financial freedom.

Here’s what to do next.

1. Decide that you will thrive in your life and business.

Before you do anything you must decide that you want to thrive. Make a commitment to do the inner work that will allow you to be more effective in your actions, choices and results.

2. Determine if there is a success barrier derailing you from doing what would really work.

Now it’s time to determine what’s causing you to short circuit your success. Typically one of three success barriers are at play – Fear, Internal Conflict or Sabotaging Stories. These barriers have been in place for a really long time (they are almost always operating at the subconscious level) so you might want to get help from a professional.

3. Learn how to rewire your money mindset.

By rewiring your money mindset you eliminate the erroneous thought patterns that cloud your choices. Rewiring can be as simple as training your mind to think more constructive thoughts. For some, you’ll need to go deeper and recode a really old belief system that has become a negative anchor.

By learning how you can take control of your mindset you are taking the reins of your future success.

 

About the Author: Melanie Benson Strick, America’s Leading Small Business Optimizer, guides thought leaders and creative entrepreneurs to achieve optimum success by eliminating unconscious barriers. Get a copy of her money mindset book, Rewired for Wealth.

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The Surprising Secret to Financial Freedom

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Joanna Martin

Founder: One of many. Author. Ex-doctor. Entrepreneur. Sister. Sometime Actor. Baby Wrangler. Personal Chef. Mother.

Latest posts by Joanna Martin (see all)

The easiest way to take control of your finances and move towards financial freedom is to spend less money. It’s really that simple.

You might be thinking “Hang on, if I had financial freedom I would be able to buy whatever I wanted”. But what if you didn’t want to buy anything? Would you have financial freedom then?

Breaking the link between consumerism and happiness will make a huge difference to your finances. It’s not your fault. We’ve all had a lifetime of sophisticated advertising constantly telling us that this car or that mobile phone will make us feel happy. The marketing men (and women) need us to believe that a bigger house or a better holiday is the key to joy. That’s their job and they get paid well for persuading us. But any happiness we feel is fleeting. And if it makes you feel broke at the end of the month then so-called “healthy” consumerism is actively working against our peace of mind.

Someone who spends a thousand pounds has a lot less money than someone who banks a hundred. They just have more stuff. What is going to make you happy long-term? A shiny new toy or a steadily growing bank balance?

Financial freedom does not mean earning loads of money. Sure, that would be fun, but a high income does not guarantee financial freedom. Spending significantly less than you earn does.

So now you might be thinking: “Ugh, frugality, how dull!” But once you start to think of saving money as making money everything changes. Instead of feeling the lack of the pair of new shoes, start thinking how you’ll invest the money you saved.

If you have nothing to invest your returns will be zero.

I’m sure there’s a few of you out there now thinking: “But I like new shoes, I like my new phone. I love holidays and meals out. I like shopping for pretty things for the house.”

But if these things are preventing you from achieving financial freedom, are they really worth it?

Dr Joanna Martin: Founder, oneofmany.co.uk.| Author| Women’s Speaker| Entrepreneur| Ex-doctor| Loud Sister| Baby Wrangler = No professional training but do a fine job nonetheless!