I am sure you realize that your relationship with money is important to your business growth. Seems obvious, right?
And, I know that you had a lot of reasons for starting your business. One of them was to make money at something that you loved. What is odd is that we want to make money to support our lifestyle and make a contribution. I don’t want people to think it’s all about money and not what we can do with it. At the same time we can sabotage our efforts with our mindset. So what does this have to do with my dog?
This fall our dog Button was being a picky eater. We would end up throwing out partially used cans of food because she would no longer eat them. I found it frustrating “throwing money away.” It was time to get more dog food, so my husband and I headed to the pet store. Button was sitting on my lap in the car, and I started talking to her. “Really Button, you have got to get better at eating your food and not wasting it. You are eating us out of house and home. We will end up in the poor house.”
Whoa! I stopped right then and said to my husband, “Do you believe what I just said”? Where did that come from? I am sure I heard that growing up. It was buried deep in my subconscious along with not wasting food because of the starving children in China. Well, what else was buried in my subconscious? I realized I needed look at this as an opportunity to continue to work on my relationship with money.
What did you hear growing up about money? Do you harbor limiting beliefs? These can totally sabotage your money mindset and halt your business success, crazy as it might sound. Have you spent time evaluating what the beliefs you have about money are? They may go back to your childhood, or even to your spouse or friends. Have you ever thought about them and asked yourself if they are true? I think most of them have no truth in them. So get out your journal and start asking yourself what your beliefs are. Here are some of the common limiting money beliefs to get you started:
- I am just not good at money
- Money is a limited resource; there is just never enough
- I am not worthy or deserving – others need it more.
- Money is the root of evil (the actual verse is the “love of money is the root of all evil”)
- If I am successful, my friends and/or family won’t like me anymore.
- My family’s just not rich, so probably not for me
- Rich people are greedy and dishonest
- I’m not smart/educated enough to be rich
- Money just isn’t that important to me
- I just cannot afford that
- I cannot make more than my spouse
- All artists are starving
Take a look at the ones you wrote down. It might be a long list and it might not. What I found freeing was to actually see what the beliefs I fostered were. Now ask yourself if they are really true. How do you know that they are true? Most won’t be, and at times some may even seem contradictory to you. Yet, they can jump out and stop you from taking the next step in your business if you do not watch out. And, no one is immune. Every time you grow your business to the next level, some of those mindset issue crop back up.
As you delve into them, try to dismantle them or challenge your thinking. For example, you might say, “I don’t do money. I am just not good at it.” Look instead at how you can become good at money or try an affirmation that you are good at money.
You might look at how your limiting beliefs play out in your business. For example, do you have a hard time accepting money? Underneath that, you might feel others are more deserving. Others may be deserving, but it does not necessarily make them more deserving than you. And because you think others are more deserving, it does not mean the money you have been offered goes to them instead.
Your money mindset is like a muscle. The more you work on building your mindset in a positive direction, the more confident you will become about money. And this will show up in the bottom line of your business and your life.
“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.” ~ Wayne Dyer
What limiting beliefs do you harbor and how are you moving past them? I am interested in hearing more about your mindset with money. Feel free to leave a comment below, or on the or on our ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages.
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Morna McEver is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals where creative arts entrepreneurs craft business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://www.creativeartsprofessional.com.
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