Our beliefs are sneaky little tricksters

You would be surprised by how influenced we’ve been as kids when it comes to our money story. You see, when we were growing up we were learning to hold beliefs about how the world works. And when it comes to money it could be still holding us back.

How ingrained are some of these sayings for you?

• Money doesn’t grow on trees (said that to my kids more than once!)
• The rich get richer, the poor get poorer (thanks Robin Hood)
• Another day another dollar (always said in a depressing tone on a Monday morning)
• Money isn’t everything (how we justify not having money)

And these don’t even scratch the surface of the thousands of times we’ve heard people give meaning to money over our lifetime from friends and family to TV and movies.

Why does this matter? 

All these stories we hold about money we believe as the truth and they influence our actions, especially in business. What I want to challenge is why you should believe them in the first place.

Let’s tackle some big myths I see holding women in business back from reaching an income level they deserve and that allows a sense of financial freedom for them.

#1 You will pay yourself when you hit a certain income level

How this holds you back: When we first go into business often it takes some lag time to start earning more money than what is needed to cover expenses. However, if we don’t draw the line and start paying ourselves even a small amount that can be built upon, then the magical income level number gets shifted further and further back. We grow our expenses to match the income and there is nothing left over. So include your own wage as part of your expenses and watch yourself bring in enough to cover it.

#2 You’re not good with finances

How this holds you back: It might have been a throw-away line from your maths teacher at a stage where numbers felt hard that left you with this belief. The problem here is that we take this belief with us throughout adulthood and never challenge our thinking. You don’t need to have an accounting degree to go into business, but abdicating your finances to your accountant or bookkeeper without learning about what the numbers mean will not help you build your wealth. All it does is keep your head buried in the sand which is a recipe for disaster.

#3 One solid source of income is all you need to build wealth

How this holds you back: There are a couple of issues with this line of thinking. Firstly, this means you put all your eggs into one basket and if something out of your control happens (hello global pandemic, I’m looking at you!) then everything falls over. Secondly, it can set you up to pour all your waking hours into growing your business which can leave you feeling burnt out and resentful. It holds you back from looking at the bigger picture of your life and finding multiple streams of income that all work towards building your personal wealth.

#4 You can “set and forget” your revenue streams

How this holds you back: This kind of thinking for me sits alongside the ‘overnight success’ thinking where we see someone on social media making millions in their first year of business. But when you dig deeper, it’s actually taken them years (often with failed businesses behind them) to get those results. Setting and forgetting can leave the impression you don’t need to think about your product or service once you’ve created version 1.0. The truth is, to stay relevant in your market you need to continually improve your products or services. 

#5 You need a lot of money to start investing

How this holds you back: When we fall into the trap of believing what the media feeds us about rich investors, we can think it’s out of our reach because we don’t have the tens of thousands of dollars (and beyond) to get started. Nowadays the barrier to entry into the share market has reduced with share apps that have no minimum investment, so you decide how much you want to invest. You can buy part of any share with just 1¢! And if you own your home, you might have enough equity to purchase an investment property without having to outlay any of your own money. 

If you are a woman in business who wants to set and achieve your financial goals but feels like there’s something holding you back, then you might like to consider working with a money coach. Book a free discovery call with me to see if working with a coach is right for you.

Meet Nicky & Ness

Double your chance of success with two experienced Business and Leadership Mentors.

Nicky and Ness are obsessed with helping install smart business growth strategies - without the hard -core hustle and leveraging people leadership for peak performance. 

They are two savvy business women who have come together with a shared vision, bucket loads of passion and a burning desire to change hustle culture.

Underpinning everything they do is making sure you’re thriving now and able to thrive into the future as the world continues to change around you.