Welcome to The Spark Show! In this episode, I’m going to be talking about money mindset for influencers, this includes content creators and entrepreneurs, anyone that has a personal brand and putting themselves out there.

This is a big topic in any industry because money is such a touchy subject. In some cultures, it’s rude to talk about money. People don’t like to share how much they make like it’s some big secret. Or they think it’s bragging because people like to compare. 

But when I started studying, researching and learning more about money mindset, I realized that it’s not about money itself but how we feel about money that makes it have an effect on our lives. When I started uncovering my own money beliefs, I realized that I needed to make some shifts if I wanted to attract more money into my life. After making these shifts and working on my money mindset on a daily basis, I started to see some results like quadrupling our annual revenue last year, getting paid triple my rate for my services, and seeing so much more abundant in my life. 

So today I want to share with you some of my new money beliefs that I’ve adopted and if it resonates with you then you can put this into practice into your own life and business as well.

#1: Money is neutral

Ever since I started working on my own money mindset, I started realizing that money is neutral. It’s like any other inanimate object - like a table or a purse. What makes it weird is the meaning that we’ve put behind it, like someone who has a lot of money can be seen as successful, greedy or evil - depending on the person and their experiences. 

Money is actually neither good nor bad. It’s an inanimate object that people feel emotions towards depending on their individual experience. To someone who has money and an abundance of it, the word “money” bring up positive emotions and memories. Like, great - more money, more impact, more gifts, more abundance. To someone who may not have money or has had a bad history or relationship with money, the word “money” can cause fear or anxiety because of the scarcity or bad memories that they grew up with. 

So first, be aware of what comes up when someone says the word money, or when you yourself say it or when someone brings it up. Do you get tight and defensive? Does it bring joy and excitement? Take the money subject test and then just see what happens. 

Whatever does come up, be okay with it. It’s not good or bad, it’s just what your experience has been up until this time. All of us are a product of our learned behaviors and experiences so now that you know how you react and what feelings can come up, you’re aware of it and you can shift it the way you want it to be. 

#2: Money is everywhere

I used to hear “money doesn’t grow on trees” all the time when I was growing up. Now that I’m older, know much better and watch a lot of videos and see a lot of memes, it’s funny that money does grow on trees, because it’s made of paper that comes from trees. And what’s funny about it is that the money that you want already exists. It doesn’t have to be invented or printed, it’s just somewhere else. And when I started to think about money in this way, the more money I attracted towards me. People already have money, they just decide where to spend it. It doesn’t have to be with you and that’s okay, but for example as influencers who work with brands, the money is already there. It may not be allocated to influencer marketing yet, but the budget is there. Yes, there are some businesses that are brand new that don’t have a marketing budget yet and that’s fine - they can spend their time doing their own organic marketing and trading promotion for product but if a business is going to survive in the long run - they will have a marketing/advertising budget. I can’t name one company that doesn’t have a marketing budget. They’re spending it on something - whether that’s Google or Facebook ads, on a social media manager to do organic campaigns, or a photographer to take photos of their product, there’s a budget. And so when I started shifting my own mindset to - “there’s always a budget,” guess what happened? There was always a budget. Did I get every deal I wanted? No. Did I always get the fee I asked for? No. But I did see the shift that happened in myself and in my world when I started believing that money is everywhere and it’s there for me.

#3: Money buys options

I’m sure you’ve heard “Money can’t buy happiness” and it’s true in the literal sense but if travel makes you happy and money allows you the freedom to do that - in that case, isn’t it true? Money can’t buy relationships but it can buy you a year long subscription to a dating site or a posh coworking space that gives you the opportunity to be able to create those relationships. So now I believe that money buys options. It gives you the freedom to hire the best people, get the best coaches, get you in the right room with other people who also have money. To me: more money equals more impact. If you think about the people who are making an impact with their money, it’s usually millionaires and billionaires who made a ton of money and are now giving back to charities and causes they care about. It becomes less about how much they make and more about what they can give. 

I often heard “Rich people are greedy” and yes some people can be (even non-rich people), but when I think about what I would do when I have a billion dollars it wouldn’t be buy myself all these things (not that there’s anything wrong with that) but a lot of it would be giving it away to other people and causes I cared about. I would love to give tons of money away to people I loved, my friends, fund businesses by women of color. And so now I know that I wouldn’t be a greedy rich person, I feel good about wanting to make money. I don’t feel guilty for wanting my business to succeed so I can give back and give more. 

There’s a lot of guilt, pain and suffering associated with money. Especially if you’re like me and you come from a family that didn’t have a lot of money and it always felt like a struggle. It always felt wrong to talk about money or to want more money. 

And so I wanted to do this episode for those of you who are struggling with your beliefs about money. Just to recap: Do the money neutrality test and see what comes up when you hear the word money or talk about money. And then figure out what those beliefs are that you’re still holding on to that’s keeping you from making more money. Write down what you would do when you have a billion dollars and see that you’re probably not a greedy rich person. And think about all the options you would have with money, what would be the things you can do, the moves you would make, the things you would change about your life right now. 

And this is not just a one and done thing. This is a lifelong practice. This is something that most entrepreneurs work on every single day as part of their routine, especially if you’re selling your personal brand or your products and services. Oftentimes, we tie our self-worth with the money we make and that’s why some people can’t ever get past a certain point because you have to uplevel yourself before the money follows and uplevels as well.  

If you’re finding that you’re hitting a ceiling with your money, it means you need to do some work and re-examine your beliefs and then also your actions. Maybe it’s time to raise those rates, ask for more and be confident in communicating why that’s what you deserve. And when you do, you won’t feel guilty and have those scarcity beliefs in the back of your mind about “money is bad or wanting more is greedy.” I truly believe that it is up to us to charge our worth and ask for more. 

I hope this episode helped you rethink your beliefs about money and get you excited about money. Remember, it’s already out there. It just has to make its way to you. 

If you found this episode helpful, let me know - tag me on Instagram @heygwenlane and @thesparkschool and we’ll repost it!

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