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Being an entrepreneur has taught me a lot about money. Maybe more accurately, it has forced me to learn a lot about my relationship with money.
When I stepped more fully into building my own business, I carried a scarcity mindset with me. I didn’t necessarily recognize it at first. I just knew money would be tight. An unexpected bill felt heavy. An opportunity that required an investment felt heavy. When you’re building something of your own, it can become very easy to look at what is going out, worry about what might not come in, and start making decisions from that place. I have certainly done that. What I am learning is that I don’t want scarcity to determine how I build my business or how I live my life. I want my relationship with money to come from a mindset of prosperity.
That doesn’t mean pretending there will always be enough money or ignoring the numbers. I still have bills to pay. I still have to make good decisions. I still have to say no sometimes. Prosperity, to me, is becoming more aware of possibility instead of allowing fear to be the first voice in every financial decision. And I am still learning what that means.
One of the practices that has helped me see this differently is my daily journal. Each day I spend some time thinking about how I want to show up. What is my focus today? What am I grateful for? What mindset do I want to carry into the day? That practice has gradually changed the way I notice my response to money. A bill can still come in. Business can still be slower than I would like. An opportunity can still require money I would rather keep in the bank. The circumstance hasn’t disappeared. What has started changing is my response to it. I am learning to notice the pressure before immediately allowing it to make the decision for me. That is exactly why the 4 R’s have become so practical in this part of my entrepreneurial journey. I wrote a blog a while back on journaling and so if you would like to read it I have linked it below.
What is actually happening in me right now? Am I looking at the numbers or am I reacting to fear? Am I worried about the actual circumstance, or am I already imagining what could go wrong three months from now? Sometimes just recognizing the difference changes the conversation.
This is where I have had to do a lot of relearning. Instead of immediately thinking, “I can’t afford that,” I might ask, “Does this serve what I am trying to build?” Instead of, “What if I don’t make enough?” I can ask, “What can I create? Who can I help? What opportunity am I not seeing yet?” The answer doesn’t automatically become yes. That isn’t the point. The reframe simply allows me to look at the decision from somewhere other than scarcity.
Then I can make the decision. Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes I need to keep the money. Sometimes I need to take the risk. Sometimes I need to invest in myself or the business. The important part for me is becoming aware of who is making the decision. Is fear making it? Or am I making it intentionally? What frame work do I need to set up to put boundaries on my money?
Then I get to learn from it. What happened? What was I feeling? Did I make the decision I actually wanted to make? What would I do differently next time? Reflection is becoming increasingly important to me because I don’t believe I am ever going to arrive at some magical place where I completely understand money.
I don’t think there is an arrival point. My business will change. My circumstances will change. My income will change. My priorities will change. And I will change. So my relationship with money will continue to require attention.
Recently I have also been reading The Four Brains of Money by Dr. Rewire. I don’t want to turn this into a book review, but the book made me stop and think about something I probably hadn’t considered enough. We don’t all experience money the same way. There are patterns underneath our financial decisions, and some of those patterns have been with us for a very long time. That made me curious about mine.
Why does one expense create fear while another feels exciting? Why do I sometimes immediately protect what I have? Why does scarcity show up even when I am trying to build from possibility? The book gave me another way to think about my relationship with money. The 4 R’s gave me a practical framework to work through what I was noticing.
Recognize what is happening.
Reframe the story I am telling myself.
Respond intentionally.
Reflect and learn from the result.
I am still learning. In fact, the more I learn about money, entrepreneurship and myself, the more I realize how much I still have to learn. And I am okay with that.
My goal isn’t to finally arrive at the perfect money mindset. My goal is to keep building a healthier relationship with money, one that is grounded in prosperity rather than scarcity. To respect money without fearing it. To understand its importance without allowing it to define success. To use it intentionally. And to keep learning from the person I become along the way.
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