A few years ago I committed to learning all that I could about money. How to make it, spend it, save it, invest it...and talk about it. See, I used to be really terrible with money. And the biggest thing was that I hated talking about it.
As part of a 6 month training on becoming Financially Fearless, the coaches asked all of us how long we could go before we ran out of money, if we didn't make a single dime going forward.
I think my number was around 6 weeks (I told you...I used to be terrible with money!)
What shocked me was the woman sitting across from me. She had ranked her fear around money around an 8. And if she didn't make another penny, she would run out of money in 12 years.
12 years.
To me that seemed like a lifetime.
How could she be scared about money if she had a 12 year cushion in the bank?!
During that training I learned that no amount of money in the bank was going to make someone feel secure. The "security" so many people are looking for can't come from a bank.
It has to come from inside of each of us.
It comes from our thoughts.
Because the anxiety we feel around money is coming from our thoughts...
Yes, you read that right. The anxiety we feel around money comes from our thoughts.
In fact, any anxiety we feel at all is from our thoughts.
The beautiful thing about that is that once we realize that, we also start to see that we have the power to alleviate our anxiety. Right now.
If you've followed my story at all you may have heard me talk about the fact that I have been laid off not once, not twice, but three times. And the last two times I had brand new babies at home.
The last time I was laid off was when I decided that I would never put my financial life in the hands of any one person ever again. That was when I relaunched my business and committed to being a full time entrepreneur. My husband, Mark, and I talked about a lot of different options after that layoff. I wasn't afraid to talk about money any longer. It didn't hold that same power over me that it used to.
And I used this same game to plan our future with my husband. I made a spreadsheet of all of our expenses, as we currently lived, along with my severance package and unemployment payments. I then said to Mark, "If I don't make another penny, we will run out of money on October 12th."
But this time...it didn't scare me.
Because what I've learned over the years is that no matter what happens, I never lose my resilience. I never lose my creativity. I never lose my ability to create money.
The truth was that that there was no possible way that I was going to not make another penny, unless I sat down by the side of the road and wished. (You've probably heard me say before that wishing and hoping is a terrible business strategy.) I knew that I had the power within me to make an impact in my world and the world of those around me. I was going to build a business that I loved, that was based around what I do best, and that changed the lives of my clients.
And that's exactly what I did. It's been almost two years since that final layoff and I have a thriving business that supports me and my family. It doesn't require me to work 80+ hours/week. It doesn't require me to do all the things that I don't want to be doing. And it allows me to be the kind of Mama I want to be, especially now that I am a solo parent since Mark passed away.
If you are an entrepreneur (or even if you're not), you might have moments of fear or anxiety around money. I know that I still have them pop up occasionally. But I wanted to remind you today that, no matter where you are in your journey, you never lose your resilience. You never lose your creativity. You never lose your ability to create money.
It's okay to feel the fear. And if you want to lessen that fear, get into action. Because once we get into action, we see that we truly do have the ability to impact our lives and our finances far more than we realize.
It's when we allow ourselves to stay paralyzed with anxiety that we stay stuck and we spiral out of control with all the "what if" thoughts that can terrorize us.
Even starting with the smallest micro-action...and then another small micro-action....and then another....added all together will build your momentum to get you off the side of the road "wishing and hoping" and on your way to create something truly amazing.
You have incredible things inside you and I am cheering you on as you do the DAMN thing!
With love,
Bevin
P.S. If you are creating something amazing that you want to share with me, tag me on IG or send me a DM to @bevinfarrand. I LOVE hearing about the incredible things that are happening in this community!