When it comes to managing finances as a business owner, there’s more to it than crunching numbers and balancing the books.
Your mindset also plays a role. If you have a lot of negative thoughts about money, you’ll likely encounter financial obstacles within your business.
The fact is, your beliefs and attitudes toward money influence not only your personal finances but also the growth of your business.
Let’s look at how negative thoughts about money can manifest in your business, understand why they’re holding you back, and explore how a shift in mindset can be the key to unlocking your business growth.
The Pitfalls of a Negative Money Mindset
Negative thoughts about money can affect your business. These limiting beliefs often stem from deeper fears and misconceptions about wealth, value, and success.
When these negative thoughts drive your financial decisions, you undermine your business’s potential. Recognizing how these attitudes show up is the first step to counteracting them.
Here are some common problems that can arise from a negative money mindset. They highlight the need for a mindset shift.
1. Charging Less Than Your Services Are Worth
Doubting the value of your offerings might lead you to underprice your services, which can impact your profit margins and overall financial health.
2. Hesitating to Invoice Clients
Maybe you worry about being seen as pushy or impatient. In that case, you might delay sending invoices. That can affect your cash flow and the timely receipt of payments.
3. Reluctance to Raise Rates
Even as your skills and experience grow, negative beliefs about money can prevent you from adjusting your rates, so you end up making less than you deserve.
4. Fear of Marketing and Advertising
Concerns about how you’re perceived when promoting your services might hold you back from marketing your services, limiting your business’s visibility and growth potential.
5. Avoiding Financial Risks
A fear of loss might make you overly cautious, avoiding investments in new tools, technology, or opportunities that could advance your business.
6. Neglecting Financial Planning
Negative thoughts about money can lead to avoidance behaviors, such as neglecting budgeting, forecasting, or strategic financial planning, which are essential for long-term success.
Addressing and reframing these negative thoughts is essential for the health and growth of your business.
When you confront these limiting beliefs, you’ll end up with a more positive financial mindset, which paves the way for better financial control.
Million-Dollar Thoughts
In her book We Should All Be Millionaires, Rachel Rodgers differentiates between the limiting beliefs that hold us back financially and the empowering mindset that propels us forward.
Transitioning from what Rodgers calls “broke-ass thoughts” to “million-dollar thoughts” is a transformative way to shift your mindset about money.
Let’s dive into some of her examples to see what this shift entails.
|
Broke-Ass Thoughts |
Million-Dollar Thoughts |
|
I’ll never get out of debt. |
I am capable of changing my situation. |
|
Making money is hard. |
There are an infinite number of ways to make money. I can find something that feels good to me. |
|
I’m not good with money. |
Building wealth is a skill I can learn. |
|
Money changes people. |
Money absolutely changes your life for the better, providing security and comfort. |
|
I’m not smart enough to make a lot of money. |
There are plenty of successful people with different intelligence levels; I can be one of them. |
|
I’ll never get out of this hole. |
It’s an adventure to try, and many have overcome much to succeed. My story isn’t over yet. |
But embracing “million-dollar thoughts” isn’t just positive thinking. You need to adopt a mindset that helps you consider the world of possibilities.
Million-dollar thoughts are powerful because they empower you and put you in a place of control. They inspire action, spark creativity, and guide you toward carving out your own success story.
By focusing on these empowering thoughts, you’re setting the foundation for a brighter future.
So, how do you incorporate these mindset shifts into your daily life?
Rodgers offers some insightful questions you can use to apply million-dollar thoughts in practical ways. Let’s review them now…
Shifting Your Money Mindset
Reframing your thoughts about money begins with the first step — awareness.
Then you need a willingness to change those deep-seated beliefs.
In her book, Rodgers shares four questions designed to unpack your financial mindset.
By wrestling with these questions, you’ll challenge your existing beliefs and set the stage for a significant change in how you view and interact with money.
1. What are the facts of this situation?
Begin by separating your feelings from the facts. Emotions can often skew our perception, leading us to view circumstances more negatively than they actually are. Focusing on the facts of your financial decisions helps you stay grounded in reality.
Let’s look at an example.
You notice your business revenue has plateaued.
The immediate, emotion-driven reaction might be to think, “I’m failing because my business isn’t growing.”
However, a fact-based assessment reveals a different story. “My revenue has remained consistent at X amount for Y months.”
The facts of the situation highlight stability during fluctuating market conditions. Stability is good news. You’re not failing at all.
2. Where did this thought come from?
Tracing back the roots of your financial beliefs is crucial for understanding — and shifting — your mindset.
Our perceptions about money often mirror the ideas we’ve absorbed from our families, social circles, and the broader culture around us.
By identifying the sources of these thoughts, you start to recognize that external factors often shape them. These thoughts are not fixed realities.
Let’s go back to our example.
The thought “I’m failing to grow my business” may be brought on by a competitor’s success, especially if you’ve seen glowing updates on their social media channels.
These external comparisons can make you feel inadequate and distort your view of your own achievements.
Recognizing the source of these comparative thoughts is the first step in diminishing their influence so you can appreciate your progress.
3. How does this thought affect me?
It’s important to consider how your financial beliefs influence both your business and your personal well-being.
Often, negative thoughts lead us away from opportunities and towards decisions that don’t serve our best interests. Recognizing the real-world consequences of these beliefs is crucial for change.
In our example, you think you’re failing because your revenue isn’t increasing. This thought causes unnecessary stress, distracts you from recognizing your strengths, and discourages you from appreciating the stability of your revenue during uncertain times.
Understanding the negative impact of your thoughts empowers you to cultivate a more positive and realistic viewpoint, which can help you celebrate your achievements and strategize with clarity.
4. What’s a better way to think about this?
Now, it’s time to seek out more positive or realistic ways to view the situation. You want to practice affirmations or beliefs that support your financial goals and self-worth.
Revisiting our example, let’s reshape our thinking. “Seeing my revenue remain stable in a fluctuating market is actually a sign of success. What steps can I take to leverage this stability for future growth? Are there untapped strategies or markets I could explore?”
This approach shifts focus from what’s lacking to what’s possible. It also encourages proactive planning and optimism about future opportunities.
Final Thoughts Around Money Mindset
Changing how you think about money isn’t something that happens overnight.
But every question you ponder and every limiting belief you challenge moves you closer to adopting a mindset of abundance, where confidence, creativity, and opportunity thrive.
As Rachel Rodgers says, “When you change the stories you are telling yourself about money, you will make financial decisions that serve you well, and you will feel more confident while you do it.”
