The Money Monster
Few people, despite the shiny image online, have peace with money. Life is about survival for most of us and my personal journey has been the most terrifying roller-coaster of learning the ups and downs and risk of being a business owner.
Owning your own business is amazing, so is being in control of your career and feeling the sense of growth in your personal development and bank balance.
The term “Money can’t buy you happiness”, this is a great statement and mantra, however, the lack of it can seriously impact your mental wellbeing and at times cause you to act in scarcity and make decisions that can certainly impact your happiness.
In my book I share the metaphor of having a Monster living under my bed, that tapped away at the mattress throughout my night, never letting me sleep deeply. My business challenges never let me rest. This impacted my sleep, wellbeing and distracted my mind even during moments of great joy and the beauty of family time.
My breakthrough came when I tamed the monster, I couldn’t get rid of him overnight, however, I learned how to control him, put him on a lead. I led him into my office, out of my bedroom, I stroked his head, I cared for him and I made friends with him.
The reality of this, I learned how to manage money. I learned cash-flow, finance and worked with an accountant who put me onto XERO and together I could see all my exposed liabilities of VAT, PAYE, Corporation Tax , Personal tax and I could see 6-9 months ahead with my booked income (sales) and my investment in Suppliers, and see that the money would flow and I despite some tough dips, the year-end would be okay.
I made provisions for my liabilities, and set up a couple of extra bank accounts to put my liabilities aside. This also helped me to focus on the fact that despite always wanting to care for others and often gave my time for free, the impact on my health was damaging me. This helped me to realign my sales strategy and learn to say no when I just did not have enough resource to speak or meet and coach for free. It helped me to learn to negotiate and value myself more, self-worth is critical in business
My first two businesses had a team of people that did all this, learning to be self-employed and learning all the skills you need in business when you can’t delegate is huge. Many people coming to me to join my Mastermind have been senior people in companies and like me, delegated and never felt this level f exposure. It is never too late to learn new skills and being vulnerable and asking for help is the bravest of steps.
Whoever/whatever your monster is, control it through self-awareness and learning and tame it. It is the only way to ‘lead the life and business you want”.
P.S. My book is on Amazon – Kindle, Audio and print HERE
P.P.S You can also order it on my website, I will personally send it and can sign a copy for you or your friend if you wish, I will be in touch if you order this way, click HERE for my order page, I will nudge you when it comes out
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This resonates, I have my own internal money monster that has caused me to make some bad decisions. The question is though how do you tame that monster when your initiation wants you to seek your goals and aspirations, and money and a certain quality of lifestyle is part of that?
Hi Steven, It is such a battle, the conflict of investing in our businesses and the search for security. I am not sure whether you have taken many risks in life, I know I have and I don’t have the natural risk-taker profile. I have learned to live with it and see the risks as a consequence of my stronger desire to have impact. I was told once to draw a line of the life I wished I’d lived. Would it be straight, no ups and downs, or wavy. I chose wavy! Which would you chose?