The Three Core Beliefs About Money And Why Your Business Isn’t Flourishing

As I’m approaching the end of 2019, I’m thankful to have made it through another 12 months.

A year ago, I was entering 2019 with excitement at what the new year would unveil to me.

This year was a year of ups and downs, as most years are.

I had some new and exciting adventures.

I strolled in a torrential downpour in downtown Dublin.

While in Dublin, I visited Ireland’s oldest pub and feasted on the best beef stew I’ve had in my life.

I paid tribute to my Nana for her life well lived.

I had some business failures as I pushed myself to think and do differently.

I started a business school for my two teenage daughters.

Overall, it was a good year, and I’m excited about the foundations I put into place this year.

As I’m approaching 2020, I’m viewing it like my children view opening their presents on Christmas morning.

I’ve done a lot of writing.  This year I’ve written 194 blog posts and will surpass 200 blog posts by the end of this month.

I’ve focused my writing on sharing lessons I’ve learned about money and business.

Those lessons were learned through trial and error as I’ve spent the past 20 years going through the Business School of Hard Knocks.

What I’ve learned over the past two decades has served me well and helped me create my Ideal Money Life.

I’ve been able to build a life that is much more abundant than I could have dreamed of during my youth.

I have much to be thankful for.

Life didn’t start easy for me.

I went through some tough challenges throughout my life.

My parents divorced when I was a teenager.

The divorce pushed our family into welfare as my single mother struggled to raise four children on a teacher’s assistant salary.

I spent time receiving a weekly unemployment check after getting my second college degree.

I had to figure out how to get myself out of deep credit card debt.

There were days when I was so scared.

I didn’t know what to do.

My mother instilled in me a hopeful view of life.

I learned that no matter how difficult today is, tomorrow will be better.

This hope helped buoy me up during my darkest moments when things were beyond bleak.

That belief of a hopeful life was instrumental for me.

Beliefs are powerful guideposts for our lives.

Beliefs shape our world and our future.

Today I’m going to walk through The Three Core Beliefs of Money

First Belief: Money is Abundant

One of the things I hated most while I was growing up was hearing my father tell me money doesn’t grow on trees.

This is a complete fallacy.

Money is paper.

Paper comes from wood pulp.

Where does wood come from?

Trees.

Now some of you may say, “Well, our money doesn’t come from wood.”

And you would be correct.  The paper used in our money is made of cotton and linen.

Both cotton and linen are items that grow.

Our money is literally made from plants that grow out of the earth.

Every day, The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing prints 38 million bills worth about $541 million.

Every day, new money enters our world.

There isn’t a lack of money.

I’ve lived parts of my life where I lacked money.

I’ve lived parts of my life where I have abundant money.

There main difference between my lack and my abundance was the habits I had around my money.

Benjamin Franklin stated, “Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.”

When I employ good money habits with my money, I experience abundance.

When I employ bad money habits with my money, I experience lack.

Establishing good money habits are critical to having abundant money.

Second Belief: Pay Yourself First

The very first money habit to establish is paying yourself first.

For the first two years of my business, I violated this rule.

I made sure everyone else got paid first.

I treated my business like a slot machine.

I thought that if I just kept pumping money into it that I would hit the jackpot.

I spent two years robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Then something dramatic happened.

Peter died.

Consequently, there was nobody else to rob so I could pay Paul.

I was Peter in this scenario.

I had maxed out my credit cards and depleted my personal savings.

I was at my wit’s end and had no way to keep my business running down it’s out of control path.

I had to make a change.

In July of 2010, I realized the primary cause of my dying business was I wasn’t paying myself first.

I made an immediate change and started paying myself first.

It changed everything for me.

The decision to pay myself first in July 2010 was the best financial decision I’ve ever made.

Third Belief: Spend Less Than You Earn

Bill Earle said, “When your outgo exceeds your income, then your upkeep is your downfall.”

Many people live their financial lives like a ship with a massive hole in the hull.

Water pours in.

These people use teaspoons to vanquish the flood of water that is enveloping their sinking ship.

Spending more than one earns is a recipe for disaster.

Charles Dickens gave us a secret to happiness in his novel David Copperfield when he said:

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

It is impossible to get ahead when people spend more than they earn.

Spending more than one earns is a debilitating habit that perpetuates itself.

As people earn more money, they spend more money.

If they spend more than they make with a little amount of money, they will continue to spend more than they make when they make a large amount of money.

People’s money habits don’t change as they make more money.

Conclusion

Our beliefs rule our lives.

Our beliefs control our thoughts, which control our actions which control our results.

Until we establish correct beliefs, we will be led down their path.

In many ways, we become unconscious passengers of our beliefs.

The good news is we can change our beliefs.

We can adapt to new beliefs.

We can use those new beliefs to change our lives.

Our beliefs regarding money have dictated the bank balance we currently have.

If we want to have more money, then we need to hold fast to core beliefs about money that lead to more money.

The three core beliefs about money are:

• Money is Abundant
• Pay Yourself First
• Spend Less Than You Earn

With these core beliefs about money we can experience a new abundance in our lives.

We can use these core beliefs to change our thoughts, our actions, and results.