What comes to mind when you think about money? For many business owners, money is like a four-letter word and what comes to mind for them is the lack thereof. They approach money with the attitude of “I don’t have money, so I am not able to do X, Y and Z; and therefore, I am unable to be happy” – or something along those lines.
The true value of money isn’t simply in how much one has, but rather in the freedom that comes along with it; for business owners that means the freedom to do the things they want to do both personally and in their business. Low or negative cash flow can feel like a prison sentence, barring us from our goals.
But it is crucial not to get bogged down in this negative mindset.
Shift your thinking about money and your related behaviors. First, be happy and be present with what you have; sometimes we lose sight that there are people all over the world who are far worse off than we are. Start a daily gratitude log – each day write down 3-5 things for which you are grateful. Food, air, health, family and even those more materialistic things like your home, your car, your clothing. Gratitude for what you already have will help you shift your thinking on money from “lack of” to “abundance of.”
Another big mental and behavioral shift you can implement is to consciously believe that you deserve to have wealth. Everyone has the right to prosper and acquire wealth; and once you believe that you have the right to it, then you can refocus on how you can acquire it. For starters, focus on earning money rather than simply protecting what you have. This doesn’t mean being haphazard with your spending (you still need to put money aside for taxes – say 40% for every dollar of income you bring in) and it is a good idea to allot money towards some form of emergency savings.
Start thinking outside of the box. What ideas do you have that can generate more revenue for your business? What ideas do your employees have (and keep in mind that they can be very creative)? Sometimes what appears to be a silly idea turns out to be a massive success. Think about the person pitching the idea of Post-it-Notes and how frivolous adding a little strip of adhesive to a pad of paper may have sounded; now Post-it-Notes generate an estimated $1 billion in annual revenue.
Like everything else, money is truly about your attitudes and beliefs. There is plenty of it out there and you deserve to acquire as much of it as you want. Simply focus on gratitude for what you already have, the goals of what you still want and the openness to fresh ideas… and greater wealth can be yours.
By Blair Koch