Do you have blocks to receiving money?

On the face of it, you might think I have no problems receiving money, but there might be some behaviors that sit below the surface that are actually ways that you are subconsciously blocking the flow of money. In today’s episode, I’m going to share what some of those blocks look like, and in importantly, how you can break through them so you can receive with ease.

Hello and welcome to The Clare Wood Podcast, where myself and incredible guests share about money mindset, financial successes, and how to manage your money in a fun and practical way to create wealth and abundance in both your business and your life. I’m your host, Clare Wood. I’m a business coach and a money mentor. I strongly believe that money has the power to positively change the world. I can’t wait to help you transform your mindset around money, create a love of numbers and build the business of your dreams so you can live a life of financial freedom, giving and global impact.

Before I dive into today’s episode, I’m really excited to share with you that I am running a 2022 planning retreat. This retreat is being held at the beautiful Sunshine Coast here in Queensland, Australia, and the retreat will be run over two days. At this retreat, we’ll be mapping out your plans for 2022, we’ll be doing a lot of money mindset work, of course. There’ll be connection with some really high vibe entrepreneurs, and of course there’ll be time for fun and relaxation.

If you would like to find out more about the retreat, I would love to invite you to have a discovery call with me to see if it’s a good fit. You can find out more about what the retreat entails and the price via the link in the show notes for today’s episode today. So, this retreat is happening in January, 2022. It will be with me and some other amazing business owners, but the retreat is capped to a maximum of 12 people. So if you do want to find out more about it, please go and check out the details via the link in the show notes for today’s episode.

The 3 types of money blocks

So, in today’s episode we are going to chat about receiving money. I’m not sure where this quote originally came from, but I first heard it from my financial coach who’s helping with my personal money stuff, Jane Walters. She said that there are three types of money blocks that people have. She said the first is spending. I talk a lot about this on the podcast, having the fear of investing to make more money. The second block that people have is holding, having an inability to actually build up savings. Whenever they earn money, they just spend it straight away. Then the third block, which is the one that we’re going to be talking about today is receiving, and people who actually have resistance around money coming to them. If you’re not sure if that’s you, don’t worry, I’m going to talk about what having a block to receiving can look like.

When I first heard about having a block in receiving, I thought who’s got a problem with receiving money? But yet from my experience, this is way more common than you might think. I’m willing to bet that you have some money blocks, because I’ve certainly identified that even I have some blocks around receiving at times. So, some ways that blocks around receiving might show up. Today we’re primarily going to be talking about money, but you might have issues receiving all kinds of things. For example, love, support or compliments. A non-money example is where someone says, “Oh, you look nice today,” and you say, “Oh, this is just an old dress,” or, “Oh no, I look terrible. I got dressed in five minutes, I look awful today.” Does any of that ring a bell for you? Rather than just receiving the compliment and saying, “Well, thank you,” it feels uncomfortable to receive it, and it can be the same when it comes to our money. So in a money respect, having an issue with receiving can look like a number of different things, and I’m going to share some examples today.

Examples of how money blocks can show up in your business

The first one might be when you sign on a client at a new and higher price point than you have signed clients before. What can happen is that when you sign someone a newer price point, you feel uncomfortable with your new prices and so you over-service your client. I don’t know if this rings a bell, but it’s something that I see quite a lot. So, you will have a price right now that you feel really comfortable working for and charging and invoicing your client for. Maybe it’s $30 an hour, maybe it’s $300 an hour, but the point I’m trying to make is that when you charge that price, you don’t feel guilty. You think, “Yeah, that’s what I’m worth, I have absolutely no problems charging that.” You don’t feel the need to over-service your clients, because you feel in complete alignment that that is what your time is worth. Then when you increase your prices, particularly if it’s a large increase, it can bring up a whole bunch of stuff. You might feel unworthy of your new price and you might think, “Oh, I have to be available 24/7 for them at this price point or else they’ll think I’m ripping them off.” Or you might even start throwing in extra things outside of the agreement, or perhaps you might even just offer to reduce your rates down without them even asking you to do so.

This happened to me quite recently, actually. I was provided with a quote by a service provider and all I said was, “Yep,” and then they said, “Oh, actually, I can do it for you for this price.” Then I literally said nothing and then they offered another discount again. I was actually happy to pay the original price, but obviously I was happy to get the discount. I hadn’t even thought to ask them can you do this for cheaper, and they undercut themselves twice with their pricing. I wonder if this is something that you’ve ever done? Just something to check in with.

When you feel energetically aligned to your pricing and you feel confident in your pricing, you won’t feel the need to overcompensate your clients, because you’ll feel that you’re worthy and deserving of that price. So, this is where this money mindset work really comes into play.

Another way that you might be blocking receiving money is by not offering other ways a client can continue to work with you. So, you might get to the end of a project with a client or the end of a contract period and say, “Thanks. All the best.” Sometimes, not all the time, we reach the end of time with someone and it is done, but other times there might be an opportunity to continue working together, even if that’s in a different capacity. An example of this. I’ve shared on the podcast many times, I’m really excited about this. My business is going through a rebrand right now, and it might be really easy to think that once the brand and website are done, that the working relationship is over there, but there are actually so many more ways that I know that me and my designer are going to continue to work together. For example, we’ll be creating new templates for all of my freebies, we’ll be designing new landing pages. I am sure she’s going to create an email folder for me and a bunch of other collateral that I’ll be using to roll out the brand. I’m sure she’s going to be continuing to create things for me for at least months to come. So right now, have a think. How can you continue to work with your clients moving forward? And do you always offer this option to clients at the end of a project or at the end of a contract period?

Another way that you might be blocking receiving money is delaying sending out invoices. Now, this practice is rooted in feeling guilty about receiving. Is this something you’ve ever done? If money wants to flow to you, if someone owes you money, they know they owe you money, you know they owe you money, why aren’t you asking for it straight away? It might not be a conscious thing, but on a subconscious level, you’re delaying sending out the invoice because you feel bad about receiving.

How to change your money blocks in 4 steps

So, these are just some examples of how you might be blocking yourself from receiving in your business. So, how do you change them? Well, the first thing to do is to recognise the behavior, and hopefully these examples have given you some food for thought. But if you’re wanting to change something in your life, the first thing you need to do is recognize, “Wow, look, I’m blocking myself from receiving there.” So, that’s the first step.

The next step is to explore with curiosity why you might not be taking the action that you should be taking. A great way to do this is to do some journaling or just to sit and spend some time thinking, “I wonder why I do that. Why did I automatically offer them a discount? Why am I not sending out my invoices?” Start to ask yourself these questions with curiosity to understand the fears that are holding you back.

The next step is to write yourself a new story about the situation of receiving. For example, you might tell yourself, “My clients love to pay me. They know I deliver a great service and when they receive my invoices, they know that service is worth it and more. I have no reason to feel guilty issuing invoices.” So whatever the particular area that you’ve identified, the particular block that you have, think about how you can create a newer story about how you can receive with ease.

Then the fourth and final step is to take action. Once you’ve broken through the mindset or the thinking behind it, lean in and just do the thing. Whether it’s issuing invoices, whether it’s not offering discounts moving forward. Whatever the way that you’ve been blocking yourself from receiving, start to really say, “I’m going to do things differently from now on.”

Another tip of improving your capacity to receive is to practice receiving graciously in other ways. So for example, the example I used at the start, when someone gives you a compliment, you can just say a big genuine thank you. Or if someone buys a coffee for you, rather than racing to get them some money to pay them back straight away, you can just say, “Amazing, thank you so much.” Learning to receive in little ways helps you to receive with grace in big ways. Of course when you are receiving, do it with gratitude.

One of my favorite little receiving practices is to look at the payments that come in, think of the person paying me and send them a big love bomb and say, “I hope this investment delivers you a big money breakthrough. Thank you so much for choosing to invest and work with me.”

I hope you’ve got some good tips today about receiving money with ease. Can I ask a favour? If you’ve enjoyed today’s episode, can you please either leave me a review on Apple Podcast, or can you share it to your social media platform and tag me? It’s a really great way for me to be able to reach more people if you can share it with your audience. If you tag me, then I can thank you.

So, a quick recap of today, there are a number of ways you might be blocking yourself from receiving money, but the good news, you can break through those old stories. The four steps are to:

1. Recognise the behavior
2. Explore with curiosity the behavior
3. Write yourself a new story about receiving with ease
4. Take that big action, do the thing.

Thank you so much for tuning in, and don’t forget if you want to come along and hang out with me for two days at my 2022 planning retreat, please check out the details via the link in the show notes for today’s episode. I hope you have a wonderful week of receiving money with ease and look forward to chatting to you again next week.

Thanks so much for listening. If you loved this episode, please share it with your audience, and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @clare_wood_coach. Also, make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Have an abundant week, and I look forward to talking to you again next week.