If you are feeling worried about money, DON’T do this!

I am hearing a lot a collective fear right now around money.  Around the economy.  Around finances at this time of the year.  When fear around starts to rear it’s ugly head, there are some common mistakes that people make that I want to make sure YOU avoid!   

In today’s episode of the podcast, I’ll share a bunch of things you DON’T want to do if you are feeling lack and the things you SHOULD be doing instead! 

What people do when fear shows up (and why you shouldn’t freak out!)

There are things that people do when fear shows up. The first is freak out!

But this is why you shouldn’t: 

1. Makes you feel like crap. 
2. Unhelpful because it feeds a downward spiral . Hello negative thoughts and lack.

And doesn’t actually do anything to help you on a financial front. 

Instead, you can: 

• Lean into your abundance practices (ie manifestation meditation). Lean into the positive. These might be things you pay for.  Or maybe they aren’t!  Sometimes abundance to me is walking on the beach, running a bath in the middle of the day. You can feel wealthy and abundant regardless of what is going on inside your head.  
• Remember a time when finances were tight and you made it through.  Can you switch to a belief that everything will work out ok? Everything that happens, happens for a reason, even the tough times can teach us lessons.
• Stay calm. When we are panicked we do not make sensible decisions. So remove your emotions from the situation and step into proactive and problem solving mode. I’ll share some tips on how to do this, later in the episode.

Why you shouldn’t discount your offerings in times of fear

The next thing you don’t want to do if you are worried about money in your business right now is to discount your offerings. This is such a tempting one, when money is tight or the market feels slow. 

It’s not to say you shouldn’t ever discount your offerings, but don’t do it from a place of freaking out and thinking it will be the answer to all your problems.  

Let me share why I don’t believe this is a great idea: 

• Trains your audience that you will discount (ie Apple never discounts their phones do they!)
• Lowers your brand value (people will hold off to buy from you waiting for your sale)
• It usually doesn’t work on an sustainable basis – for me it doesn’t work AT ALL 

Here are some ideas on what you can do instead:

• Focus on your messaging. Take this time to step back and look at your brand positioning and what your business stands for.
• Start to talk heavily about the value your product/ service offers and how it helps people
• Invest time into your marketing strategy. Think about how you can get more strategic with your marketing efforts. Start showing up more with the extra time on your hands and get proactive!

Don’t make the mistake of ignoring your money problems

The last big mistake people make is ignoring their money. I call this the ostrich approach. Sticking your head in the sand and pretending it’s not going on.

Oh my gosh, I’ve been here. Money feels like it’s disappearing and you think hmmmm let’s ignore it. But from experience, does ignoring a problem make it go away? Noooo and in fact usually it makes it worse.

For example, when your partner does something to annoy you, you ignore it.  Over time it leads to resentment.  And then an explosive fight. My husband leaves his socks on tables and benches.  I didn’t say anything about it for ages, I’d just pick them up and put them in the laundry and then one day I lost it.  He still does it occasionally and so I straight away pull him up on it. 

When it comes to your money it’s the same.  You might be ok to keep sliding along for a bit and the bills might seem to get paid… then one day – bam.  You can’t afford to pay for something and it is much much worse than if you’d addressed it earlier. 

What you CAN do when money is tight

So if ignoring isn’t the answer, what CAN you do? 

When money is tight, more than ever, you should focus on it!  Reviewing your transactions. Making a plan for moving forward. 

When you get to know your money, you can make empowered decisions.  You can draw the line between decisions made in lack and being sensible with your money.   

Some examples – please note: these are only examples and will be different for all businesses. But what I have done in the past is:

• Trim back team, but only as a last resort. Because I know that this will often limit my growth potential
• Cut back on marketing (although again, this is short-term thinking)
• Push back non-urgent projects (ie photo shoots, book launch, website build)
• Explore your options with cashflow – can you ask for payment plans? 

Make sure your decisions don’t come from a place of lack, but at the same time that you are being realistic as to what your can afford and make those tough calls.  

In my course, I share a tonne of ideas on how you can manage your cashflow. So if you love the idea of getting across your cashflow and your finances but don’t know where to start, you will love The Profit Academy Foundations. 

In this course, I take all my finance knowledge as a qualified accountant and convert it into simple to understand language and a step-by-step process with all the templates you need to show you how to get right across your money with ease!

No accounting overwhelm, no hoping the accountant is taking care of it.  Putting YOU in the driver’s seat of your money.  You can join TPA and start this work TODAY via link in shownotes. 

To sum up today’s episode, 3 things NOT to do if you are freaking out about money: 

1. Freak out 
2. Discount your offering 
3. Ignore your money 

Instead: 

• Get your mindset back into a positive state and focussed on action 
• Focus on your value proposition and your marketing and messaging 
• Get your mind on your money!  Where energy goes, energy flows. 

Remember, what your mind focuses on is what you create, so focus more on what you do want and what you don’t want.