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The Secret to Motivating Yourself to Learn About Finances

By |2022-07-07T15:57:16-07:00July 7th, 2022|Categories: Financial Clarity, Money Mindset|Tags: , , , , , , |

If you have a poor relationship with money, it’s going to be hard to talk yourself into how to manage it. Whether you view money as boring or you have a hostile relationship with it, getting financial education is probably one of the last things you’ll want to do.

It’s difficult to be motivated to learn about money if you don’t see how it can bring meaning into your life. Here are a couple of my tips for changing your mindset to see how money can be a positive force for life satisfaction:

Get Honest About Your Relationship With Money

First off, it’s important to get a clear idea of your relationship with money. So, how do you feel about it? What are some beliefs you hold about it? Here’s an excerpt from my article “How Your Relationship With Money Affects Your Finances (and What You Can Do About It)”:

If you want to get a quick pulse on your relationship with money, think about money or say “Money,” out loud to yourself, and then keep track of what emotions come up. More than likely, there will be several that come up in a quick succession: anxiety, avoidance, excitement, compulsion or repulsion, etc.

The goal with this exercise is not to suppress or judge any of the feelings as good or bad. Simply take note of them as they come up. Try this several times to get a full emotional picture.

Once you’ve tried this out, reflect on how your current feelings about money can give you insight into how to improve your relationship with it. I list a couple ideas for doing this in the article mentioned above. 

Brainstorm Your Life Goals

Think about your goals for a moment. What are the most meaningful things you can dream of doing? Maybe you dream of supporting yourself as an artist, building a beautiful home, or going on the adventure of a lifetime.

Those dreams are possible, and they are financeable. Your income can be the financial engine that brings those dreams to life! By reflecting more deeply on your goals and connecting them to your finances, you can begin to more clearly see the equation between money and life satisfaction. 

Get Inspired

Many people are able to do amazing things with money. This is where finding your “money crush” comes in. What’s a money crush? Someone you know, or know of, who handles their finances in a way you admire. This could be somebody you know personally who has the kind of financial setup you want. It could be someone who writes or speaks about money in a way that inspires you. A money crush is essentially somebody who models the things you want for your own financial life.

Try thinking about the most generous people you know. Imagine being able to give like they do, from a place of abundance. One of my personal money crushes and favorite resources on this topic is Lynne Twist’s book, The Soul of Money. Check out my book review if you want more inspiration to improve your relationship with money.

If you enjoyed this article and you want regular tips and insights about doing money in a way that feels meaningful, you’ll probably enjoy being on my newsletter list. Click below to subscribe! 

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Is Your Money Affecting Your Relationships?: 3 Tips to Cultivate A Healthier Money Relationship

By |2022-02-10T16:07:36-08:00February 10th, 2022|Categories: Financial Clarity, Money Mindset, Personal Savings, Personal Spending|Tags: , , , , , , |

How we interact with our money can affect how we interact with others, and ourselves. So it’s important to tend to our relationship with money, in order to keep things clear in our other relationships! Today, I’m talking about three different ways that money may be affecting your relationships, and how you can begin to cultivate a healthier relationships with your money. I’ll be referencing The Soul of Money, an amazing book by Lynne Twist, throughout. Check out my book review if you’d like to learn more!

1. Dissolve the Competition

“Money has become a playing field where we measure our competence and worth as people. We worry that if we stop striving for more, we’ll… lose our advantage.” – Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money

As this quote highlights, money in our society is a high-stakes game. The competition and the need to always be getting more, buying more, earning more, and doing more can creep in and take over our lives. This can and does affect our social relationships. The phrase “keeping up with Joneses” is direct proof of how competition around money can affect how we interact with our neighbors, friends, and community members. At the same time, it’s also evidence of how we tend to measure ourselves and our efforts – against our earnings.

To cultivate a healthier relationship with money, and in turn, healthier social relationships, I suggest beginning by removing this element of competition. Work with affirmations or turn to mindset work or journal prompts to find ways to uproot this tendency. Talk openly with other people about your money. That’s a perfect segue into my next point!

2. Practice Transparency

“Our behavior around money has damaged relationships when money has been used as an instrument of control or punishment, emotional escape or manipulation, or as a replacement for love.” – Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money

Find some people who you can really trust to talk to about money. I call this process building a Money Team. In particular, it’s great to have a friend or two who you can open up to about finances.

Having a Money Buddy can give you a space to practice financial transparency, and get more comfortable bringing up money in your social relationships. This can be a great way to work on the feelings that come up around money in this arena. Eventually, you might find yourself feeling more comfortable sharing about your financial situation in general!

3. Create a Spiritual Connection to Your Money

“Your relationship with money can be a place where you bring your strengths and skills, your highest aspirations, and your deepest and most profound qualities.”  – Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money

The Soul of Money is definitely an excellent resource in this area. Lynne Twist writes about how money is like water, it’s a resource that’s meant to flow. She encourages us to recognize that money itself is not problematic, and that it is instead the interpretation of money that brings up so many issues.

Doing some personal work around our connections with money can be a great way to prevent it from interrupting our connections with ourselves and others. If you’d like some resources for this pursuit, I have a couple suggestions:

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At Peace With Money’s Best of the Blog 2021

By |2021-12-10T12:04:44-08:00December 10th, 2021|Categories: Money Mindset, Personal Savings|Tags: , , , , |

This year at At Peace With Money, we covered a lot of great topics on the blog, so I thought it might be a great time to do a “best of” post to wrap up the year. Collected below are our top 10 blog articles from the past year. The topics run the gamut from money affirmations to taxes, but all of these articles provide solid enough insights that they became crowd pleasers! My goal is always to provide helpful and compassionate financial education resources, and I think these ten posts do a great job of just that.

  1. Book Review: 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal – In which I highly recommend Elizabeth White’s wonderful book, which manages to combine healthy doses of compassion and practical advice, a potent and helpful mix. 
  2. How to Use Affirmations to Transform Your Relationship With Money – This post goes into depth on my thoughts on how money affirmations can assist us in rewiring our money mindsets and digging through the emotional baggage we carry around our finances. 
  3. Why You Should Always Base Your Financial Goals on Your Values – A post that goes into the ideas central to my financial coaching practice, this article discusses the link between values and life satisfaction, and the importance of avoiding lifestyle creep. 
  4. Why Self-Compassion is Important During Tax Time – I believe financial self-compassion is always important, but especially at tax time, it can help us keep a cool head and clarify solutions! 
  5. Why You Need a Year End Bookkeeping Review – A couple practical reasons to get your books reviewed – a great read if you’re new to DIY bookkeeping. 
  6. Why Financial Education is One of the Best Investments – Three strong reasons to invest time and resources into financial education, this is another good read for people just diving into financial learning. 
  7. How to Prep for the Holidays as a Service-Based Business – Service-based businesses can get overlooked during the holidays, but that doesn’t have to be the case! 
  8. Boost Your Happiness By Clarifying Your Lifestyle Costs – Your business exists to support you; to fulfill your needs. If you don’t have a clear picture of what those needs are, it can be difficult for your business to fill them.
  9. Boost Your Social Impact With the Power of Belief – This post on reclaiming your power in your community as a small business owner is all about believing in your vision for a better world! 
  10. How to Tailor Your Income Goals to Your Life – If you’re on board with investigating your values and making sure your money reflects them, but you need a method for how to get there, start here! 

I hope you enjoy this list of top 10 blog posts! While you’re at it, this might be a great opportunity to reflect on your own financial year. What were your big financial lessons of 2021?

☮

Angela

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How to Set Financial Goals for the Next Quarter

By |2021-04-26T10:22:56-07:00April 26th, 2021|Categories: Money Mindset, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

 

April marks 1/3 of the way through the second quarter of 2021. How are your goals doing? Whether you typically set goals for the whole year, or in twelve-week increments, taking some time to check in with your goals and set new, more relevant ones, is a good idea. 

What Do You Need to Succeed?

When setting any goals for your business, it’s important to consider what you need to succeed. If you’re at a point where you’re unsure about that, I suggest doing a business check-in first. If you’re working on the personal side of your finances, this process can easily be re-shaped to fit that, too. Feel like you’ve got a good picture of your current financial strengths and needs? You can go ahead with the goal-setting.

When setting a goal concerning your finances, here are a couple tips. First, set one goal, not a dozen. This will make it easier to manage and complete the goal. Second, identify the thing to do in your business finances that would make everything else easier or irrelevant. This advice is from the book, The One Thing – you can read my book review here. In a small business or personal finance context, this could look like setting up a money system, finding a good bookkeeper to work with on a regular basis, or building a money team. We’ll talk more about potential goals below, but the important thing is to set your sights on the thing that would make the biggest difference to you.

Create Good Habits

One potentially life-changing goal you could set for 2021 is to go through the year with good money habits. When I say “money habits,” I mean checking in with your finances on a weekly basis. The more aware you are of where you stand financially, the better. I’ve written about the stressful weight that feeling vague about numbers can create for business owners. If you look at your records every week, this won’t be an issue for you! In fact, you’ll be better able to make financial decisions, because you’ll be more aware of the information you need. If you need more ideas about what to look for during your weekly check-in, read my articles on knowing what your numbers are telling you and creating more revenue.

Prioritize Financial Self Care

I whole-heartedly believe that your finances are the key to self-care in your life. If you’re having trouble thinking of a goal to set in the realm of your finances, why not try prioritizing financial self care? That will look different for everybody, depending on your habits, values, and intentions. For more goal ideas in this realm, check out my article on simple ways to infuse for financial self care into your routine.

I hope these ideas have given you some thoughts on what the best goal is for you and your business. In my private work with clients, we do a lot to make sure they meet their goals. If this sounds like it might be helpful for you, you can reserve a space in my private coaching program, 4 Week Money Refresh, through April 30th!

 

☮

Angela

Image: Gift Habeshaw

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Roundup: At Peace With Money’s Best Educational Posts to Level Up Your Financial Learning

By |2021-04-08T14:38:50-07:00October 29th, 2020|Categories: Personal Savings, Personal Spending, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

This week, please enjoy a roundup of some of my best educational posts yet. I’m getting close to my two-year blogging anniversary! In that time I’ve written up quite a few how-to’s, exercises, and perspective pieces on handling money. Below, I’ve pulled out some of my favorites, in the categories of business finance and personal finance.  I’m recommending these articles in particular because they contain foundational info that informs my practice as a profitability coach. The tips and perspectives that I blog about here are tried and true. I share them because they make a huge difference to my clients, just as I hope they’ll make a difference for you! If you’re looking to kick your financial learning into high-gear, let these resources be your guides:

Personal Finance Articles

Business Finance Articles

Suggested Readings – My Favorite Financial Books

I hope these posts are helpful for you! I find that the practice of writing a blog has been a great practice in building up an archive of knowledge – one that I hope is just as helpful for you as it is for my clients.

☮

Angela

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The One Indispensable Spending Guideline: Needs Vs. Wants

By |2021-04-08T14:42:27-07:00October 15th, 2020|Categories: Personal Savings, Personal Spending|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

One spending guideline that is indispensable is identifying your needs versus your wants. Difficulty understanding this can result in either over-spending or over-saving. Ultimately, it can reflect a lack of clarity around our values around money. If you feel stumped by this concept, or aren’t sure how your spending behavior measures up, don’t worry! We’re going to parse out the details right here:

Needs vs. Wants

Many of us are familiar with differentiating between needs and wants. It’s a skill we cultivate throughout our lifetimes. Although we sometimes run into pitfalls, we are ultimately making thousands of decisions a day – it’s important to have a little compassion for ourselves when we’re thinking about our financial decision making.

So, what makes a need, a need and a want, a want? Basic necessities you need to take care of yourself and live with a certain degree of comfort are needs. Nutritious food, sound housing, quality clothes and shoes, and things like electricity, car insurance, etc. definitely fall into the need category. We also have needs related to caring for ourselves. This is where things can get tricky – many people have difficulty differentiating between needs and wants here. When considering a purchase, it can be helpful to try and identify the underlying need. For example, if you want to spend money on a day-long spa retreat, but what you really want is some quiet time to yourself, there are likely other ways you could meet that need. Especially if it’s a matter of staying in your budget or not, sussing out the need underlying the want can be very helpful.

Over-spender, or Over-saver?

You may have some idea of whether you fit into either category. If you’re not sure what over-saving is, I recommend reading my article about it – it could be enlightening. When it comes to identifying needs vs. wants, over-spenders and over-savers tend to behave differently. Over-spenders frequently feel every purchase is filling a need, while over-savers tend to see every potential purchase as a want. In both cases, these spending habits can cause problems. Over-spenders can find themselves without important savings accounts or in debt, while over-savers can hold off on essential purchases like medical expenses. Both behaviors result in a deficit of self-care. To really take care of ourselves financially, we need to find a midpoint, where we have our needs met, and a few of our wants too. Someone who has really good thinking about this is Vicki Robin, who speaks poetically about finding your “enough” in Your Money or Your Life. You can read my book review here.

I hope these thoughts will help you examine your own spending behaviors. If you’re interested in a little more self care, check out my Facebook page for Financial Self Care Fridays, all month at 8am PST via FB Live. I’m providing prompts and accountability to help you develop a financial self care habit. I hope you’ll join me!

☮

Angela

Image by: Artem Beliaikin

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How to Set Business Goals to Finish 2020 Strong

By |2021-04-08T15:02:18-07:00September 25th, 2020|Categories: Money Mindset, Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Here we are – the last quarter of the year! 2020 has been strange and challenging for many of us, but it is definitely not cancelled. Many small business owners have been hit hard financially this year. That means the need to pay attention to business finances is greater than ever. Below, I have some ideas for goals to set to finish out the year strong.

What Do You Need to Succeed?

When setting any goals for your business, it’s important to consider what you need to succeed. If you’re at a point where you’re unsure about that, I suggest doing a business check-in first. If you feel like you’ve got a good picture of your business’s current strengths and needs, you can go ahead with the goal-setting.

When setting a goal concerning your business financials, here are a couple tips. First, set one goal, not a dozen. This will make it easier to manage and complete the goal. Second, identify the thing to do in your business finances that would make everything else easier or irrelevant. This advice is from the book, The One Thing – you can read my book review here. In a small business context, this could look like setting up a money system, finding a good bookkeeper to work with on a regular basis, or building a money team. We’ll talk more about potential goals below, but the important thing is to set your sights on the thing that would make the biggest difference to your business.

Create Good Habits

One potentially life-changing goal you could set for your business in 2020 is to finish out the year with good money habits. When I say “money habits,” I mean checking in with your business finances on a weekly basis. The more aware you are of where you stand financially, the better. I’ve written about the stressful weight that feeling vague about numbers can create for business owners. If you look at your records every week, this won’t be an issue for you! In fact, you’ll be better able to make financial decisions in your business, because you’ll be more aware of the information you need. If you need more ideas about what to look for during your weekly check-in, read my articles on knowing what your numbers are telling you and creating more revenue.

Make a Plan

If your business is feeling the effects of the pandemic, perhaps your goal to finish out the year can be to create a financial resilience plan. The most important thing to do when creating a resilience plan is to first take stock of where you are. I recommend reading my article on finding financial clarity if you want some guidance here. Perhaps your resilience plan will include seeking small-business relief opportunities, or adapting your offerings to our continually changing conditions. For ideas on what to include in your plan, I’d recommend checking out the SBA’s resources on preparing your business for emergencies, and my free guide, Cash Flow Flow Reboot Guide: A Guide to Thriving in Uncertain Times.

Stay On Top of Your Books

If you received money from Paycheck Protection Program or other forms of small business support, it’s very important to stay on top of your record keeping this year. Especially if you’re applying for loan forgiveness, it’s important to keep your financials tidy. The SBA has specific stipulations about what they money can be spent on in order to qualify for forgiveness. Keeping your books in order will help you stay on top of where that money goes so you can qualify. I recommend consulting with a bookkeeper for assistance.

I hope these ideas have given you some thoughts on what the best goal to finish 2020 strong is for you and your business. In my private work with clients, we do a lot to make sure they meet their goals. If this sounds like it might be helpful for you, reach out and schedule a free discovery call.

☮

Angela

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All About Oversaving, And Why Overcoming It Can Strengthen Your Business

By |2022-01-12T10:57:45-08:00December 19th, 2019|Categories: Personal Savings, Personal Spending, Profit First|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Often issues with money stem from not having enough – so when you hear the word “oversaving,” it might not sound bad. However, oversaving can be a serious issue that may be blocking the potential of your business. It may also point to anxieties that need to be resolved. Let’s take a look at what oversaving is and what you can do to overcome it.

What Is It?

If you experience anxiety or guilt over spending money, even on basic necessities, you may have oversaving tendencies. You might struggle to spend money on your business or operating expenses. Alternatively, it might be hard for you to spend on something other than reinvesting in your business. Or, you might have a hard time parting with any money know you could save it for retirement or business emergencies.

Oversaving both stems from and enhances anxiety, stress, and burnout. It often comes from a fear of scarcity. While saving money is an important skill, if it’s taken to an extreme, it can keep you from spending money to solve urgent problems in your business and your personal life.

What Can You Do About It?

Saving money is a great habit, but the key to overcoming the oversaving habit is to get strategic about your saving. Rather than living in this panicked feeling of “I have to save every dime I possibly can,” create some money systems! Coming up with savings goals, establishing a spending plan, and automating your money are all great ways to introduce strategy and systems. 

Savings goals can be especially helpful, because they can lend purpose to all that saving, but they also create an end point you’ll eventually meet. Limiting and directing your savings in this way can help curb the habit and assuage your anxieties. When you use the Profit First system, you put aside money to pay yourself first, but you also save for taxes, put aside money for operating expenses, and also distribute profits every quarter, which are meant to be spent by YOU so you can reward yourself for your hard work. If you’re interested in learning more about the Profit First System, check out the first 5 chapters of the book here.

Doing some emotional work around money can also really help you clear up your oversaving. I recommend reading Bari Tessler’s The Art of Money for more ideas about this. She helps you unpack your feelings around money and combining the practical with the emotional. If you’re interested, check out my book review.

Oversaving can be a sneaky habit, difficult to catch and overcome, but I believe in you – you can do it! And anyway, saving is so much more effective when it’s done in order to meet a goal. If you enjoyed this article, I suggest looking into Profit First. If you want to chat more about these ideas and take a look at your money, you can take a look at my service packages and book a call. Doing a year-end review could help you identify a couple goals to save for!

☮

Angela

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon

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Money and Marriage

By |2019-02-12T20:28:45-08:00February 12th, 2019|Categories: Financial Clarity, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Money and Marriage: At Peace With Money

Ah February, the month of love. What better time to dig into your finances with your partner, right? Marriage and money can be a complex subject. I’ve written a little bit about the money moves my husband and I have made over the years to stay on top of our money game. But my best suggestion? Make time to go over your finances together.

The Impact of Regular “Money Time”

Regularly coming together to look at your finances is extremely important in marriage! Why? Because your futures are intertwined, and finances are a major factor in any potential future you share. If you’re not both on the same page about where your money is going and how close you are to reaching any goals, planning other parts of your future plans will be difficult.

Having regular “money dates” can make space for the time you need to get on the same financial page. Together, you can check in on accounts and investments, review your personal incomes, and set and monitor financial goals. Doing this regularly can build your motivation and help you stay on top of financial projects, like paying off debt or building an emergency fund.

Make It Fun

Money and Marriage: At Peace With MoneyIn my last post, I put up a book review of Bari Tessler’s The Art of Money.  Check it out if you haven’t already! One of my favorite pieces of wisdom from her is that it’s important to try to make looking at your finances more pleasant for you! If it feels difficult to look at your accounts and really be honest with yourself, think about what you can do to make it more fun. This could be relaxing music, lighting some candles, a warm fire – anything to make the task feel more comfortable. This same advice holds for money dates with your partner. If it’s hard for the two of you to sit down and talk about money, brainstorm together about how you can make it more fun and bearable!

I hope this info has inspired you to check in with your life partner and gauge the path of your financial futures! I wish you smooth sailing. Check out my article on money buddies for more ideas!

☮

Angela

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3 Holiday Marketing Ideas for Service-Based Businesses

By |2023-10-27T12:42:45-07:00October 27th, 2023|Categories: Small Business, solopreneurs|Tags: , , , |

If you’re new to running a service-based business or just haven’t quite hacked the holiday season yet, this one’s for you. When I ran a jewelry company, the holidays were an important part of my yearly revenue. But when I first opened up my bookkeeping practice, I was at a loss for how to market my service-based business and make the most of this season for my business. I looked at the small businesses I was working with and realized that a lot of similar businesses struggle to figure out how to get a cut of holiday profits.

So, I put together this handy guide for you. This is an important time for small businesses, and using just one of these tips could up your potential for profits this season.

Reward Your Most Loyal Customers

Look back through your customer data on your payment processor, or take a look at your reviews on Alignable or Google, and chances are you’ll find some happy customers! Take the time to reach out to these people with a special holiday offer made just for them.

For example, this could be a discount on future sessions or a special package of particular services they’ve purchased before. This is a great way to model holiday generosity and make those clients even happier (and more likely to come back to you in the New Year too).

Host a Holiday Event

This is a fun idea that can bring in new or returning customers and create some new buzz around your business. You could host this online or in-person.

Online events could be a simple holiday gathering or meet and greet, or perhaps related to the services you offer. Something like a short webinar related to your services and the season, followed by a Q&A, could be a great option. In-person events can also be a simple holiday gathering, or there could be a focus on your workspace as an open studio.

Attract guests by offering prizes or holiday packages, and make sure to have special offers for attendees that can help turn them into customers.

Offer a Flash Sale on Your Most Popular Service

A quick glance at your bookkeeping should tell you what your most popular service was this year. If not, or if you aren’t clear on how to look for this information, read my article “Maximize Your Profits With Bookkeeping: How To Get the Valuable Info Your Financial Records Are Hiding.”

Once you figure out your most popular service, offer a flash sale on it on Cyber Monday or Small Business Saturday! This is also a great way to get your business booked up through the end of the year, which will help you get more clear on your own holiday schedule.

Want more tips? Check out my article “How to Prep for the Holidays as a Service-Based Business” and “Holiday Marketing Ideas for Service-Based Businesses” by Adams Media Group for some inspiration. You can also subscribe to my free newsletter for monthly financial tips and insights into successful small business life:

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