Common Money Blocks and How to Overcome Them

You’re listening to the Mastering Money in Midlife podcast with Debbie Sassen, Episode 75.

Welcome to Mastering Money in Midlife, a podcast for midlife women in business to overcome financial anxiety and make more money without burning out or sacrificing their families. Join Certified Life and Money Coach Debbie Sassen, as she shares practical business strategies and mindset shifts that help you dissolve the money blocks that keep you stuck in a cycle of underearning and undersaving, sabotage the growth of your business, and prevent you from building the wealth that you desire.

Hello, hello, my friends. Welcome back to the podcast. It is after the Passover holidays, and we had a lovely, lovely holiday. So many of my children and grandchildren came through my doors and ate meals with us. We enjoyed time outdoors; the weather was perfect, a little bit hot some days, nice and cool in the evenings.

I just love the holidays. I hope that you enjoyed your holidays, as well. It is a lot of work getting ready for Passover; the way we clean our house and make sure that there is no leavening, no chametz, left in our house is a lot of hard work. But I think that hard work is valuable. We’ve talked about this on “CEO Mindset vs. CEO Entitlement”. I think that hard work is something that builds us.

Of course, we can make our businesses easier. We’re going to talk about money blocks today. And there is a bit of a money block around having to work really hard and struggling to make your business grow. We’re not going to talk about that one, per se. It is possible, especially as you grow and scale your business and work with more than one person at a time, that making money can be easier.

It doesn’t mean that you don’t have to think purposefully about your business and create content that is going to be received by more than one person at a time. It just means that the way that you’re growing your business and thinking about your business starts to change when you move from the one-to-one model to the one-to-many model in your business.

Today, we’re going to speak about seven money blocks and how to overcome them. We’re going to start by creating awareness around what they are, and I’m going to give you some steps for the next thing that you can do to overcome your money blocks.

Before we jump into the podcast today, I want to remind you that on Wednesday, April 19^th, if you’re listening to this episode when it drops on the 18^th, then it is tomorrow. And if you’re listening to this podcast after the 18^th of April, well, then you’re going to have to come back and look for the recording.

Tomorrow, April 19^th, I am running a masterclass called Six Pricing Myths to Bust to Break Through Your Income Ceiling. Your income ceiling is one of your money blocks. And when you change the way you think about your prices, and we’re going to talk about that a little bit on today’s podcast, it enables you to bust through your income ceiling and earn more money for the very valuable work that you do in the world.

Please go to my website DebbieSassen.com/webinar and register for the masterclass. If you cannot be there live, you will get the recording. So, make sure that you go to my website, DebbieSassen.com/webinar and register for the webinar on Six Pricing Myths to Bust to Break Through Your Income Ceiling.

All right, my friends, let’s jump into today’s podcast; we’re going to be talking about money blocks. Money blocks are sometimes called “limiting beliefs”. It is the way you’re thinking and feeling and acting around money that is stopping you from asking for more money, receiving more money, having, and holding on to more money.

Last week, we talked about creating a financial freedom account. And when you bust through your money blocks, then you also can hold on to more money. Like we spoke about last week, you can invest money for the future because you’re not scared that the stock market is just an emperor without clothes. I have had someone say that specific line to me in the past.

She didn’t understand the stock markets, and she really, really believed into her tippy toes, that the stock market was all smoke and mirrors and an emperor without clothes. But it is not. When you invest in the stock market you are buying shares in other people’s companies, which grow and are profitable over time.

But we’re not talking about investing today. Let’s jump into our money blocks. Money block number one is avoiding money management. When many of my clients come to me and, other people that I’ve spoken with, they haven’t been looking at their numbers, they don’t really know how much they’re spending, they don’t really know what their income is; speaking of smoke and mirrors.

There’s a lot of fuzziness around, is their business even profitable? But you cannot make improvements in your business if you’re not measuring what’s going on. What gets measured, gets improved. So, if you want to grow your business, like really grow your business… We’ll talk about that on the webinar tomorrow. So, please make sure to register. You have to know what is going on.

What streams of income are bringing you the most income? Is that a good return on your investment of time and energy and also financial resources? You have to be able to analyze the data. And you can only do that if you’re looking at the data.

If you’re avoiding it, pushing it into the back drawer, not looking at it, believing you’re not good with numbers, or that just causes you financial anxiety, you want your accountant to deal with it, or a bookkeeper or somebody else to deal with it, you can’t control it. And you can’t make thought out decisions for the longevity and profitability of your business. You, as the CEO of your business, need to look at the numbers. And that’s certainly, until you grow to 100-200-$300,000.

When your business revenue is already at the multiple six-figure level, you can hire a fractional CFO, Chief Financial Officer, who will help you with your numbers, and you’re projecting into the future where your streams of cash flow might come from. But especially in the early stages of your business, where everything is still under your control, it is even critical for you as the CEO.

You’re wearing a lot of hats, I know that, when you’re growing a business, there is a lot going on and a lot of moving parts. Look at your number. It’s only data. And we talked about this last week on the podcast, as well. Whatever’s going on in your business is giving you information that you can use for your benefit in the future. So, number one money block is avoiding your money management.

Number two is beating yourself up about money mistakes you have made in the past. And listen, we all make money mistakes. That is why I speak so openly about the $50,000 that I lost in a stock market investment that I never should have made.

When you speak about it, when you forgive yourself, and you really just talk about it as if something just happened, it loses all of its power. Shame cannot survive being spoken about. And that’s a quote, more or less, I think from Brené Brown, who is a shame expert.

You want to be able to just say, this is something that happened, a life experience, I messed up, you might regret it that you did it, and you might have all the “should have, would have, could have”. If only I had done things differently, things would be so different today. But really, we all make mistakes in everything we’re doing, in the ways we’re growing, and developing over time.

It seems to be so important because it has to do with money. And money is a core survival need. We need it for everything that we do and want and desire in the world, other than breathing air. But you need money. I get it. So, it’s going to feel really heavy and harsh if you’ve made a mistake. But just think about it like baking a cake. If you’ve made a cake and the cake flopped; you forgot to add the ingredients.

Or once, many years ago, I was baking a cake for my daughter for her fourth birthday, and I cut the sugar in half, and I doubled the salt. It was a really yucky cake; it went into the garbage. I tried to hide it with frosting. It was a birthday cake, I wanted it to be special, but it just wasn’t going to be good. And now, it’s just a laugh that this is what she had for her fourth birthday. Oh well, we move on.

And that’s what I want you to also create around your money mistakes. Oh, well, we move on. You can learn from the experience. Never double the salt, bad idea when you’re making a cake. And same thing with your money mistakes. What was it that created the mistakes? What are the golden nuggets that you can take out of it, so that you can change your relationship with money going forward?

It’s just like falling down when you’re learning to walk. You’re a baby, at some point, around your money, and none of us popped out of our mama’s womb knowing how to manage money. So, forgive yourself, get some financial education, get some financial literacy, learn what you need to learn about money, and move on.

Because growth happens through consistent activities, consistent thoughts. Consistently being in the habit of managing your money and forgiving yourself for your financial mistakes. Because I imagine that whatever happened might not be the only financial mistake that you ever made in your life. But it’s just data, just information that you can use to grow with money block.

Number three is not setting aside money for taxes. That’s part of your financial management. But there is some sort of magical thinking that entrepreneurs have around taxes, especially in the early stages of their business, when there are so many new things happening. But taxes are a reality of life, death and taxes. That’s the way the quote goes. Those are guaranteed.

When you’re earning money in your business, you’re going to pay taxes. Maybe income tax, National Insurance, which is like a health tax on your business. If, in Israel, you earn above a certain level, in other countries as well, you’ll be paying VAT. Make sure you understand the tax system in which you are operating and set aside money from every dollar that you earn for the taxes.

I have seen too many business owners chasing their tail at tax season, because they don’t have money in a cash account. And they’re like, “I’ll get to it later. I’ll get to it later. I’ll get to a later.” That’s part of avoiding money. But make sure that you’re always setting aside money in your tax account. And the money that is coming into your business is being handled in a business-like manner.

Which brings me to money block number four, that is not paying yourself a salary. A lot of people jump into building a business and then when the business is profitable, “I’ll pay myself a salary. When the business is profitable, I’ll pay myself a salary. It’s okay, I’m reinvesting in my business. I’m going to get there one day.”

I’ve worked with folks who were building a multi six-figure business, and their virtual assistant was earning more money than they were because they weren’t paying themselves a sustainable salary. There was a little bit of money that was going out into salary, a little bit that was going out into debt repayment, but they weren’t thinking about their business as the way they’re financing their life. And they weren’t paying themselves first a sustainable salary.

In other words, a resentment cycle that was built up around the business, it was so hard, it was so challenging, things weren’t working. When are we going to get there? Whatever stage your business is in, make sure that you’re setting aside a salary and you’re always aware of what is happening between you, your business, and the salary that you as a person is earning.

In the beginning, it might only be $100, or $500, or $1,000 a month, because the business does need you to keep reinvesting in it for future growth. But make sure you’re looking at your numbers and always paying attention to what you can be paying yourself regularly as a salary.

If, in 2023, it’s $1,000 a month, then your goal… And write down your goals. We talked about that last week. Your goal for 2024 can be $1,500 a month, and then $2,000, $3,000, and so on and so on. But make sure you’re always setting aside money to pay yourself a salary, on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Because you don’t want to feel like a slave to your business. That’s working hard without being able to take money out to pay for your personal life.

Money block number five, and this is where we start to really dig into our emotions around our business. That is being worried about what other people will say about you if you make a lot of money. People are afraid to raise their prices.

And here is a reminder that you can sign up for tomorrow’s masterclass about pricing myths that you want to bust in order to break through your income ceiling. Go to DebbieSassen.com/webinar.

When you are worried about what other people are going to think about you and you’re afraid of them judging you… All of a sudden, your business is thriving. You have more money; you can buy more things. Maybe you’re looking at the externals. You haven’t bought new clothes for yourself for a while. You upgrade your car, your computer, your jewelry.

Whatever it is, when you’re worried about what other people are going to say about you, that’s a money block. Because your business is here to serve your clients. And because we want you to get a salary, and we want you to get your bonuses and your dividends, your business is also here to serve you.

You’re allowed to buy new clothing once in five years or even once in five months, right? You’re allowed to take the money that you earn and reinvest it into yourself, as a person who will feel better about herself, showing up for her business when she is taking care of herself nicely.

And maybe if you’re in a stressful situation around your business, you’ll go for a massage, you’ll go for a manicure, you’ll do something really good to take care of yourself. And when you’re worried about what the neighbors are thinking about you, I think there’s a sneaky judgment of rich people that you have. Right?

Worrying about the neighbors, I would say is also known as, aka, judging wealthy people. Because you might be judging them as greedy, evil, or mean. You might have seen that someone who had a lot of money got into a lot of debt or was scandalous around their taxes. Whatever it was, you have an image in your mind about wealthy people, and you don’t want to be like that person.

And then, in this sort of twisted way our brains work, you’re worried about your neighbors judging you for making more money. And when you’re worried about that, you’re not going to be raising your prices to serve your people at the maximum level.

And you might even end up in a situation where you’re resenting your business because you’re staying small and stuck and not serving on the highest level that you can. So, make sure that you’re not worried about what other people are going to say about you and your business.

They’re not running your business, they don’t know what you’re doing, they don’t know how you’re serving your people and the results your clients are getting. Go back to your business, look at your numbers, don’t avoid your money management, know what’s coming in, and know when it’s time to give yourself a salary increase.

Because you are working hard in your business and you deserve to get paid well for the hours and the effort and the experience that you have acquired, and you’re putting back into your business.

Money block number six is hoarding money. And there are people who feel a lot of insecurity about money flowing; that money will continue to flow in, and then money can flow out. And they hoard money in order to create security. This is actually something that my mom, of blessed memory, was a hoarder. She actually wasn’t a hoarder of money; she was a hoarder of things.

She did have some emotional trauma in her childhood when she was growing up. And she was always afraid of running out of certain things. After she passed away nine years ago, we saw certain areas of her house where she had spent money and was hoarding things like jigsaw puzzles. There were tons of jigsaw puzzles, tons of paper weights. I don’t know, things that she decided to buy and hoard. But it gave her a sense of control, financial security; it was an emotional relationship.

And there are people in the world who hoard money also, because they feel like the money is going to give them a lot of security if ever something bad happens. A few years ago, I was working with one of my clients. This was a financial planning client whose husband had a need for having a lot of cash on hand, if ever he needed to escape.

This was related to trauma from the Holocaust, and families needing to run out of Europe very quickly. And he was worried, in his 70s, that if something bad was going to happen, he needed to have a huge cash cushion so that he would be safe and secure. And this was putting a strain on the relationship.

I dealt with it with my client, and however they dealt with it between them was a different thing. But hoarding money for security is something that will block you around your relationship with money. Money has a cash flow for a reason. Money flows into your bank account, and money flows out of your bank account.

I like to say that money moves to you and through you. We want to create a free flow of money, like a beautiful flow of a river. When the water in a river gets blocked up, if there’s a beaver that creates a dam, the water is going to be brackish, it’s going to attract mosquitoes, it’s not going to be healthy. So, you want to allow money to move.

And that is consistent with your financial management. When you’re looking at your numbers, you know what’s coming in, and then you can control what is going out. So, make sure that you’re not hurting because of your fear, your scarcity, your anxiety, your stress around money. Allow money to move to you and allow money to move through you.

Money block number seven is that you are pricing to your clients, rather than pricing to the long-term value of what you do in the world. If you’re afraid that your clients are going to leave you because you raise your prices… If you are afraid that your clients are going to reject you… If you’re afraid that your clients are going to say anything about you being greedy, or who does she think she is?

This is a money block and you’re pricing to the reception your clients are going to give you around your prices, rather than understanding the value of what you deliver to your clients over the long term. And really, what are the long-term effects and impacts of what you do in the world.

But when you’re looking to your clients to tell you what to charge, you’re inviting their money blocks into your business. You’re not properly pricing what you do. And it’s time for you to rethink the way you think about your prices. And the clients you invite to step up to work with you at a higher level when you raise your prices.

This is exactly why I am running this masterclass 6 Pricing Myths to Bust to Break Through your Income Ceiling. Because I want you to price to the clients who are going to value you today, where you are, with your years of knowledge, awareness, and experience. Everything that is in your beautiful pot of stew that you are bringing to your clients today.

We can’t price to our clients that were with us two years ago and five years ago, because you’re a different person. And when you’re a different person, because of everything that you’ve put into your beautiful pot of stew around your prices, you invite different clients to work with you at this new level.

So, don’t price to your existing clients. And don’t look to them to give you feedback on your prices. Look to where you are going and the clients that you are creating for yourself in your business going forward. And the way you’re inviting them into a new portal of results. A new energetic vibration price to where you’re going, not to where you’ve been.

Alright friends, that is what I have for you on today’s podcast. Let us do a quick recap of seven money blocks that you might have, and how to overcome them.

Number one is avoiding money management; you have to know your numbers, so you know how to analyze and make sense of where you are and where you want to go.

Number two, not forgiving yourself for your money mistakes. And I’ll put in the show notes a link to a podcast episode that I’ve already done on forgiving your financial mistakes.

Number three is not setting aside money for taxes. Living in the world of magical thinking that the money for taxes will automatically appear sometime in the future.

Money block number four is not paying yourself a salary, and believing that sometime in the future, you will get to the point where you’ll pay yourself a salary. Create the habit now, whatever stage of your business you are in. Create that habit that your business is here to pay you, so that you can use your income to take care of yourself and your personal life.

Money block number five is being worried about what the neighbors, and that’s colloquial neighbors; it’s your neighbors, it’s your friends, it’s people you know. Worried about what other people are going to say when they notice that you are successful and you’re making more money.

Number six is hoarding money because of fear about the future, and maybe there’s going to be a financial crisis or collapse. Last week on the podcast, we talked about having a financial freedom account, having that financial cushion. But hoarding money is going to choke your business. It’s going to attract mosquitoes; whatever mosquitoes are in the financial and business world. It’s just not going to be healthy money and we want money to move to us and through us.

And number seven, pricing your services to your existing client base, and as part of your worry about their judgment and that they might leave you, price to where you’re going, not to where you’ve been.

Thank you so much for tuning in to today’s podcast. If you want to sign up for the webinar, go to my website DebbieSassen.com/webinar and register for the masterclass tomorrow, 6 Pricing Myths to Bust to Break Through your Income Ceiling.

Thanks so much for being with me. I will see you next week. Bye.

Thanks for listening to Mastering Money in Midlife. If you want more information on Debbie Sassen or the resources from the podcast, visit MasteringMoneyInMidlife.com.