The Martyr Money Type is a Giver…With Strings!

The Martyr Money Type is a Giver...With Strings! Identifying your Money Archetype or Money Type helps you to more clearly your money strengths and weaknesses. With awareness there’s choice and the opportunity for change. There are 8 different Money Types.

The Money Type: The Martyr

As a woman in business, do you over-give to your family, friends and co-workers but have a hard time taking care of yourself? Do you shop for stress relief instead of going to the gym, taking a walk in nature, or talking with caring friends? Shopping may be therapeutic if you’re not stressing yourself with overspending or debt. If you give money to help others, often there are gooey strings attached. “I’ll help you out, but then….” And, self-care is often the last thing on the Martyr’s list and what they most need to change this pattern. The Martyr can limit beliefs about success or earning potential and burn-out is around the corner for this woman business owner. 

Take the FREE and FUN Money Quiz to see if The Martyr Money Type is more in charge than you’d like her to be. There are 8 Money Types and they aren’t WHO we are, they help us see how we’re showing up with money.  15 minute Consult available. 

When it comes to how we really are with our money vs. how we think we are there can be a vast reality gap. “Cognitive neuroscientists conclude that the self-conscious mind (the aware that we’re aware mind) contributes only about 5% of our cognitive activity.” (Bruce Lipton, Spontaneous Evolution) That means 95% of our emotions, decisions and actions are derived from the unobserved (underground) subconscious mind. This is where what we don’t know that we don’t knowabout how we’re showing up with money creates real blind spots in what we allow ourselves to earn, how we value the money we make and how we care and grow our money for the future.

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Certified Money & Business Coach, Professional Speaker & author, Lynn Telford-Sahl, is a financial coach who writes the weekly PowerUP Your Money blog for women in sales and small business. If you’re ready to PowerUP your Money, your Business & your JOY get your FREE Strategy Session with Lynn at powerupyourmoney.com

(*Money Coaching System copyright material developed by Deborah Price, Money Coaching Institute and used with permission)

Women in Business: Try Wineing Away the Tax Blah’s!

Tax Day is April 15^th. If you’re a woman in business you may be feeling a little worried or even whiny about the whole process.  You might be wondering how much you’re going to be paying or what you owe, and then how you’ll pay what you owe. (See how our mind can wind around itself with worry?)

Of course, if you’re on top of your record keeping over the past year you know which way it’s going to go. And, if you’re paying taxes, that’s a good thing, because it means you MADE money!!  Yeah you!

But some of us women in business aren’t on top of their money game and feel reactive at this time of year and are madly gathering info for your tax person. Make a vow to be more proactive next year and hire a bookkeeper (it’s worth the expense) who will keep the numbers for you, or put a system into place like Quickbooks. Do it now, not next December. 

Whether you’re in the mood to WHINE or WINE, it’s ok.

Here’s what a group of friends and I are doing to COPE with tax time. We’re gathering together to WHINE (not much) and then to WINE away the Tax Blah’s and oh yes, eat. Doesn’t this sound a lot more fun than worrying or avoiding?

I want to suggest you do the same – start inviting. You’ll feel better and so will your friends. Then, go see the tax person and resolve (and support each other) to be more PROACTIVE next year.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER OR ON YOUR WEB SITE?

You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

Certified Money & Business Coach, Professional Speaker & author, Lynn Telford-Sahl, writes the weekly PowerUP Your Money blog for women in sales and small business. If you’re ready to PowerUP your Money, your Business & your JOY get your FREE Financiial Strategy Session with Lynn at www.powerupyourmoney.com or take The Money Quiz to find out your Money Strengths & Challenges.

You Don't Have to Be Rich - 4 Steps to Enjoy The Money You Have More

Remember when money was fun? When you were a little kid and it felt exciting to get your first pennies or quarters? With a few dollars in your pocket, you might have even felt rich. Perhaps you had a sense of freedom. Isn't that what we want as adults from our money - a sense of freedom and to be able to enjoy the money we have rather than feel anxious or worried?

Fill in this blank - Rich people are ________. If you're not rich you might say something like - rich people are greedy, or dishonest, or different. When I give talks about money most people respond with a negative statement. That's too bad, because of course those that have money could also be described as generous or giving. But our cultural beliefs about money run deep and quite negative. That's limiting in terms of becoming rich yourself.  

It's true that the rich are getting RICHER. According to The Huffington Post reported Oxfam's "Working For The Few" report that the world's 85 richest people own the same amount as the bottom half of the entire global population." 

But, solving the financial equality of the world is too big a subject for this blog.

Instead, let's talk about the 4 things you can do to enjoy the money you have more. 

A study reported in the book Happy Money by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton asks:  "Would your life satisfaction double if you made $55,000 a year vs. $25,000 a year?" Most people say yes. But, research shows that those making twice as much money - 55K vs. 25K - were only 9% more satisfied than those making $25,000.

Happy Money's research also shows that once you're making about $75,000 a year, more money has NO IMPACT on day to day feelings of happiness. 

Since making more money to be happier is really more of an illusion than reality, what can you do to ENJOY and VALUE the money you do have?

4 Steps to Enjoying the Money You Have:

As a Money Coach who works with women in small business and direct sales I coach women to look at how they value the money they have and in the process can enjoy what they have, right now, more.

1) Buy more experiences than stuff. When we buy experiences, like the 3 week vacation my husband Dave and I just took, they are more lasting and meaningful than material things. Buying experiences contributes to happiness much more than stuff.

2) Make things special by having treats. For example, people that ate chocolate once a week anticipated and savored the chocolate vs. those that ate it every day.

3) Give away small amounts of money - like putting a $1.00 in the Food Box at the grocery counter.  It feels good to give and it's a good Law Of Attraction action.

4) Voluntarily Simplify:  If one has to live in a small house because they lost their big house in the Great Recession, that's one thing. But, my husband and I choose to live in a small home, drive moderately priced cars and take 4-6 weeks of vacation a year. Living within your means can feel very empowering.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER OR ON YOUR WEB SITE?

You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

Certified Money & Business Coach, Professional Speaker & author, Lynn Telford-Sahl, writes the weekly PowerUP Your Money blog for women in sales and small business. If you’re ready to PowerUP your Money, your Business & your JOY get your FREE Strategy Session with Lynn at www.joywithmoney.com

Are You Making These Time Management Mistakes? 4 Tips to Be a Master Rather than Slave to Time

As a woman in business is TIME MANAGEMENT driving you a bit crazy? Do you feel like you're a slave or a master of the TIME in your life? What I hear from women is they feel overwhelmed and that time is constantly, elusively, getting away from them.  I understand - I feel like that myself at times.

Let's set the stage here - time is the same as it's ever been. What's different? Technology and the constant demand of it. This includes the internet as we know it, which has been around less than 20 years - more like 15. Then we add in smart phones, social media, etc and no wonder we get overwhelmed. Technology pulls our attention in many different ways throughout our work day and UNLESS we are VERY determined to MANAGE HOW MUCH and WHEN we engage - we can feel out of control and sort of victimized.

But, we are not victims. KNOW THIS - your most important time management tool is your BRAIN. Here's a technique to help you move from time slave to master.  

Stay conscious of where your MIND is going by re-evaluating when you're overwhelmed, stressed or anxious with these 4 steps:

1) PAUSE  - Take 10 breaths

2) THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT - Is your thinking productive, day-dreamy, on-task or off? Have you followed the text or email shiny object?  

3) REFOCUS - Refocus your mind on what's productive and positive. If necessary, stand up, wave your arms around, and slap your hands up and down your arms on either side to get the energy moving.

4) WHAT IF? - If you're struggling or stuck with a project - ask this expanding question:  What IF?  What if I knew the answer? What IF I am making contact with the right potential client? The WHAT IF question opens the mind to possibilities and triggers creative problem solving. *

Time management apps like Toggl, Evernote, Remember the Milk, and project managers like one I use called Trello are all good.

As a Money and Business Coach I help women manifest more TIME and attract MONEY through their thoughts, habits and actions.

*NOTE: adapted from Using Your Brain to Win by Holly G. Green - very good!!

More Money Will Make You Happier?

More Money Will Make You How Much Happier?  There is so much pressure in our society to always go after MORE, more, more money. Addictive, anyone?  

But, research shows that after someone’s earning $75,000 a year, more money, even a lot more, doesn’t make them any happier. Well, a little bit happier – about 9% happier.

So, if it’s not true that MORE money will make you happier, what is the truth? According to Happy Money authors Elizabeth Dunn & Michael Norton, (two Harvard professors), there are 3 keys to being happier with your money: 

1) Buy experiences vs. stuff. When students were asked to think about 4 material purchases and 4 experiential purchases and to draw circles and place those circles around a larger circle called SELF - depending on how closely linked each purchase was to their sense of self, the experiential purchases won hands down as being more important.

2)  Make it a treat & SAVE money. If you go to Starbucks every day and spend $5.00 it’s expensive and it’s less of a treat than 1x a week. Try this:  Try limiting your visits to 3x a week or 1x a week for that special latte. and drink regular coffee the other days.  I tell my 5 year old granddaughter Shelby that she can have 2 Hershey kisses after her nap – she looks forward to those and enjoys them thoroughly and rarely asks for more.  Treats have Value. Bonus: How much $$ can you SAVE a week with just that simple adjustment?

3) Buy Time:  One stressed, over-working mother of two children, hamsters and hubby bought a Roomba to help with housework. The $300.00 purchase saved this household time in cleaning and stress. 

Time Affluence: Everyone feels overly busy and you may be shocked, as I was, to hear this bit of research, but the time crunch is due in good part to financial prosperity. In general America is wealthier now than 50 years ago. “Wealthier individuals spend more of their time on higher stress activities shopping, working and commuting." 

”TIME SCARCITY”: increases the value of what’s perceived as scarce: As incomes rise, time seems more valuable!!

The authors recommend not using money to get more time, but to value happier time as an end in itself. Switch the focus from making more money to having more time. Ah...feel better?

How Does Your Money Talk to You?

How does your money talk to you? Bob Dylan says: "Money doesn't talk - it screams." Like sex in the 50s or family abuse secrets in the 70s, the subject of money is taboo.  Sshh... Don't talk about your money!!

We don't talk about how much money we make, whether we can pay our bills or not, about the financial stress or hardship we're experiencing. It's embarrassing and we think we're alone, but we're not. There's a saying from the field of psychology, that we're only as sick as the secrets we keep. Money is the last taboo and we need to share our money truths to feel better and move forward.

See if you relate to any of these thoughts or beliefs about money that Louse Hay discusses in her article, "Are You Friends With Your Money?"

* I can't save money

* I don't earn enough

* My credit rating is bad

* Why does everyone else have money?

* Bankruptcy is around the corner

Notice these are all fear based thoughts about money. Because of the economy there's been a considerable fear and negativity around our money. This is actually good if we take steps and not let the fear overwhelm our ability to take action, work diligently to be real about what's going on and take our power back.

The first step out of money fear is to break denial and tell the truth to yourself and your spouse. Make a list of all the money you owe and the money coming in. Create an action plan and look at your list every day while taking daily small incremental steps - pay $10.00 on PGE, talk to the bank, again, send out 10 resumes. Staying on track with an action plan will help you feel more in control.

Financial freedom takes work. You start where you are. It's ok. You're not alone. Tell the truth, make a list, create a plan, take daily small steps, stay conscious of your spending, and don't forget to dream and envision what you want. We need to focus more on where we're going than where we've been or what we've lost. The American Dream isn't dead, but it's been tarnished. It's up to us to shine it up again.