Hey there! We are going to kick off a monthly blog series on finances. 

Now, for many people working on finances, it isn’t just about the money. 

In fact, oftentimes, what we believe about money and our past experiences about money shapes so much of our relationship with money. Many times, we have all kinds of thoughts and beliefs about money before the first dollar ever hits our bank account. 

I hope to express that working on your finances is actually what makes you feel better about money and the added benefit that being friends with your money will allow you to hit your goals. Creating new money beliefs that serve you is so much more effective. 

Yes, really. 

THOUGHTS ON MONEY

These are a few comments that I tend to hear from the people that I work with every day: 

– “I’m behind financially.“

– “I get nervous charging that much money for my services.“

– “I’m not good with numbers.“

– “I avoid my finances.“

I know for me, when I was struggling with money, those kinds of thoughts just kept me stuck financially. 

In fact, those thoughts kept me stuck for years. 

They weren’t actually helping me do the thing I wanted to do, which was to get out of debt or feel comfortable with keeping even $500 in savings to my name. 

What if we started to view our finances completely differently? What if we started to view finances as a super positive thing in our life? 

HOW TO THINK ABOUT MONEY INSTEAD

Let’s rewind for a minute and think about the reasons why you wanted to pursue a career in the professional beauty industry. 

You probably love what you do, first and foremost. 

But you next chose it, because of the financial opportunity this amazing career can provide you. 

A six-figure income per year. 

Over 10 years, that is over a million dollars pouring through the same hands that help you craft amazing work for your clients. 

I’d love for you to imagine for a minute how you want to feel at the end of those ten years knowing you just grossed over a million dollars with your talent and creativity.  

Feels pretty freaking good, right? 

Close your eyes for a moment and think about what kind of impact a million dollars could make in your life. 

What kinds of things come up for you? 

– Pay off debt? 

– Savings? 

– Buying a house? 

– Enjoying a vacation at a beach without stress or worrying about how to pay for it? 

– Working hours that fit your life and a booked day full of clients that you look forward to seeing each day?

All sounds amazing, right? 

Hopefully, you’re nodding your head along with me saying “yessss please, sign me up”. 

That’s what working on your finances does for you. 

Those goals and dreams are for you. 

The path to all of those things is through working on your finances and making it your friend. 

HOMEWORK

As a Beauty Professional, you have an incredible opportunity to start off your career strongly.  

In the next few blog posts, we’ll be talking about the mechanics of finances and be more numbers-focused (I promise, it can be easy!). 

But today, having the right mindset about money will make the finance conversation easier. 

Here are a few ideas to get you started about your mindset. Please do know that this takes work to address mindset so please give yourself grace and time to explore these thoughts. There are so many amazing books on this topic, so definitely look into those. 

1. State your thoughts or beliefs that you have about money. Extra bonus points for journaling on this.

Here are some examples: 

– I am not good with math 

– Money stresses me out 

– I am not good with money 

2. What is a new thought that you could instead choose to have about money?

Here are some examples: 

– I’m learning about money 

– Being good with money is a set of habits and tools that I can totally learn 

– Money involves experimenting 

– Becoming friends with money allows me to hit the goals I have for myself 

The idea is that you replace an old thought with a new thought. So, if I tell myself, “I’m not good with numbers”, instead start to switch it to a phrase that does serve you and feels fun like, “I am learning that I can do my finances on my phone. No math needed!”. Keep it fun and playful to start. Over the weeks, you will be surprised with these tweaks in your thinking that actually make you feel so much better about money and ready to dig in!

ABOUT Darcie

Darcie Milfeld of Green Bites Project® is a financial wellness coach helping women hit their biggest financial goals, from small business finances to personal finances. She is a former SVP at Bank of America and holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. She used her love of numbers to map out her family’s own financial independence journey, which they hit in their late 30s. Darcie created Money Habits inside Prosper U.