My original intention with this podcast was to speak specifically to fitness professionals however what I’ve found is that many of our issues overlap no matter what industry you work in. (get it Work IN?)
That makes sense because we’re all human and we each have our own Work IN to discover better ways to deal with our internal state so that we can be better humans, better friends, better employees and better employers. And the source of all of that personal and professional improvement and development starts with an understanding of where we are in our own state. So I think that’s why there’s so much overlap in our discussions here. And today will be no different.
Last week we heard from Dennis Harhalakis money coach from Cambridge money coaching about how emotions connect to our money behavior. If you missed that episode it came out of February 21 and is # 65. Check it out when you get a chance.
Today I wanted to talk about money baggage. During our conversation last week Dennis brought up the point that a lot of how we treat money, how we feel about money and business and our behaviors around money are rooted in our childhood experiences or lack of experience and influenced by how we saw others handling money.
That’s our money baggage. And that baggage can weigh us down and hold us back financially in both our professional and personal lives. It becomes a subconscious filter through which we make all our money decisions including how we save, how we spend, how we invest, IF we invest, and how we price our services.
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It’s time to stop working out and start working IN. You found the Work IN podcast for fit-preneurs and their health conscious clients. This podcast is for resilient wellness professionals who want to expand their professional credibility, shake off stress and thrive in a burnout-proof career with conversations on the fitness industry, movement, nutrition, sleep, mindset, nervous system health, yoga, business and so much more.
I’m your host Ericka Thomas. I'm a resilience coach and fit-preneur offering an authentic, actionable realistic approach to personal and professional balance for coaches in any format.
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Unpack that money bagage
My original intention with this podcast was to speak specifically to fitness professionals however what I’ve found is that many of our issues overlap no matter what industry you work in. (get it Work IN?)
That makes sense because we’re all human and we each have our own Work IN to discover better ways to deal with our internal state so that we can be better humans, better friends, better employees and better employers. And the source of all of that personal and professional improvement and development starts with an understanding of where we are in our own state. So I think that’s why there’s so much overlap in our discussions here. And today will be no different.
Last week we heard from Dennis Harhalakis money coach from Cambridge money coaching about how emotions connect to our money behavior. If you missed that episode it came out of February 21 and is # 65. Check it out when you get a chance.
Today I wanted to talk about money baggage. During our conversation last week Dennis brought up the point that a lot of how we treat money, how we feel about money and business and our behaviors around money are rooted in our childhood experiences or lack of experience and influenced by how we saw others handling money.
That’s our money baggage. And that baggage can weigh us down and hold us back financially in both our professional and personal lives. It becomes a subconscious filter through which we make all our money decisions including how we save, how we spend, how we invest, IF we invest, and how we price our services.
So the question becomes what is the money baggage that we’re carrying around, how is it affecting our behavior and how do we let it go?
Those are big questions so let’s start like we always do here by cultivating some awareness of where we are right now.
What does your relationship with money look like? Would you describe it as healthy? Do you know what a healthy relationship with money looks like? Depending on how we were raised, we might not.
Here are some aspects of a healthy money relationship:
You see money as a tool to achieve well being.
Your identity is not tied to money.
You are confident in managing your finances well.
You’re comfortable engaging with the financial system.
Money is NOT
The work of the devil
The root of all evil
Shameful to have or not to have.
Anxiety and guilt ridden.
Unknown or confusing.
A reflection of who I am or my value.
Therapy to make myself feel better.
All of these and more are possibilities in any combination and without stepping into judgment, let’s agree that it doesn’t really matter where we picked up this baggage from. Because that just adds more baggage. All we need to do first is to acknowledge that we might have some of this going on and it might be affecting our behavior and our bottom line.
A lot of different money baggage behaviors show up from these but I’d like to focus on 2. The first is how you value your services and the second is how you invest in yourself. Both of these I have felt in my own business and I’ve seen come up over and over again among solopreneurs in the fitness industry but could also be translated outside of that space as well.
Let’s talk about how to price whatever it is you’re selling. Now fitness and wellness is a service industry. For the most part you aren’t selling a physical product or widget so it isn’t like you have a cost of production per say. When we’re talking about a service like coaching, or yoga or training, we need to shift from what it costs YOU to provide the service to what the value of the service is to your client.
If you focus too much on costs undermines your potential. For example:
Cost of your space and utilities, supplies and equipment, maintenance, technology and software, marketing, payroll and don’t forget your required continuing education. Add that up for each month divided by # of days you’re open, classes/hours each day and then figure out how many clients/members you need to see in order to meet or exceed that number.
I know many fit pros who are very resistant to this kind of equation. But, and this is a BIG but you HAVE to know what your costs are.
Uncertainty and lack of control are the source of all stress. You can reduce your money stress simply by taking a look at it.
I will share that I have a lot of anxiety around money. Mostly because of taxes and I have hired a couple different bookkeeping services to track my business spending. But honestly, it didn’t alleviate my anxiety because they allowed me to avoid looking at my finances. Because I rarely looked at my accounts, Because I chose to give up that control to someone else, there was no need to work through or let go of my money baggage.
Now if your business or personal finances are big time you definitely can and maybe should hire help. But if you’re a teeny tiny small business, or a solopreneur with an employee of one, maybe think about diving into a simple spreadsheet and really getting to know yourself at a deep financial level. Maybe do one month as an experiment and see if it doesn’t start to build some confidence. Taking control and keeping your eyes on the bottom line is the fastest way to step forward without this one piece of money baggage.
Now once you have a handle on what your real costs are we can talk about what the real value of your services are.
Value has less to do with what it costs and more to do with what your client is going to get out of the experience.
So how do you figure this out?
Think about your client - the people who you will be helping. How will their relationship with you change their life? What could that mean for them? What is the transformation or change that THEY are looking for? What is their big WHY for coming to you for help?
Now think about yourself - what unique skills do you bring to the table? Your education? Your life experience? Your specialties?
This part might be difficult because for many of us, especially women, we’re conditioned to not talk about ourselves, to not promote the special things that we can do and culturally we devalue skills and talents that come easy for us.
But just for now, resist those inner critics and become your best shameless promoter. Maybe put yourself in your clients position. What would it mean to your life to be able to live without anxiety, to overcome type 2 diabetes, to be able to trust your body or spend 10 extra healthy years with your family. How much are those things worth?
Now I will say one more thing here before we move on. If you don’t place a value on what you offer and stand behind it with confidence, no one else will. How much value do you place on what you do?
Ask yourself if you would pay and what would you pay for what you offer if you couldn’t do it yourself?
Investing.
As healers, helpers, wellness professionals, fit pros. We are by nature investing in our clients. We invest our time, our effort, our energy in them.
We have invested our money, time and energy in our education and experience. Perhaps it’s formal education, maybe it’s less formal through our certification.
And then we’ve invested our time in terms of years of experience and service in the field.
I think we might agree that experience counts for something no matter what field you’re in. A nurse fresh out of school is not the same as one who has worked in neonatal for 15 years. Same with a doctor or engineer or a plumber or a soldier.
You hear a lot in the entrepreneur space about investing in yourself. (a lot of times that comes from business coaches looking for your business) And I would agree. Getting good guidance is very important. The right coach at the right time can make all the difference.
Investing in your career continuing education is just as important. That’s why most certifications require CEC’s. The problem is in fitness industry many of us are not taking what we do seriously enough to curate those investments.
What I mean is, it’s easy to get cheap cec’s for the sake of getting cec’s and not because they actually allow you to expand your professional credibility and command higher pay. We’ve all heard the saying “You get what you pay for.” It is true here too.
What is the point of taking that free or cheap CEC course if it adds nothing to your professional arsenal? Why get certified to teach “chair drumming fitness for puppies” if you aren’t going to ever teach puppies to get fit by drumming on chairs?
Now I will say here as a side note I believe that there’s always something we can learn from every class we take. Even if it’s something we won’t ever be doing. But part of the opportunity in curating continuing education credits is that you can create your own unique scope of practice. A scope of practice that lets you truly excel as an expert in your particular corner of the fitness world AND be able to price and scale your services in a way that supports the life you want to live.
It also sets you free from the idea that you need to know everything about everything. You don’t. You only need to know your thing. So let’s not let our careers get hijacked by the next shiny object, procrastination or imposter syndrome and take control of how we invest in ourselves and choose investments that will bring us returns.
So how do we go about doing that?
First step is to get some clarity and awareness about who you are as a fit pro and what you want to bring to the world. Keep in mind this may change throughout your career. Let it. It’s part of your growth and nothing in your experience will be wasted.
Second, become your own career sculptor. Clean up those letters after your name. We don’t always need to add new things to our certification list. Sometimes we need to let things go. Why are you paying for a personal training certification if you don’t do personal training? Do you talk to a lot of clients about nutrition? Maybe pursue a nutrition specialty. Look for CECs that you can double dip. For example group fit and yoga often count for both. Check your agency guidelines.
Last but not least,look for ways to challenge yourself to become better at what feels easy to you or where you could use support. This might mean stepping out of the CEC realm. Not all education counts for cec but it might be life and or business changing. This might be joining a mastermind group, finding an accountability partner or some other professional or personal development.
We can get so caught up in collecting CEC’s that we can miss some incredible training that could serve us in other ways.
Investing in yourself is more than simply the cost per hour of your cec’s. When you weigh your investment we need to also consider what this new knowledge will bring to us long term. Is it a new way to communicate with our clients? Are we learning how to incorporate recovery for ourselves so we don’t burnout? Are we able to use these skills to help our clients get better, faster results? Are we learning how to run our business better so we can live the life we want? What are those things worth to you? What is the true value of that knowledge and what is the cost to you if you don’t?
Thanks for joining me today on The Work IN! And if you’re looking for a way to expand your professional credibility within your scope of practice I’d like to invite you to join me in person at The Well. This is a one day retreat happening on March 26th in the Dayton OH area. The well is focused on navigating the stress curve for better results for ourselves and the people in our lives. We are going to learn how to shake off stress and tension physically, mentally and emotionally and how to translate the body’s stress language to give it what it needs. This is going to be an intimate group and if you’re in the area I’d love to work with you!