1: The Power of Positive Thinking: How Your Mindset Shapes Your Wealth

Transform Your Money Mindset: Strategies to Cultivate Financial Success

This episode delves deep into how mindset, thoughts, and energy shape one's financial reality. The host shares personal stories of financial struggles and successes, emphasizing the importance of identifying harmful money patterns, setting clear financial goals, and maintaining a positive mindset toward wealth. Listeners are guided through actionable steps, such as conducting financial reviews, setting boundaries on investments, and embracing gratitude, to unlock their financial potential and achieve a balanced, abundant life. The episode concludes with the promise of a guide to cultivate a wealth mindset and a preview of next week's topic on financial systems and processes.

00:00 Introduction to Wealth Mindset
01:11 Personal Journey and Struggles
04:03 Recognizing and Breaking Patterns
05:31 Practical Financial Strategies
07:41 Mindset Shifts and Visualization
12:47 Aligning Goals with Actions
17:48 Gratitude and Positive Self-Talk
27:51 Inspired Action and Conclusion


Links:
Download: 5 Steps to Cultivate a Wealth Mindset
Energetic CFO Website
Book a Call with Tiffany

Transcript

0:01

Welcome to the energetic CFO podcast, where we empower you to take control of your financial future. I'm your host, Tiffany, an advocate for financial literacy and business success. In this podcast, we'll explore a wide range of financial topics from money mindset and budgeting to building wealth and achieving financial freedom. We'll break down complex financial concepts into simple, actionable steps so you can apply them in your own life. Whether you're a new entrepreneur or a seasoned business owner, this podcast is for you. Join me as we dive into the world of finance and discover the tools and strategies to help you achieve your financial goals. Let's get started! Have you ever wondered why some people seem to effortlessly attract wealth and money, while others struggle? The secrets in their thoughts and their energy and their mindset towards money. In this episode, we'll explore how your mindset can shape your financial reality and provide actionable steps to cultivate a wealth attracting mindset. Get ready to unlock your financial potential by harnessing the power of your mind. Welcome back. I'm so excited to be here. I love the money mindset stuff. I think it's so deep to understanding how we behave and why we behave the way we behave. And I mean, personally, I haven't always had a positive mindset towards money and it's something I still work on. My husband and I have had the ability to generate a lot of net worth and wealth, but it seems like we've always struggled with the monthly cash flow and income. And we've created this pattern of overextending ourselves. And I think it's because we've always had these big goals to our detriment at times. We, both worked full time jobs and had no kids for a while, and used every penny that we had to invest in real estate and build our portfolio. And After we left our jobs, we continued adding properties, but sometimes budgets would run over, timelines would run over, and there was additional costs that we had no way to plan for. And we overextended ourselves, both in money and energy, and we did a lot of the work ourselves. There was a period where I was working my full time job, And he was still working as a band director, and he spent all summer renovating a house. And it was about 45 minutes from us, so he would get an air mattress and stay at the house with a jar of peanut butter, jelly, and bread, and some Pop Tarts, and probably a case of beer. And he would work like 12 hour days. And as soon as I got off work, I'd drive down there and help. And then we got back into the school year and he would get done with band practice at seven o'clock at night and drive out there and we'd work till 10. And I would get off work at five, make some dinner and meet him down there. We'd eat dinner out of Tupperware containers because we didn't have the money to eat out. And I remember listening to podcasts, trying to learn all the things I could about real estate investing. And doing drywall work, standing on a ladder, the bathroom that I did this drywall work in, it's terrible. I feel for the people that live in that house because, oh gosh, it's so bad guys. I am not a drywall person. I should never have been doing drywall. But we did everything we had to do to build this business and do what it took. But it led to us overextending and working. Harder than we really should have been. So then fast forward, we are both working full time in the real estate. And we had our podcast and other business and we invested in every bit of coaching and mentorship and everything we could to try to grow that business. And it just did not cashflow enough. And again, overextending over putting our money and we just have realized there's this pattern of us. We over invest in our future and under invest in our current situation. And, but I will say now that I recognize the pattern, we're making the changes to get out of that. And we are in a financial position we've never been in with significant reserves in the bank and runway and breathing room. And even in our time, we have runway and breathing room in a way we haven't before. So how did we get out of this though? Like, how did we catch it? How did we know? I think it was a lot of introspection and looking at our life and saying, Oh my gosh, I am so tired. I mean, we'll put it this way. We almost didn't pay our mortgage on the last round of this because we had leveraged every credit card, every bank account, savings account, loans on our 401k, like anything we could do to get money. We did for this last project. And we did a refinance and paid all of it off. I want to say we had about 200, 000 In loans and credit card debt that we paid off when we refinanced. So it was stressful. I mean, to be to the point where we were days away from not paying our mortgage was a place I don't ever want to be again. And I think that was the wake up call is, you know, you hear the story of you get the pebble and then the rock, and then you get the boulder. This was our boulder. And. The just stress in the house in that period and getting, you know, more bills that had to be paid. And it was just, it was too much. So we took some time, realize we're so stressed. Why are we so stressed? Oh, because we're overextended and really took the time to try to reset that pattern. And practically what we did is we really had to know our numbers and what was going on. across our family, across our businesses and set some boundaries. We have decided like on our different side businesses, how much we're willing to invest in them. And then that's it. And if they can't produce income after that point, then they are going to have to shut down. And it's just a boundary that we've had to set because we have over invested in businesses and our real estate. And. It's taking away happiness from us. And part of it is just our mindset around that and being content with the current situation and what we have. And that's really helped as well. We do a financial review at least once a year, usually more often than that, but a deep dive into our finances to see where is the money going. And that way we can have a clear picture. of how we're spending the money personally and in the business and create a budget around that. Personally, I'm not huge on budgets. I think they feel constrictive, but we like to build forecasts to say, okay, if we pulled this lever, here's what happens here. And some of the work we've done from a financial perspective is just taking the time to sit down and think about, and with our real estate in particular, which houses take the most time. So from a business perspective, could you look at what products that you offer take the most time, but generate the least amount of money? I mean, the 80 20 rule is it's strong and it's impressive to me how prevalent it is in the world. So what projects are taking 80 percent of your time, but only produce 20 percent of the results and let's cut those and focus on the things that do actually produce income. And really getting clear on what are your money patterns? Once you uncover them, then you can start to recognize them, and then set your boundaries. And it's not like overnight you're gonna catch it. But the idea is that if you can start to notice it, and then eventually you'll get to the point where you notice it before you make the purchase, or do the thing, whatever it is, and can change the pattern. But it's all, neuroscience fascinates me. I don't know a lot about it. But it's rebuilding that neural pathway so that you're not continuing to take on the same behaviors. So for example, I mean, when we were first getting dating and getting, you know, serious, me and Eric, he would stop every day at a Dunkin Donuts and get a coffee and a bagel, just an everything bagel with cream cheese, like nothing fancy. And I looked at him one day and I was like, you realize you're spending, I think it was like four or 5 back then. every day. And we did the math and just totaled up how much that was a month. I'm not a mental math person, so we're not going to do it here, but you can imagine it totals up quickly. 25, a hundred bucks a month. Is that right? Yeah, I think so. So we said you could be using that for something else. And I know a hundred dollars a month doesn't feel like a lot, but if you put that into a savings account and let it grow over 30 years, it turns into be a pretty decent sum of money. And the alternative was for him to buy some bagels and keep them at work and some cream cheese. And he had a Keurig, so it's not like that was a difficult thing. And it saved him time too, because he could go pop the bagels in the toaster at work while getting ready for the day. And he wasn't spending 20 minutes in the drive thru line. But it took time to rebuild that neural pathway that he needed to stop at Dunkin Donuts every day. So it's, let's just look at your financial patterns in your personal life and your business. I have a friend, she has a pattern of over investing in education and courses, and we've looked at her finances and it's, you can see it very clearly when you look at the numbers. So look at your numbers, get a feel for how you're spending the money, and it'll be very clear. It's really, I know it's intimidating trying to figure all this out, and I will help you through that step by step. But it's getting clear on where the money is going. So I think the way to start recognizing these patterns is looking at what you experience in your life. Do you see a cycle of financial scarcity that you just can't get out of where, you know, there's more, what is it, more month at the end of the money and You're over leveraging yourself. You're using credit cards or other means to reach the goals that you have. Sometimes it's just getting really clear on where your mindset is. Do you look at things from an abundance perspective? I mean, as I'm recording this, I'm looking out the window and seeing a lot of trees and just the number of leaves and how they're provided for by God and nature. And. I know there's a scripture in the Bible that I'm going to completely misquote, but it's, you know, the birds and the animals are all cared for. So why wouldn't we be? So it's looking at the world is abundant and there is this lack that we put on ourselves. So how can you find ways that you're feeling scarce around money and start to change that mindset? Also, do you self sabotage? I mean, I think sometimes we're scared to have money because it says something about us. If you make too much money, then you're an evil person or you're doing it at the cost of somebody else. Or you don't deserve to have that money. Somebody else needs it more. Or there's always a crisis that comes up where a family member needs money, so you give to that. What are the self sabotaging behaviors that you're exhibiting that are causing you to not have the financial resources that you want? And again, just having a negative outlook on money and wealth. Does it, do you think having a certain amount of money in your bank or coming into your bank account each month says something about you? Because if you're attaching that meaning to the money. There's a pattern there that we probably need to change that you can grow to the level that you want to be at. So, what's really going on here is you have these deep rooted limiting beliefs around money that probably came from your parents or other people, other adults in your life when you were younger. Maybe it's a fear of failure, or even worse, what if it's a fear of success? Isn't that crazy that we would fear success that much, that we would self sabotage? I I'm guilty of it as well, but it's just, it's so interesting that sometimes success feels uncomfortable and our body and our nervous system wants to keep us safe. So it does that by leading us to do things that are not beneficial to our ultimate goals, but that safety feels more familiar and we're drawn to it. So. How can we reprogram our minds to say, Hey, that's success. Yes, it's unfamiliar, but it's still safe. And I think my favorite thing to do is visualizations and really just getting into my body and taking the quiet time to feel into it. And when I think about money, how do I feel? And where do I feel that in my body? And how can I shift that so that I am open to attract the wealth. And I think the other big problem that causes this is not having a clear financial vision. How much do you need to make to be comfortable? And from there, how much do you need to save for your future self to be comfortable and get really clear on how much needs to be coming into your family's bank account each month and your business bank account for you to reach the goals that you have? But if you don't have clear goals, You're not going to be able to reach them because you don't have the clarity to be able to manifest this. So, I know a lot of people will get a budget and think that's all they need to do. And, like I've said it before, I am not a huge fan of budgets. I think using something like Rocket Money from a personal perspective is helpful just to get an idea of where your spending's going. But for me personally, budgets just make me feel like I'm constricted. But I love Ramit Sethi's perspective on budgets is to have a conscious spending plan, and this can apply in business as well. But the idea is that we spend the money on the things that matter. So back to the bagel example, that was not an important thing for Eric. It was just, it felt easier for him, even though it really wasn't. And changing that behavior freed up that money. to go do something fun. So, I mean, he could have gone out on, you know, a Friday night to the bar instead of spending the money on these bagels. We were in our early 20s, so, well, he was probably mid 20s because he's an old man. But I think being clear on what's really important to you. And, yeah. Not trying to live somebody else's dream life. I mean, social media, I could go on a rant about that. We see the highlight reel from other people and how they're spending their money, but you don't know what's going on behind the scenes. So for me, finding a way to create some guardrails for your business and your life financially is the key. But if you have a budget and you're not monitoring it and really believing that you can do it. It's not going to work. And I think in addition to that, just following generic financial advice. I mean, there's so many financial gurus out there and I love Dave Ramsey. I love watching him rant. I mean, it's, that's like my get the popcorn out and listen to him just go off on people. And to be clear, like we have a ton of debt. We, I mean, we even have consumer debt because we made some decisions to change the energy of our home. Investing in a new bed because I couldn't sleep and we decided to finance it and we could pay it off but we just choose to keep it because it's 0 percent interest and I'm not giving you financial advice by any means but At the end of the day, it's the mindset and for me I am such a saver that by doing this Purchase that didn't really make sense You was addressing my mindset and my subconscious that it's okay to take care of myself, even though we weren't in the financial place. That might not be where you're at. So look at your patterns of behavior and find ways to address it. But there are so many gurus out there and you have to find what works for you. And even with me, find what works for you. Take it or leave it. Take the pieces that work. Discard the rest, but really digging into your own stories and mindset is key. Once you get that locked in, the rest is easy. And then finally, are you clearing those limiting money beliefs and taking concrete action in order to manifest the wealth that you want? If you don't have the plan and you don't have the limiting beliefs cleared, it's going to be an uphill battle. You're going to be pushing the boulder uphill. But if you can manifest the wealth with a clear slate, it's so much easier. And taking those small actions, you're not going to get anywhere if you're not taking small steps, at the very least, towards these goals. And I think it all starts with identifying and changing those limiting beliefs. So, for me, I didn't realize it, but I had this subconscious pattern of, Money comes and goes. And like I said, we were able to build a fantastic net worth, especially for our age. But we were sacrificing today for that. And we have decided to shift that. But it had to get to the point of we were not going to be able to pay our mortgage that month. And that was terrifying for me, especially with two kids. We were about to start trying to get pregnant, so we weren't pregnant yet. And yeah, like the lack of safety in that was terrifying. So it took shifting my mindset and setting some guardrails of we're not investing in any more properties until we build up the cash reserves. And it's just created this like safety in my body that I don't know that I have felt since working a corporate job where I had a consistent paycheck. You should cultivate a positive and abundant mindset. It doesn't mean everything will always look great, but the more you can find beauty and abundance and see the positive spin of this is happening for me, the further you will go. I I love just looking at my life as it is today and realizing I have what I need and what I want out of life and Yes, I have goals and I want to reach certain milestones, but I mean, the ability to sit here and record a podcast during my work day and look outside my office and see a beautiful, like clear sky with some wispy clouds blowing by and fall leaves. It's just, it's amazing the life that I have and I didn't have this perspective a year ago. It has taken work to reprogram that I can see the beauty and just appreciation for what I have. So when you can change your mindset, all of a sudden the world just looks different. And it's it is changing the reality of your life, but there's so much that we miss. I mean, as I was dropping the boys off at school this morning, the sky was just stunning. And past me would have been thinking about all the things I have to do today and would have never noticed it. But just slowing down and appreciating and seeing the beauty in the world will cause changes that are unexplainable. I mean, I am a, I'm a finance nerd. This stuff is, it's out there to me. Like, how does just being, like, appreciative and basically being a hippie and loving the flowers in the world and burning some incense. Like, how does that change your life? But it does. Like it's I know there's neuroscience to explain it. That is not what this podcast is because I don't know the neuroscience, but it is amazing. The power of our mind and our ability to change the way we see the world. And with that visualizing your financial goals and creating affirmations and taking the time each day. I can't remember the podcast, but he was talking about how he wanted to go on a trip to Italy. And what he would do every morning is sit down and drink a cup of coffee and smell the coffee and taste it and visualize himself in Italy drinking the cup of coffee. So he was embodying the feeling he would have while he's in Italy. And I think the more we can do that of embodying what is it going to feel like when you reach these goals, but also. What is the, what does the finance get you? For me personally, I want to reach certain financial milestones so I can have more time with my kids. And I mean, we just got an annual pass to the zoo and the aquarium and have made these really last minute impromptu trips to go up there and we'll spend an hour or two, but the magic of seeing a two and a four year old run around the aquarium and look at the fish and the sharks and all the things like. It's so beautiful, but that is what the money does for me. It's not about having a certain amount of money in my bank account. And if it was, think about this. If you had a million dollars in your bank account, but you couldn't touch it, how would you feel? It doesn't change anything. It's just a number. It's just some ones and zeros on a computer screen. You can go type a million dollars into a spreadsheet and pretend like that's in your bank account, but that's not going to get you what you want. But if you can sit down and envision, if I had a million dollars in my bank account, what would I change in my life? And really get into, would you outsource more around the house? Or travel more? Or work less? What would that look like? And really embodying, it's not what's the financial goal, it's what does the financial goal get you in your life? And how does that make you happy? And then sitting in those feelings. But then it's taking inspired action towards that goal. So it's not just about the woo. You've got to take the masculine approach and do things about it. But having the vision and embodying the vision and then taking the inspired action is how you get to where you want to be. So I think really aligning your thoughts and your beliefs. With where you want to be is the first step. And then you layer in some gratitude and visualization and be embodying that feeling. And if, how can you do that? I mean, for me, it's I want the flexibility to spend more time with my kids. I don't know that I want more time with my kids, at least at this age. Two, two is hard. We had a meltdown today because he wanted to play in this like little baby play area at school. And every time I tried to go pick him up, he'd pretend to be asleep. It's hilarious. But I wound up just setting him on the ground and letting his teacher pick him up while his brother's over there playing with these two snails that are connected. Cough, wink, wink. And his, my youngest teacher and I are laughing and she busts out laughing because my four year old says, Oh, they're no longer connected. She said, well, he just ruined that relationship. I love my kids. They're hilarious. They're fun to be around, but I also love doing this and doing my finance work. So it's finding that balance, but at the end of the day, it's the flexibility to decide. We, I'm recording this in early December. We just got off Thanksgiving break and. I should have balanced it a little bit more, but I pretty much took the entire week off and probably should have only done three days. But having that flexibility to spend the time with them and I worked in the car on the way to the zoo like it was awesome. I was able to still reach my work goals, but in a way that allowed me to be with my family. And that, that Is, I mean, that's my ultimate vision is having the flexibility. So having gratitude in that moment of, hey, it's a, it's Thanksgiving break and I'm here with my kids having a blast and using that as the fuel for my visualizations and being appreciative when I do have it. So expressing the gratitude of oh my gosh, how crazy of a day, how much fun. It wasn't all sunshine because nothing is ever all sunshine with two boys, but really getting into the gratitude and seeing what this could look like. And it might look like a year in Europe as the kids get older. I don't know. I don't know where it's going to take us, but knowing that it's the freedom for me. And. When I feel that sense of freedom, really digging into that feeling and embodying it and celebrating it so that I can bring that feeling back in later when I'm in my quiet time. And then finally, just having a positive self talk and affirmations around your financials. So instead of logging into your bank account and being like, Oh no, it's only have this amount of money. Let's. Look at it from a positive way and looking at it as I attract money and create those affirmations. Money stays with me. I leverage money to help others. Whatever it is that resonates with you, have those affirmations handy and use them to help you reach those goals. And I mean, it's, this is a lot of work. I get it. But finding the connection between a positive mindset and financial success is everything because let's be real. There are rich people out there that don't have the positive mindset and they're absolutely miserable. That's not who you want to be at the end of the day. Would you rather have all the money in the world, but you're a miserable person or have enough and be happy. And I think it's all about finding that true happiness. And yes, money can give you things. in life that makes it easier to be happy. But money is not happiness. And I think it's really finding what does money give you that will give you joy. I mean, I just think, you know, there's this stereotype of the moms going to Target and getting a Starbucks and spending a I know for me, when I go get my pumpkin spice latte every fall because I'm that girl, if I don't really sit and enjoy it and taste it, I'll drink the whole thing in no time, and it'll be a waste of however many calories it is, I don't know, an obscene amount. But if I can take that drink and just sit in it and slow down a little bit and enjoy it, it just means so much more. So I think, I mean, I think at the end of the day, it's just slowing down and enjoying what we currently have will lead to the more abundance. And if you can do that, like everything will change. And it's one of those things I can't explain it, but just some minor shifts I have had towards money. And when I log into my bank account, I am so thankful and express gratitude for the numbers that I see there. And I know that's not easy when there's not a lot of money in there. I mean, we are not that far off from the month of not being able to pay a mortgage, but even then it's realistically, we weren't going to lose our house. And we had a plan. And I think it's just being thankful for what you have, no matter where it's at. If you're listening to this, you have access to more than a lot of people in the world do. And this is by no means a, you know, they're starving kids in Africa, you're doing so much better conversation. It's really to say, You're listening to this on a computer or a phone or some kind of device. Like what a gift and how can you show appreciation for that? And then how can you show appreciation for your home and your car and whatever else that you have that makes your life easier? I mean, think about a coffee maker. What would I do without a coffee maker, especially now that I'm pregnant, let's show some gratitude for the coffee makers of the world. I think it's just appreciating the small things and the big things will come. And then finally taking that inspired action. So not just sitting in the mindset, but taking it to the next level of what are the steps I can do. So for us, the current inspired action is we're not buying any more houses until we have the cash to sustain it, leave reserves in our pocket and sustain the renovation that is have reserves in our pocket in case something else goes bad. And. an exit strategy that will put us in a better spot financially. So we're changing that pattern of behavior and that's our inspired action right now, especially going into a third baby and my deliveries have been chaotic, which I mean, every baby's delivery is chaotic, but ours were especially with moving and a bunch of other crazy things that happened. So my intention is that this pregnancy and delivery is going to be a much slower pace. And. That's the inspired action of slowing down in this season for us, but you might be in a season of pushing the gas and it's taking the action to the things that really move the needle instead of focusing on the little minutia that doesn't lead to the results, really put your energy into things that will move the needle. All right, well, thank you so much for joining me today. I love talking about this stuff. If you're ready to transform your mindset and unlock your financial potential, please check the show notes. And we have a five step guide to cultivate a wealth mindset. So the links in the description if you love the show, please leave a review and share the episode with a friend who needs to hear this message. Next week we're diving into the world of financial systems and processes, and we'll learn how to create a plan that works for you. So stay tuned. Small steps, big rewards. Remember, your future self will thank you Thanks for joining me on this episode of the Energetic CFO Podcast. Remember, small steps can lead to massive rewards. By taking action, staying disciplined, and seeking knowledge, you can achieve your financial dreams. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to share, like, and subscribe. And don't forget to leave a comment with your thoughts and questions. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep thriving.