11. Financial Freedom Starts In Your Thoughts: Addressing the Root Causes of Being Broke

🎙️ Are You Tired of Being Broke? The Real Reasons You Might Be Struggling Financially 💰

Do you feel like you're constantly short on cash, no matter how hard you work? In this episode, Tiffany dives into the hidden financial patterns and subconscious money stories that may be keeping you stuck in a cycle of financial stress.

She shares personal insights and experiences that have transformed the way she approaches money, business, and life—including why overgiving, lack of focus, and misplaced investments might be costing you more than you realize.

🛠️ What You'll Learn in This Episode:
✅ The surprising connection between self-care and financial success
✅ Why doing less can actually make you more money
✅ The dangers of overgiving and taking on responsibilities that aren’t yours
✅ How to prioritize the 20% of work that creates 80% of your financial results
✅ The truth about investing in courses, hiring help, and business decisions
✅ Simple steps to restructure your calendar and tasks for financial growth

If you’ve been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or financially drained, this episode is a must-listen! Tiffany shares practical ways to take back control and create financial freedom—without working yourself into the ground.

✨ Listen now and start making financial decisions that serve YOU!

💡 Resources Mentioned:
🔹 Einstein Matrix – Prioritize Tasks for Maximum Impact
🔹 Book: Do Less by Kate Northrup

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Transcript

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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. Welcome back to the Energetic CFO podcast. I'm your host, Tiffany Vogel. And today we are going to chat a little bit about some common, but maybe not known reasons. People live in this cycle of just being short on cash, broke, penniless, however you want to put it. And I am so excited to dig into this and hopefully help some people uncover some of their money stories and the things going on subconsciously that's impacting Your reality and your financial situation. So it has been a wild month. We have had all the sickness in our house, and I guess that's just kind of part of what goes with the first couple months of the year. And you know, there's been a lot of really good lessons in it for me. I'm realizing how much of the things I do. Really move the needle and my business and my life and the things that don't. And it's been really helpful. And I've also learned, I have to put myself first and pour from an overflowing cup instead of from an empty cup, because when I'm coming from an empty cup, I'm short tempered, I get feisty, I get short with the kids. Sometimes that looks like yelling. Sometimes it's just getting frustrated. And. Not just accepting, you know, they're two and four and that's just what life is with, you know, little kids. So it's interesting because you would think what I'm talking about right now would not tie to my financial situation, but I see very clearly how it does. And in this season, I have realized that I have changed so much and it's being reflected in my finances and. You know, the periods that I have worked the least or when I make the most money and it seems counterintuitive, but I've heard that from other coaches in the past. And I'm like, there's no way, like, how does that work? You've got to be doing the stuff, right? No. Like when you're feeling better and taking care of yourself, things work better. I don't know how to explain it, but one of the things I've noticed is In the past when life gets crazy and you know, the unexpected happens, life, life's basically, I get into a cycle where I overgive and I try to make everyone around me okay by giving of myself. And then in turn, if everyone else is okay, I will be okay. And what I've realized is, through working with a fantastic coach, I'm taking the least efficient way to make myself okay. I'm going through this route of burning myself out to make sure everyone else is okay. Instead of just taking care of myself. And this has shown up in our finances. I mean, I've made business decisions to make sure people on my team were okay. Or I work with my husband, like I've made decisions in the business to make sure that he's okay. Instead of looking at the holistic, what does the family need, what does the business need, priority. And, I mean, a lot of times what I think other people need is not really what they need. So, by focusing on my own self and taking care of myself and focusing on how I feel that day, If that particular day I had planned to do all this work and I'm just exhausted, I go take the nap and focus on filling my cup up and then when I get to work later, I'm so much more effective and efficient and I'm not just burning the candle at both ends. So I focus on prioritizing myself and then my business. And not over giving to everyone around me, my kids included. I've realized they're getting a little bit older and they can do some things themselves. They want to do things themselves. And instead of just continuing to over give, I'm able to give the right amount, which leaves energy for my business in a way that it didn't before. And I'm focused on the stuff that really moves the needle, which is leading to the financial results. And I know it might make sense on paper. to do less. But like, how does that actually look? And I realize like, I have taken on my work at times, and Eric's work, and stuff for my kids, that's not my responsibility. So it's overgiving and over responsibility. It's a really fun combination over here. And. In this season, especially with adding in another pregnancy, I've realized I have to focus on myself. In Costa Rica, we did this hike to a waterfall and we were so cute. We were like, Oh, let's take our journals. And we can sit around the waterfall and journal on just the beauty around us. And like how incredible nature is. And we get to the place and they're like, bring your cell phones and your car keys. And that's it. And we're like, okay, what about bug spray? We're going into the jungle. And they're like, you don't need it. Okay. I had sunglasses, like did not need sunglasses. We were like deep in the jungle. There were so many things that like we thought we needed and they told us not to bring. And we're like, are you sure? We didn't trust the guides completely. Maybe that was a foretelling that we shouldn't have trusted them. I don't know. So, we wait for a while so we're like shoveling food into our mouths because we didn't, a lot of the ladies didn't eat breakfast. I did because I'm pregnant and I just, you know, you never know. So when there's food, I eat. So we're like snacking and just kind of hanging out, trying to hydrate a little bit. And then this pickup truck pulls up in front of us and we're like, okay, get in. We're like, oh, okay. So. Some of us rode in the front of the car, myself included, being pregnant. We had a baby, a giant dog. So we're in the front of the car and it's soaking wet, like the seats, and I'm like, this is really not pleasant. We're riding and everyone else is in the back of a pickup truck, standing up, holding onto rails. Kids included. And we're driving up this road, and it gets really bumpy, and then we go like straight downhill. Like, it was basically a roller coaster. And then they drop us off, and we're like, okay. So we start hiking, and it's beautiful. The water is like this insane color because it, we found out, was full of like sulfur from a volcano. And we get to this spot, and they're like, okay, you're crossing the river. And we're just like, wait, what? There's a rope and there's a river and we're going to cross it and we say, okay I'll try to find some pictures and put them in my email that I send out. So if you're not on the email list, definitely sign up so you can get the email. So, we cross this river, and the first thought I had is, Oh, dang, my shoes are gonna get messed up. Which is just hilarious. Just given what comes. So, we cross the river, and I'm pregnant. So, like, balance is a little weird. I was Right at the beginning of my second trimester. So it's, I wasn't fully off, but like, you know, joints are loose, things are different. So the guides are like very attentive to me and holding my hands constantly, like making sure I'm good. Where we get across the river and then later we find out like we're full on swimming. Little did I know the service dog with us had never swam, like he failed swim lessons and he figured it out. There was so much of just figuring it out. But I am, I'm normally the woman who's like, Oh, I don't need your help. I can climb this mountain, like whatever. But I knew being in the condition I was like, I was going to take every hand I could. And I did, and it was such a beautiful moment of realizing like, I can ask for help and receive it and focus on myself. I did not offer my hand to anyone to help them up after, which I, hindsight, I'm like, wow, that was kind of mean. But what I realized is like, I was so focused on keeping my footing sure and not slipping and making sure that I was climbing everything and. Just taking care of myself and I kind of had blinders to everyone around me But I also knew the people around me if they needed a hand or needed help they would ask for it so It was just it was such a beautiful moment and After we swam through part of the river to get around this big rock face One of my friends was climbing up the rock and was trying to help the service dog and wound up slipping and falling, and she was fine. But it was a lesson for her of like, she was trying to take care of the dog and then wound up, the dog was fine, like he figured it out. So the hindsight was, she was having a similar lesson but had to learn it a different way, and she slipped, fell, and she was fine, but she had to take responsibility for herself first as well. And I think it was a lesson for all of us as, you know, women, we have focused on our family and taking care of them for so many years and want to focus on those around us. And sometimes you just got to take care of yourself first. And I think that's in moments of unpredictability and crisis. And what all of that taught me is like, I, I have to come first and I have applied that lesson in my life now. And it has served me so well. Since coming back from that trip I was sick, Eric was sick, and then he wound up in the hospital for five days from a different kind of illness. And I had to lean on my family to help support me with the kids, and my friends, like, sent me meals. And that was so helpful to not have to cook while being in this situation where I'm sick. Doing a lot more than I normally would. And again, pregnant. And I set a lot of firm boundaries as well. I had family members that wanted to just get on the phone and talk about everything that was happening. And I just did not have capacity. And wanted to be present with my kids. So instead of focusing on filling them in on all these details on things that would not really move the needle for them, I focused on myself and my kids and what was immediately in front of me that needed to be handled. And what I'm seeing in business now our kids have not had a consistent week of school for over a month between snow days. I guess they did while my husband was in the hospital, but like I was not able to fully work because I'm running back and forth to the hospital to check on him, to bring him things that kind of stuff. So in all of that, I learned, I do so many things in the business that aren't actually moving the needle. And I invest in things that don't move the needle. And it was just such an eye opener. That I have to just put myself first, like I keep saying over and over again I'm saying it loud for the people in the back. So I have done an assessment of my calendar and created some riverbanks, it's like what we like to call them, to say I need to spend X amount of hours per week on these different kinds of tasks, and structuring my calendar each week And what I normally do is on Friday afternoon, I'll look through my calendar for the following week and make sure I'm working the number of hours I want to work, that I'm blocking time to take care of myself, and just leaving room for, hey, that day I don't feel like doing those things, I can move them to this other day. And just having blocks on my calendar to create that space for myself. So I'm focusing on the stuff that's really truly moving the needle. What is doing for my business is I'm able to be more productive with less time. I'm reading a great book. I'm about halfway through it. It's called do less by Kate Northrup. And it just talks about how if we work with the energy in our bodies and for women, it's very cyclical. Given like the hormone cycle that we go through. If we focus on how we're feeling that day and instead of brute force trying to get the task list done, but instead looking to see, oh, like there's certain weeks that I feel way more energized and focusing on tasks that align with that, we can get so much more done. So how I've structured it is I'm focusing on the 20 percent of tasks that move 80 percent of the needle in my business. For example, I had plans to host an in person retreat a few months, and I just realized like, it doesn't really align with what I want to do for Q2. I want to do a retreat 100%. I just don't think I'm there yet. And I was thinking about all the coordination that would go into it, the fact that I'm pregnant and will be even more pregnant then. I have a plan that I'm not traveling in the third trimester, and that would be, in essence, a travel. It'd be a time away from home. And I really just want the time to be at home, to be quiet, to start nesting, to have that time with my two boys before we add in the chaos of a third boy. Because if you have kids like there's, it's not one plus one equals two or two plus one is three. It's exponential. Like the chaos that goes, especially with boys. I was just talking to my coach about, you know story. She was saying that her son like climbed into this water trough that was just absolutely disgusting and was having the best time. And I was like, okay, so is that a boy thing? And she said, Oh, absolutely. Like the girls would have looked at it and be like, Oh, that's gross. And just moved on. But no, he like climbed in it. I'm like, okay. Cause that's just like, that doesn't sound surprising to me. What you said, like, that just sounds like my normal life. So chaos with the So I just really want to get quiet and focus on that. And I'm seeing by doing these things and focusing on myself, going with my energy, and you know, there's days that I feel really good getting all the tasks done. So I front load those into one day and just knock it all out. And if it's that dopamine hit of knocking off the task list, that feels so stinking good. But it's not the stuff that moves the needle. And going back to the retreat, I built out A bunch of content for the web page email funnels. So like when you signed up, you get a series of emails. But there were two separate ones, one for people in person, one for people, not, I built out a type form to take in info so I can make sure I was addressing everyone's needs appropriately. I built out payment links on Stripe. You can see like there was a lot that went into planning all of that. And. I realized that's not a good use of time. Like, yeah, you want to have all that in place, but also have the conversation with the people and get really clear and firm commitments. And to the point where they're just waiting for you to send the link, and then you can build the email and then you can build the survey and all these things. But I was so focused on having everything put together. That I didn't realize I was, in essence, wasting time because I wound up not even going that route. And when the time comes that I do decide to host a retreat, it's all built out, it'll be super easy. But there was a lot of mental work that went into, like, understanding the sequence of, like, if I send a link from here to here, this does this, and then it goes to here, and It was exhausting. And with having to cut back my hours so significantly to support my family and their sickness, I realized like I, none of that matters. And I had a sales call that wound up converting and didn't have the payment link set up for the payment option she wanted. And it took me an hour, but I'm so glad I did it after the fact. And yeah, she had to wait a little bit, but she, it's not like she thought it was going to come immediately. It could have come the next day. It could have come the next week. It didn't matter. But doing stuff only when it's actually important and urgent has completely shifted how I work. And it's, it's the 20 percent of tasks. Like, yes, that had to get done for me to get that payment. And I learned a ton in the process too, but I'm glad I didn't go through all this effort to build out something that may or may not have been what I needed in the, you know, end result anyways. So, it's interesting because, like, we haven't talked a whole lot about money yet, but the where you invest your time is a direct correlation to how much income you have. I firmly believe that. And if you're a business owner and you're working on the 10 an hour tasks constantly, you're going to get 10 an hour pay in your business. And by shifting away from building out all this funnel stuff for the retreat and focusing on what I needed to do for the immediate need, I have cut so much time out of my calendar and it feels so good. I mean, I had a few hours on Monday to get some stuff done while my husband watched our sons who were home sick from school, and I went and got a pedicure. And in the past I would have canceled that, but I really wanted to get my toes done. And the funny thing is I sat there and journaled and read and had really refilling time, and then came home and was so mentally lit up that I got a ton of things done very quickly. So I don't think we realize the power of our mind and having a clear mind and how much you can get done when you're not in that frazzled, frantic energy and you're focused on preserving your energy and coming at it from a clean perspective. The other thing I can say that is very much financial. I have found myself Hiring people that aren't the right fit for what I need in that moment, but it's, I like this person and I think they're a hard worker and I want to bring them in and help them and I wind up not getting the results I want because it wasn't even the right person in the first place. So by focusing on, one, delaying hiring they say hire slow, fire fast. That has not been my approach in the past. So I'm being very intentional about who I bring into the company. Just from a perspective of, I want to make sure that my financial resources are being well utilized and it's not them. It's that I'm trying to solve a problem. I'm trying to solve two problems. I'm trying to help this person with employment, and then I'm trying to also solve a problem in my business. And what I realized is maybe that thing doesn't even need to be done at all. And I've also forecasted of where I expect the business to go and make decisions based on that, instead of looking at where the business is today. And I have made hiring decisions and increased hours for people and things like that because I anticipate an influx of work. But I really want to pump the brakes on myself and only make that shift when it gets to the point that we're at, you know, over 100 percent capacity and need to make that shift. I've also seen financially that I love to invest in courses because I think, oh, if I do this course, it's going to give me all the info I need, and it's going to solve all my problems, and I can do exactly what that person did and have all these results. And I've done enough of these over the years that I've realized a few things. One, Most of the coaches out there that are selling online courses developed that course a couple of years ago, especially if they're pretty large. And what is working for them today is very different from what worked for them five years ago or whenever it was that they were building their business. Having A business from ground zero versus a business with a lot of followers on Instagram or an email list or whatever the, the warm audience looks like. It's different. And I think there's also like, I have seen affiliate launches where businesses are able to just absolutely kill it because they have friends with big Instagram lists and email lists and all of that. And they do these affiliate launches and just absolutely kill it because they have access. to this really large pool of people who are their ideal client. And if you're just starting out and don't have those connections, you have to take a different strategy. And what works for someone that's got the list is different from the person who doesn't have the email list of people. So that's the first part. The second part is when they were building their list, because obviously they started from somewhere, the world looked different. I mean, we're in 2025. If they've been around, you know, four or five years, The world during COVID looked very different from real estate. Oh my gosh, that was a totally different era. I mean, we were flipping houses and every project delay was a blessing because it was an extra 10 K and sale price. And that's not normal. Within the online coaching space, we had all the stimulus checks coming out and people had all this extra money and all this extra time to invest in themselves. So they were throwing money at everything. And it wasn't just the stimulus checks. Like people weren't going out to eat. They weren't going on vacation. Like there was all this extra money to go somewhere. And now the economy is in a different place. Real estate prices are insane because interest rates were so low. House prices went up because people could afford to pay more. And now those prices haven't gone down, but the interest rates have doubled. So you're looking at double a payment over what it was. So it's really hard to find a cash flowing property right now. And then on the coaching side, people are struggling. I mean, I just saw waffle houses, increasing the price of eggs by 50 cents, which I can't, I don't know what, how much an egg costs on the waffle house menu, but I'm assuming that's a pretty high markup. So it's just interesting. Like things have shifted with inflation and just the changes in the economy and what worked. for a coach five years ago is not going to work in today's market as you're starting from zero. So this is my rant. I have realized investing in a framework or a program or a course isn't going to move my business where I need it to go. I know it works for a lot of businesses. Also, those coaches are going to promote You know, the 10 clients that had insane transformations, but they might have 100 clients over here and to the side that didn't have that transformation. And they're good at selling. They're good at marketing. That's why they've made it where they are. And I'm not saying don't invest in a program. I think there are so many great programs out there that do provide the value and do shift and help. I'm saying for me, what I have realized is that. If I invest in those, like what I think is going to be a cure all for my business, it does not move the needle for me. What has moved the needle for me is investing in myself. And what I mean is a coach who goes deep, who sits there and holds space for all the ridiculous things going on in my head, and helps me change my perspective of how I look at things. That is where I've seen the transformation of my business and my finances. So you have to find what works for you. I know that was a long rant about the gurus out there, but you have to be careful about who you bring into your mentor list. And I mean, I know in the real estate space, there's gurus and people who are going to jail for things that they've done and things that they're teaching. So you just have to be really cautious about who you allow. to take advice from. But when you find that right person going all in and literally go to everything they offer, that's, I'm a little obsessive at this point. But I've gotten so much value and was just talking today about how I look back at about six months ago and it's just kind of comical that I thought I had changed so much at a retreat six months ago. And I'm coming up on the second round of that retreat, and it's just like laughable, the transformation I had six months ago compared to now. And I can't wait to see what this does for me, you know, in this era. I think it's the exponential growth thing again. Exponential chaos from kids, exponential growth from investing in yourself. So. If you're tired of being broke, what I would say is focus on yourself first and don't take responsibility for everyone around you. Don't overgive and burn yourself out. I have a very great friend who was telling me that she is exhausted all the time because she's doing a load of laundry every day for her kids and her kids wear four or five different outfits a day. And they're in middle and high school. And I just pushed back and I was like, they can do their own laundry. And I bet real quick, they'll realize those clothes aren't actually that dirty. And then it'll save you on utilities. But in her over giving and taking over responsibility for her kids who are older. It's costing her financially because she's exhausted from doing a load of laundry every day. She's not able to invest that time that she's doing laundry into her business, or self care, or whatever. And, you gotta think, that's running that laundry every day has gotta rack up the water bill and power bill and all that. If you're tired of being broke, it's not always a money thing. It's not that you need to go cut your Starbucks and coffee runs or whatever. It's not always that you need a cheaper car. I mean, sometimes, yes, that is absolutely it. But a lot of times there's underlying things that are deeper that you might not really see and acknowledge that's moving the needle more than you realize. So, focusing on yourself, not over giving. Focusing on the stuff that really moves the needle in your business. Bye! And the easiest way I see to do that is to calendar block. What times I'm available for work. And then within that, what time am I out doing speaking, doing networking launches, doing conferences versus administrative tasks that feel good because I'm checking things off the task list, but it's not actually helping me get clients and helping people. And my coach says she has two roles in her business, speaking and coaching. And I'm really trying to adopt that mindset. So what are the two roles in your business or three roles? Whatever it needs to be. And yes, the admin stuff still happens. I still sit down and do strategy around the business. But I'm shifting it to where the majority of my time and energy is going into those big, important things that really help me move the business where I want it to go. And I'm seeing the results. I struggled in 2024 to build a business that just was not going the direction I wanted it to go, and I outsourced a lot of tasks and roles to other people and didn't follow up like I should have and take control like I should have because I was too busy in the minutia. And when I pull myself out of it and focus on the stuff that really matters, it's absolutely dramatic. The shift. If you're not familiar with the Einstein matrix, it's fantastic and it can really help with planning your day. And I'm taking a weekly approach and if stuff doesn't get done, it doesn't get done. But what matters is sitting in front of my zoom camera and having conversations with people. Checking in on friends because a lot of my friends are in business as well, and that can lead to referrals down the road. So it's, it's interesting because it's stuff that doesn't feel like work to me is what is really going to move the needle in my business. And that's where I'm focusing. So, if you're tired of being broke, it could be something different than what you think it is. And, I, I don't know. challenge you to get quiet and sit with a journal and just kind of ask yourself, are there things I'm doing in my day and my business that can be delegated? We outsource laundry for example, and we might even be looking at bringing someone in to help with some more of the household stuff so that we can focus on the stuff that really moves the needle. So what could you potentially outsource in your life that could free up more mental space for your business or your self care? How much self care are you doing? Do you do enough? And then maybe take an inventory and rate, where are you not getting enough attention to yourself in that self care realm? And make sure that the investments you make are in the things that will really help your business instead of going with what you think might be a cure all and focusing on yourself and growing and you're, you Mindset and your perspective, and just try it, try it on for a month, see how it goes, try it on for a day or a week, whatever feels comfortable, and you might be surprised at how much shifts, and if you see a big shift, let me know, send me an email, I'd love to chat, and learn more about what you're shifting, if you're not on the email list, please sign up, I'd love to keep in touch and fill you in on all the things, and share Take care. Bye! Ridiculous pictures of us crossing rivers and all the things. So if you go to energetic CFO. com, you can sign up there. And if you're interested in working together, let me know. I have a couple of different options that reach, you know, different levels of price points and needs. So if that's something you're interested in feel free to reach out on the website or shoot me an email. Tiffany at energetic CFO. com. And I think that's all I have for you today. So I look forward to chatting again next week and hope you have a great rest of your week. 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.