I had a limited mindset on how much money I could make for many years. It was my Upper Limit Problem that Gay Hendricks defines in "The Big Leap". I earned $54,000 at the peak of engineering in 2005 and thought I was rich. Up until then, I never earned over $20,000 in a year. That's mostly because I was in school and working was part time. But earning $45,000 out of college was huge! Earning $54,000 just five years later was mind-blowing income for me. I got comfortable at this level. When I was fired that year and realized that $170,000 in debt and no income wasn't good, I needed to make money. But what did I do? I built my cleaning income to $40,000 over the next 2 years and stayed there. At $40,000, I was living the same lifestyle that $54,000 in engineering provided. Why? Welcome to the world of business tax advantages and owner perks! When our need for more income came in 2011 (4 years of $40,000 income), I did what seemed right. I asked my wife to start making money to "help the family". I really manned up!
We had already decided that Teresa would be a stay home mom and homeschool no matter what. Teresa was pregnant with our 3rd child in 2011 and struggling to keep it together at home, so when I threw out the idea of her babysitting or doing a small business idea for more income the response was not thrilling. How dumb! "Honey, you already take care of 3 kids. How about taking on 2 more?" She got anxious and overwhelmed and I got mad. I thought that she didn't want to help support the family. It was a cause of tension in 2011 because of my Upper Limit Problem.
What is an Upper Limit. It's a self-imposed limit on our capabilities. "I can never earn more than what I earned before. I can't make $100,000. I can never weigh 130 pounds again. I can never..." You fill in the rest. This is negative self-talk that we create upper limits in our minds that prevent us from breaking through. It took me some time and coaching from mentors to realize that if it's going to be, it's up to me! I realized that we needed more money because we wanted to eliminate the debt monster that was crippling our family. My dream increased and my income did not support that new dream. I had to move and take action. My response to the need as I said was to get my wife to produce more income since my upper limit challenge got in my way. I didn't believe that I could earn any more!
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