My client, Johanna, was at the end of her rope. She is trained as a CPA, and works well with clients. However, she has a really hard time with client development. Often, she finds herself doing “busy work” instead of cold-calling, networking or engaging in other activities that she knows will grow her client base. She wondered aloud in my office one day why she seems to work harder than other professionals to build her business. She was surprised when I asked her how she feels about money.
As entrepreneurs we spend a lot of time planning business moves, advertising budgets and product development. These are all worthwhile activities. However, certain energetic issues underlie all of our business and personal decisions. They pull our strings like unseen puppeteers, and we do things that sabotage our greater efforts. Money is one such issue.
Let me ask you, did you have a physical reaction to reading the last sentence? Was it the word money that got you going? How do you feel about the concept of money?
Many of us struggle with a lifetime of programming about money. Some of us were raised to believe that money is inherently evil, and that pursuing it will leave us desperate and unhappy. This creates negative emotions that churn just below the surface. It’s not surprising that skilled people with solid business models struggle to build their business.
When our desires and beliefs are in conflict, it matters not how badly we want a certain thing. We will manifest our beliefs every single time.
I suggested to Johanna that the trick to getting a handle on her client-development issues is to manage her money. Together Johanna and I examined four areas of wealth expression and prosperity-consciousness, including spirituality, beliefs, habits, and the feeling that she can fund her dream.
Johanna said she grew up believing that wealthy people are greedy, and that the love of money is the root of all evil. I had no desire to change her spiritual beliefs. However, I offered her a different perspective.
I simply asked her what legacy she wants to leave the world. It took a while, but she remembered how she struggled with math in junior high–about the same time as she began struggling with self-esteem issues surrounding boys, and whether it was considered feminine for her to be smart. Johanna wants girls to grow up to be women who feel smart, powerful and beautiful. This is a wonderful dream.
When we discussed how she would make it happen, it quickly became apparent that it couldn’t be done without money. If she wants to impact the lives of girls and women globally, she will have to attract a lot of money. There is nothing superstitious, evil or greedy about that. This gave Johanna a whole new perspective on the nature of cash.
With this realization, she began to feel inspired, peaceful and unafraid when considering currency. She now feels that money flows with cooperation, not competition, and without resentment of, or anger at, others who are wealthy.
This change in belief created an immediate change in her actions. She put into place new empowering habits that reflect the new order and flow of money in circulation around her, and not the sense of overwhelm created by the negative emotions she felt before.
When I spoke with Johanna a couple of short months later, she expressed the absolute belief that she can fund her dream of helping girls and women find their personal power in math education.
In that moment she realized that when her dream became possible in her mind, she started cold-calling, networking and doing other things to make the dream happen. And just like magic the clients started flowing in the door.
Shaune B. Arnold, Esq., is a practicing attorney, business strategist and business coach. Contact her directly at Shaune@BusinessBootCampOnline.com.
