How your money mindset affects your income and what you can do about it

December is a slow month.

D e c e m b e r  i s  a  s l o w  m o n t h .

I was in my first year of business so of course I was looking for advice.

And the advice I got was to expect a slow December and that’s what I did.

I had just had my two biggest months and earned $13K in October and $17K in November so I was perfectly happy to expect a slow December.

And sure enough things really slowed down and by December 5th my income was only $1500.

But then something changed, I decided not to accept this common belief and do something about it. I went into full gear with my marketing and giving free value.

By the middle of the month my revenue was $6000 and I thought to myself, well, $6K is not bad for a slow month. But I still continued in fifth gear…. and five days later my income was suddenly $16K!

Then I got all fired up and thought to myself I have to beat my November income, there was only $1000 missing. Another five days later $500 were still missing to beat November.

I got all competitive now – competing with myself – and thinking how I can help my audience even more than before, what do they need from me? Only 2 days later my income was $22K!!

Wow, I was blown away and couldn’t believe that a simple mindset shift could have this effect on my income. I had already beaten November and was over-the-moon-happy and it was time to enjoy the holidays properly, it was already 23rd of December.

But then I got this little idea… that it would be nice to achieve $25K…. it just sounds like a good number.

On December 31st I had achieved $25K in sales for December!

I am not sharing this with you to brag. I’m sharing this with you to show you how your mindset can affect your ability to earn money. A simple mindset shift enabled me to have a record month in my first year of business.

And what do you think my income in January was?

I’m embarrassed to share that it was only $1700. Yes, only $1700 for the whole month of January.

Now you might ask, what happened?

And you know the answer?!

My mindset.

The Lizard Brain Takes Over

After earning $55K over 90 days the negative voice in my head – you know the one Seth Godin calls the lizard brain – completely took over.

That’s way too much money for you!

Who are you to earn so much money?

You don’t need to earn more money!

And then it got even worse:

Rich people are bad, you don’t want to be bad, do you?

Remember your grandfather who always had money but never gave you any presents? You don’t want to be like him do you?

You are not going to have any friends if you continue to earn so much money.

I totally recognized what was happening but somehow, a whole month went by without me being able to turn my mindset around.

When the results for January came in, I was totally disappointed in myself.

Why didn’t I turn this around just like in December?

But this time it was different.

In December I was proving others wrong, I was competitive, I was in a competition.

In January I was fighting my own demons, my money blocks.

I realized that I didn’t really believe I could earn more than $25K a month.
I realized that I was so happy with what I had earned already that I somehow just stopped my marketing, unconsciously.
I realized that I had to overcome some old beliefs from my upbringing if I was going to get out of this money mindset trap.

And sure enough, next month I was back on track.

Getting Back On Track

For a few months things were good but then July came along.

And I heard everywhere:

July is the slowest month of the year, even slower than December.

This time I was better prepared. Slowest month what, I said to myself?!

But by July 10th my revenue was only $1700.

It looked like I couldn’t turn my mindset around. July is truly the slowest month of the year.

I was on holiday so I didn’t really have time to do anything about it.
But I decided I just must, I was not going to accept this.
I sat down on the evening of July 10th and created a program that I had in my mind for a while.
I launched it while I was traveling around Iceland.
The program sold out.

At the same time I got a lot of sign ups for my other services.

On July 31st I had achieved $35K in sales for July!

I was again blown away how a simple mindset shift had this effect my ability to earn money.
I can trace back my best months and my worst months – just based on my mindset.

Money Mindset Issues Can Be Different For Entrepreneurs

I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

But if you are thinking, I don’t have this problem, then I want to tell you a few things too.
I didn’t have this problem when I was a CEO and running other people’s businesses.
I never had a money mindset issue then.
It all started when I founded my own company in my own name.
Then suddenly I had issues with the money mindset.

I also see this affecting women much more than men.
The reasons can be debated but my favourite theory is that women have not been in charge of money for a long time.
Not so long ago they didn’t have any access to money, couldn’t get a loan and had no income of their own.
We see the results of this still today where most investors and wealthy individuals are men.
With very few female role models it’s no wonder that we doubt our ability to earn money.

So what can you do?

What can you learn from my lessons?

Money Mindset Lessons

First of all, it all comes down to mindset.
Mindset is key to making money.
Mindset is key to entrepreneurship.
Learn to realise what is going on in your head.
Don’t let the lizard brain control your actions.
You can shift your mindset in a second.

Second, it’s about being persistent.
When somebody tells you something is difficult, what do you do?
Be persistent and look for a creative way.
When things are not working out as you expected, what do you do?
Try things out and if they work do them again, and if they don’t work, don’t do them again.
There’s no overnight success, those who persist win.
Be persistent every day.

Don’t believe that July or December are slow months, they are not.
Don’t believe that it takes years to build a business, it doesn’t.
Don’t believe that you can’t make more money.

Believe that you can make more money.
Believe that you can build a successful business fast.
Believe that you can also make lots of money when others don’t.

But most of all believe in yourself.
You can do this!