What Your Money Mindset Is Actually Telling You

10/26/20 • 34 min

“There’s a real fear to charge what you’re worth.”
-Melissa Houston

How is your money mindset holding you back from reaching the success you’ve always dreamed about?

My guest for this episode is Elizabeth St. Pierre, an entrepreneur and business coach who grew her first company, a dog-walking business, to six figures in just six months. She started a blog, where she talked about running her business and offered sales and marketing advice to others. This was the start of her business coaching career — she now oversees the dog-walking business while coaching online full-time. Throughout all of this, Elizabeth has been self taught — everything from content creation to driving traffic to learning how to sell!

Elizabeth sees a lot of money mindset issues when working with her clients, particularly when it comes to women entrepreneurs. Money is just a neutral tool that you can use for good or bad, so why is it so emotionally charged? As Elizabeth says, “Growth happens when you take emotion away from the money.” The first step is recognizing where these emotions stem from — and you may need to go back further than you think to find out.

“If you go ahead and raise your prices but you don’t truly believe that you’re worth that, you’ll do other things to self sabotage.”

- Elizabeth St. Pierre

In this episode, we’ll explore:

Where and how you form your beliefs about money — and how you can flip those scripts into ideas that serve you (and your business) better
The common money mindset issues that entrepreneurs (especially women) deal with regularly, including a reluctance to charge what your service or product is really worth
How guilt plays into money mindset — and why it really is okay to make more than your parents or friends

Highlights:

00:47 Introducing our guest, business coach Elizabeth St. Pierre
01:39 Elizabeth’s journey to successful business coaching
05:48 Shift your money mindset to grow your business
07:15 What are your personal limiting beliefs?
09:00 How your childhood shapes your money mindset
11:00 Money is the most emotionally charged topic
12:49 Common money mindset issues
13:31 Why don’t you charge what you’re really worth?
15:48 The great (and bad) things that can happen when people raise their prices
19:21 Elizabeth’s most impactful money mindset story
20:55 It’s okay to make more money than your parents made
22:24 How to heal your money mindset — and what changes when you do
27:15 Entrepreneurship and vulnerability
28:25 Build your support network (and include other entrepreneurs)
31:33 Elizabeth’s big takeaway lesson for listeners

Links:

Work with Elizabeth St. Pierre

https://lizstpierre.com/

The 5-Step Roadmap to Biz Finance Freedom

https://melissa-houston-cpa-cga.mykajabi.com/5-step-roadmap-to-biz-finance-freedom

Work with me

https://www.melissahoustoncpa.com/work-with-me

Want more tips and inspiration? Follow me on Twitter @melissahcpa and Pinterest @melissahoustoncpacga and visit my website:

Work with me:

Book a 90-minute Strategy Call

Follow me on:

IG: @melissahoustoncpa
LinkedIn: @melissahoustoncpa

“There’s a real fear to charge what you’re worth.”
-Melissa Houston

How is your money mindset holding you back from reaching the success you’ve always dreamed about?

“If you go ahead and raise your prices but you don’t truly believe that you’re worth that, you’ll do other things to self sabotage.”

- Elizabeth St. Pierre

In this episode, we’ll explore:

Where and how you form your beliefs about money — and how you can flip those scripts into ideas that serve you (and your business) better
The common money mindset issues that entrepreneurs (especially women) deal with regularly, including a reluctance to charge what your service or product is really worth
How guilt plays into money mindset — and why it really is okay to make more than your parents or friends

Highlights:

00:47 Introducing our guest, business coach Elizabeth St. Pierre
01:39 Elizabeth’s journey to successful business coaching
05:48 Shift your money mindset to grow your business
07:15 What are your personal limiting beliefs?
09:00 How your childhood shapes your money mindset
11:00 Money is the most emotionally charged topic
12:49 Common money mindset issues
13:31 Why don’t you charge what you’re really worth?
15:48 The great (and bad) things that can happen when people raise their prices
19:21 Elizabeth’s most impactful money mindset story
20:55 It’s okay to make more money than your parents made
22:24 How to heal your money mindset — and what changes when you do
27:15 Entrepreneurship and vulnerability
28:25 Build your support network (and include other entrepreneurs)
31:33 Elizabeth’s big takeaway lesson for listeners

Links:

Work with Elizabeth St. Pierre

https://lizstpierre.com/

The 5-Step Roadmap to Biz Finance Freedom

https://melissa-houston-cpa-cga.mykajabi.com/5-step-roadmap-to-biz-finance-freedom

Work with me

https://www.melissahoustoncpa.com/work-with-me

Want more tips and inspiration? Follow me on Twitter @melissahcpa and Pinterest @melissahoustoncpacga and visit my website:

Work with me:

Book a 90-minute Strategy Call

Follow me on:

IG: @melissahoustoncpa
LinkedIn: @melissahoustoncpa

Previous Episode

How To Earn More Profit Without More Sales

What does it take to build a successful, sustainable business?

The answer isn’t as simple as “more sales.”

The truth is that your revenue numbers, no matter how high, do not determine how profitable and successful your business is. Your revenue is only one part of your overall financial picture — and six- or seven-figure revenues mean very little if you aren’t actively working to control your costs. Unfortunately, high revenues can be easily negated if your costs are spiralling out of control. This means that your business can be unsuccessful even when you're pulling in record-breaking sales!

Your level of profit is your bottom line and this is the #1 most important number when it comes to determining the success of your business. Profit is determined not just by your sales, but by your expenses. Plugging all money leaks and keeping a steady eye on your cash flow is just as crucial as closing more deals if you want your business to last for the long haul.

Maintaining up-to-date records and reviewing your numbers regularly makes it a lot easier to stay on top of things and make necessary changes as they arise, whether it’s cancelling a recurring charge that no longer serves your business, or remembering to invoice or follow up with a client who hasn’t yet paid.

When working with clients as a CPA, I always recommend five key ways to boost a business’s profits aside from increasing revenues. I’m excited to be able to share them with you in my latest podcast episode!

“The reality is: what makes your business successful lies in the profit.”

Melissa Houston

In this episode, we’ll explore:

Five tips to make your business more profitable — without bringing in an additional sale!
How to identify and plug all money leaks currently affecting your business
Why having an organized internal accounting structure will help you save money

Highlights:

01:08 Why I’m not interested in your revenues — and what really gets my attention!
02:01 Calculating your profit
03:22 Case study: Rosie’s Company (6-figure influencer & coach)
05:54 Setting up a system to review your financial reports
06:24 What does your current accounting structure look like?
07:01 Five tips for keeping profit in your business without bringing in an additional sale
07:35 “82% of business failure is caused by poor cash management”
08:19 2 reasons to invoice your clients immediately
10:43 “1 in 10 invoices are paid late” — don’t be that 1!
11:12 What to do when a supplier changes their pricing?
11:51 Plug those money leaks!
13:58 The CFO Money Method framework

Links:

https://www.preferredcfo.com/cash-flow-reason-small-businesses-fail/

The 5-Step Roadmap to Biz Finance Freedom

https://melissa-houston-cpa-cga.mykajabi.com/5-step-roadmap-to-biz-finance-freedom

Work with me

https://www.melissahoustoncpa.com/work-with-me

Want more tips and inspiration? Follow me on Twitter @melissahcpa and Pinterest @melissahoustoncpacga and visit my website: https://www.mel

Work with me:

Book a 90-minute Strategy Call

Follow me on:

IG: @melissahoustoncpa
LinkedIn: @melissahoustoncpa

Next Episode

How To Outsource Your Business Finances (The Right Way)

“When you’re in business for yourself, if you know your numbers, you’re going to be a rock star!”

- Melissa Houston

I get it: numbers can be scary for a lot of people. While I love working with them, I can understand the reluctance to dig in. Many people fear that they aren’t “smart enough.”

I’m here to tell you: you are .

And it’s in your best interest to develop a deep understanding of your business numbers.

Knowing and understanding your numbers can be the difference between a sustainable, profitable business and a business that fails after three years. It can be the difference between successfully scaling up and spending yourself into bankruptcy. If you want to grow and scale, it’s crucial to understand and be comfortable with managing your finances. If you’re not looking to grow and don’t have the capacity to make more income than what you need, that’s okay, too — it’s still good to understand how your business is doing and be able to identify any potential issues.

I’m not asking you to handle all of the financial work yourself. Hiring a bookkeeper, an accountant, and a business coach can make a hugely positive impact on your bottom line. Working with an experienced bookkeeper will help you spend less on an accountant — it’s more expensive for your accountant to correct bad bookkeeping at year-end than it is to pay for a skilled bookkeeper!

But no bookkeeper will ever care as much about your business as you. That’s why it’s vital that business owners learn how to create, read, and understand their financial reports.

In this episode, we’ll explore:

Three reasons why it is absolutely vital that you stay on top of your finances
The different roles that bookkeepers, accountants, and business financial coaches can play in growing your business (and profits!)
The most important things to look for and keep in mind when investing in any of the above services

“Profit is what keeps the business sustainable. If you’re operating at a 6- or 7-figure revenue level and you’re not even breaking even, that’s financial trouble.”

- Melissa Houston

Highlights:

01:35 Understand your numbers and you will be unstoppable
01:57 You’re in business to make money — so your profit margins are key
03:16 The things that you need to know in order to make smart decisions
04:10 Do not give away your financial power!
05:19 Bookkeepers, accountants, and business financial coaches: what’s the difference and what do you need?
12:02 You can increase your profits without raising your revenues
13:30 Be a better CEO (no matter what size your team)
14:20 Case Study: Claire (small business owner)

Links:

The 5-Step Roadmap to Biz Finance Freedom

https://melissa-houston-cpa-cga.mykajabi.com/5-step-roadmap-to-biz-finance-freedom

Work with me

https://www.melissahoustoncpa.com/work-with-me

Want more tips and inspiration? Follow me on Twitter @melissahcpa and Pinterest @melissahoustoncpacga and visit my website: https://www.melissahoustoncpa.com.

Work with me: