What’s Stopping You from Making More Money? (Part 1)

What's stopping you from making more money? 

There are five problems that I continuously see in my clients, in my network, and in people I talk to after keynotes that I give.

These problems can cost you money, your success, and your peace. 

Here are the five problems (in no particular order):

Problem 1: Having only ONE income path

This was a really big issue for a lot of people during COVID. If you’re an employee, then your one income path is your salary or your paycheck. But having just one income path means that if you ever do lose your job or if anything ever happens and the company's not paying you on time, that's really all you have. Unless you're able to get bonuses or work overtime, you're really capped in what you can make. 

If you're an employee and you have your nine to five, but you also have a side hustle, then you're getting another income. If you have rental properties, then you have an additional income coming in. ​

On the other hand, you could be self-employed or you’re working for your own business and that’s your only income path. For instance, a lot of professional speakers really struggled when COVID-19 happened. There were no in-person live events. Yes, they can get paid virtually or work around it in some way, but most of them struggled because they only generated money through speaking and all of their engagements were canceled overnight. 

Now for me, I was able to pivot my focus. I focused on the things I can do that bring in money. 

• I couldn't do as much in the way of my women's community and having live-in-person events.
• I wasn't able to do my Elite Coaching Mastermind Events live. Okay, I put that online. 

If you have multiple streams of income, not only is this good in case something happens to your main source, but you can also have different income streams for different times or seasons of the year. 

It would be even better if one of them is passive, meaning you don't have to touch it, and it's bringing you money: 

• This could be a webinar that leads to an online course. 
• Or a physical product with ads running automatically so people can purchase them while you’re sleeping.

Having multiple streams of income can help relieve stress. It can help you to have a more consistent and higher income. 

Think about this: how many income streams do you have? How many paths to money do you have? If you only have one, how many do you want to have? ​

Problem 2: Look to your bank account for your happiness

The thing costing people money is the fact that they focus on the money and they don't spend any time in joy and happiness and relaxation. When you're only looking to your bank account for your happiness, your joy will be hollow. I have heard these words from very wealthy clients.

There's Inner Wealth, and there's Outer Wealth. Most people focus their time on their outer wealth. They're focusing on all of the things outside of them that can bring them happiness, and that can bring them wealth. There are things that you can do in your Inner Wealth to feel wealthy every single day. 

For a lot of people, they’ve moved away from money being the motivator. Instead, choosing passion, giving back, their movement and their why as better motivators. 

If you've been in any of my programs like Dynamic Balance or Keys to Success, then you have heard me talk about the Wheel of Life. One of the biggest problems people have in balancing their life is that they measure their life according to their success, rather than their satisfaction. 

When you look at the Inner Wealth as well, it gets you to a place of feeling wealthy every day, even if you're not rolling in massive amounts of cash. The same is true when you measure your life according to satisfaction rather than success, you can be happy every day of your life, not just when you have that amazing milestone or goal that you've reached. 

Problem 3: They say “Yes” to all opportunities (And say “No” to some great opportunities)

When you say “Yes” to everything, it's potentially because you're coming from a place of lack or a place of scarcity: 

• This could be taking clients who aren't the right fit for you. 
• Or saying “Yes” to customers who don't want to pay you your worth. 
• Or saying “Yes” to people asking you to volunteer your time because it's good for exposure.”

At the end of the day, it's not bringing you the right amount of money and even if it does,  it's stealing your energy and your joy. We don't want that to happen. 

I actually have nine different guidelines that tell you when you can say “Yes” and when you should say “No”. I’ve heard these are helpful because people sometimes feel like they have to say “Yes”, and they need some tangible guidelines to use. Here are two of those nine ways. I cover these in my Million Dollar Woman program.

1. Say “Yes” to an opportunity even if it doesn't pay you that much because you see it gives you referrals. This could be from people you will meet or with the people who bring you in.​
2. Say “Yes” to an opportunity that will help you build your email list. A lot of times I'm invited to be on summits or on podcasts. I don't get paid for that even though I'm sharing my intellectual property and even though I'm a paid professional speaker. However, sometimes it's just great to build my list, right?

I’m thinking of sharing all 9 in a PDF with explanations. If you’re interested in that, please email [email protected]. If I get enough interest we’ll put it together and email it out.

When you have the 9 and you have an opportunity you’re deciding on you can see how many of these nine guidelines it has.  Then it becomes a no-brainer. With clients we then take it a step further and see if the opportunity can satisfy maybe two or three more of these: so how can you negotiate, write it in your contract, casually suggest ways to get the other six or seven different benefits working for you. 

In my next blog, I will share the other two reasons that stop you from making more money. 

Read my other blogs here: 

1. 6 Ways to Get Paid What You’re Worth
   
2. Let’s Talk About Money
   
3. Saving You Time (& Money!)