Money Is Not The Bad Guy

Repeat after me.

Money is my friend.

I’m not sure if it’s a British thing, the old reserve surfacing, but we Brits are a bit rubbish at money mindset.

We don’t like to discuss our earnings, divulge our wage slips, let slip our credit card debt. It’s in built, we can’t help it.

We need to get over ourselves, but it’s hard. We’ve had it drilled into us for generations that to discuss money is crude, just plain bad manners. I could dig deep into the psychology of old colonial prejudice and keeping the working class in their place, but that’s a whole other post.

Now I’m not suggesting you open every conversation with ‘Hello, how much do you earn?’ but wouldn’t it be nice if we shifted from the old standard of trying to figure out someone’s wealth by stealth with the coy ‘Hello, what do you do for a job?’

I’m a coach…

… and blimey coaches do not like to be transparent about anything. Go look at any chosen site and you’ll have to dig pretty deep to find a price tag. I do not know why. Remember, money is our friend.

Back in the day, I got a bit of advice and it stuck. If you have to ask for the price, you can’t afford it. It referred to designer clothes stores or high end jewellers, but is still mighty relevant right now with coaching. Every other line of business seems to declare prices with pride, but not coaching. Random. 

Add together the fact that I’m a coach and British, then feel my pain at how hard it was to be transparent about my pricing. It took a few deep breaths to put a price on my website. It flew in the face of many ‘marketing tips for coaches’. But hey, I know I can help people and know I deserve payment for my knowledge and skills. I own it.

Right, back to money mindset

and yes, again, repeat after me, money is my friend.

If you run a small business, write books, make great art that you’d love to sell, but sales don’t come naturally, as a Brit, I feel your pain. I have a tip that just might help. Shift your mindset. Stop telling yourself and others ‘I don’t enjoy asking for money, it feels sleezy.’

Think of all the good you can do with money. If you are selling something of value, whether it be a billionaire yacht or a handmade pottery mug, it’s a fair exchange of value. It’s worth what someone is willing to pay for it. 

You have something someone else wants. Be proud and offer it to them as an exchange. It’s not money for nothing. It’s a tradeoff. So now you have two mantras.

Money is my friend.

It’s a fair exchange of value.

I’m not going to preach because I know this is hard as hell to get your head around, but low prices don’t always mean more sales. The old saying ‘if it’s too good to be true, it probably is’ will put people off buying if your price is too low. Calculate a good price, study the market, check the ceiling price, look at what others offer on both ends of the market. Consider your clients. Don’t they deserve quality? If so, they will be happy to pay for it.

Still struggling?

How about giving back? The more money you have in the bank, the more you can support your chosen good causes. Being a martyr to the low price offers won’t help when you want to send money to a charity, or donate some of your profits, products or services to a much needed humanitarian campaign. The more you earn, the more you can give back.

To all my fellow Brits, let’s get over ourselves and accept that money truly is our friend. Just think about all it gives to us. If a friend walked in and gave you all that money does you’d never let them leave. Creatives, we work hard, we are kind, we are productive and yes, we damn well deserve money in our pockets.

Money is my friend.

It’s a fair exchange of value.

The more I have, the more I can give back.

I’d love to hear how you view money.

Is it a Brit thing, or are you from elsewhere and still struggle?