My eight-year-old neighbor, Julia, wants a dog. She comes over almost every day to visit my two, Bailey and Bella. (That’s a picture of them playing soccer. Well, their version of soccer.) Her only obstacle – Connor, her five-year-old brother!
He doesn’t like dogs and wants absolutely nothing to do with them. Has this swayed Julia? That would be a big resounding NO! It has only made her more determined and she is taking a no excuses approach to the whole situation.
Over the past couple of weeks, Julia has not only gotten Connor to come over and visit the dogs with her, but he now pets them and plays ball with them. At eight years old Julia assessed the situation, planned a course of action and executed her plan – no excuses! There is still a ways to go until Connor is 100% comfortable with having his own dog, but she is well on her way to reaching her goal.
So what does this have to do with the Money Conversation?
The Money Conversation is the process each business owner follows that creates a straight path between the money they are paid for the services they provide or products they sell. That straight path consists of establishing boundaries within which your business operates (process), communication of those boundaries (courage), and believing you deserve to be richly compensated (self-worth).
If we are telling ourselves:
- I can’t get out of debt because I don’t have enough money right now.
- With this economy, there isn’t any business to be had out there.
- All I’m getting out of going to networking events is an increased waistline.
We are letting excuses (a.k.a. fear) keep our world small. Excuses are well-planned lies we tell ourselves that keep us from moving forward.
Last year my thyroid went out of whack and I put on a considerable amount of weight. Thyroid disease is not something new to me. I was diagnosed more than 15 years ago and all that time I managed to keep the weight off. (I have the one with the slow metabolism.)
So what was different last year? Why was I gaining weight?
I was making excuses as to why I could not lose the weight convincing myself it would not work. As soon as I changed my mindset and took a no excuses approach, guess what magically happened? The weight came off!
Things only change when we are at that place where we make and take no excuses. Our thoughts become things and what we think manifests in our lives. So if you…
- Desire to be out of debt, think and believe the amount of money you receive right now is enough.
- Truly want new business, create your own economic reality. During the Great Depression vast fortunes were made (and lost).
- Believe you will make two good connections that will either become business or lead to business for each networking event you attend.
As Mike Dooley says, “Thoughts become things. Choose the good ones.”
You’ve put yourself out there and have attended some great networking events to get the exposure your freelance bookkeeping business needs in order to grow. Congratulations!
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Successfully marketing yourself as a freelance bookkeeper is all about giving your clients what they want and need. However, many freelance bookkeepers make the mistake of solely focusing on themselves and talking about their business. However, what really catches your potential clients’ attention is clearly explaining how you 
