Hey fabulous health professionals,

Let’s talk about desperation.

It is so easy to pick out desperation in others. It has a certain look and feel that is hard to miss. And we can agree that desperation on others is not a good look. And yet – I wonder how many of us are oblivious to how our own mindsets around money and scarcity are playing out in our behaviours, allowing desperation to creep into our lives.

The mentality of scarcity exists in epidemic proportions in the helping professions. So many helping professionals have some really unhelpful beliefs around money and what it means to be wealthy or not wealthy enough.

The scarcity mindset can show up in a few ways. Here are some subtle and not so subtle examples:

• we spend everything we have out of the fear that we might not have anything next week so we had better buy up big now
• We avoid looking at our bank account in case it confirms that we really don’t have enough money
• we buy lots of the same thing in case we run out
• we don’t spend anything and become a hoarder. Moths might fly out of your purse/ wallet when you open it
• you are the first person to leave the bar when it’s your turn to buy the round of drinks
• you explain why you can’t split the bill as you only had an entrée and tap water so that’s all you will pay for
• we search online for all the FREE stuff because I can’t afford to pay for anything incase I can’t pay my rent next week

I have lived the life of money desperation and it is not a fun one. Even more so, our own desperate behaviours (such as discouting ourselves and failing to uphold boundaries) only create a self-fulfilling prophecy that there is never enough money, that you don’t deserve the money anyway and that people who want money are morally corrupt.
Scarcity is disabling.

It’s rooted in fear and it’s a chronic condition. We can learn to manage it, learn to live with it, but for the brave few, we can actually get rid of it. It will take discipline and it will take courage – but it can be done.

It actually starts with self-respect.

Only through self-respect will you find the freedom, fulfillment and flexibility you were hoping for when you opened the doors to your practice.

For me, it was about setting clear boundaries about what I would and would not do, and the prices I would charge for my services. I really thought the world was going to fall apart when I raised my hourly rate – but here I am, still standing, and still with more clients than I know what do with.

People will either rise to the boundaries you set or they will fall away, and perhaps it’s time you start questioning the value that people who don’t respect your boundaries are actually bringing to your life in the first place.

I know that mindset is not a fun topic and we’d much rather be talking about new marketing strategies or a new course that will increase our professional expertise and credibility. These things are nice but invariably, when a new client comes to me asking for strategy and nothing else, there is something they are trying to avoid that is actually getting in their way.

I will say this again (because I say it a lot): all the marketing tactics under the sun will be of limited benefit to you until you know who you are, who you serve and how to talk to these people in a way they can hear you. You have to start with who you are! We need to get that sorted first otherwise your attitudes around your worth will continue to sabotage your business and your sanity.

What is the meaning you attach to money?

What feelings come up for you as we talk about money?

Are you brave enough to ask: what does money symbolize for me?

Do you like the answer?

If you’re ready to work on this, you know what to do. Click here to connect with me.

Here’s to your success,

Jo