Use Your Budget to Prioritize Your Dreams + Ambitions

Money conversations often spark a myriad of emotions: passion, shame, desire, envy.. It’s undeniable that whoever controls money has power. With money, you can help other businesses thrive by buying their products + services. You can also pay for talent, experiences & material resources to support your own business & wellbeing.

As Jen Sincero writes in her book You Are a Badass at Making Money:

“RICH: Able to afford all the things & experiences required to fully experience your most authentic life.

[...] We exist in a world where, like it or not, nearly everything involved in your growth, pursuit of happiness, & self-expression costs money. If you’re an artist, for example, your riches might go toward things like paint, canvases, brushes, a studio, trips to places that inspire you & fill you up with ideas, dinner out with friends & fellow artists to keep your spirits + energy high, hiring a PR firm, someone to walk your dog so you can work, a personal trainer, & a DJ at your art opening, paying the admission fees to museums, buying healthy food, music to listen to, classes, glasses, & a beret.”

Following her logic (& I agree), being rich is both desirable & a noble pursuit. It’s an essential key toward living a happy + fulfilled life.

Of course, each of us has a different calling, thus different needs. You may be an international speaker or a local acupuncturist, you may have 5 kids or a team of 5. Yet, we all share a yearning to grow & we need resources to do this. These resources could be free or donated. It’s also beautiful when you can afford to pay for them.

Thus, whether you have access to little or lots of money, the question is: are you putting it to good use? Are you allocating it in a way that contributes to the fulfillment of your deepest dreams & desires? Or are you spending it on things that ultimately matter little to you?

To find the answer, you’ll need to reflect on your aspirations + values & place them ahead of society’s expectations. Then, you need to back this clarity with your actions, ie your spending.

Maybe you’re paying for services that save you time or that make a difficult task easier. Maybe you’re paying for features that aren’t worth their ROI or for a team member that is less than a good fit. Maybe a part-time virtual assistant would be a fab idea! Or a monthly massage. Maybe you don’t need a software’s pro version anymore & you could downgrade. And there’s an incredible sense of security that comes from having savings to pay for an unexpected expense.

So I invite you to have a good look at your monthly expenses & to compare them with your business operations + goals. Also, assess what helps you restore your energy & reconnect to your creativity.

Be open to insights & you might be surprised at the solutions that emerge.

Marie xo