Denise Duffield-Thomas's Blog, page 25
March 22, 2023
THE most common money block: You have to work really hard to make money
Have you got this one?
“You have to work really hard to make money.”
Ouch… it stings, but part of you believes that, right?
This money block is probably the most common, and it’s super-sneaky because hard work and busyness are culturally acceptable and, in some cases, admired and encouraged.
It can help you create great success for a while, but the working ‘hard’ part becomes self‑fulfilling.
Where does this block come from and why is it so common?
Well, there’s less physical work required to run a business than ever before. I don’t mean to sound all old-fashioned, but it was way harder when I started my business than it is now.
There were no online payment systems, making a website was either crazy-expensive or incredibly complicated, and there was hardly any automation software.
It was the dark ages! (I’m kinda joking.)
The fact that we now have all these relatively cheap and easy systems can bring up weird feelings because the money we can earn by using them isn’t always commensurate with the amount of physical labor involved.
Ease goes against an established rule in our society: an honest day’s work yields an honest day’s pay.
Add the internet to the mix and, suddenly, making money becomes even less onerous. You could sell an e-book to someone in China while you’re sleeping.
You could have someone in Sydney pay for a consultation with you (and book it on your calendar) without any back-and-forth emails.
Or you could have a piece of your artwork printed onto a phone case and shipped to Ohio without being physically involved at all! So many businesses had to pivot during the pandemic, and the tools are better than ever.
What a world we live in! And it’s only going to get easier.
But the downside is that all this ease and flow can bring up feelings of guilt for some people. It’s as if it doesn’t count if we don’t work really hard for it.
Why? Well, we may have been told things like this from a very young age
'Money doesn’t grow on trees.’
‘You don’t get something for nothing.’
‘Another day, another dollar.
Our parents might have worked long hours for their money (unlike us) or performed hard physical labor (instead of just sitting in front of a computer).
It can feel unfair to earn money without trying hard – as if we’re doing something terrible or disrespecting our elders.
So we sabotage ourselves by procrastinating, or we paddle upstream and make everything harder than it needs to be.
We want to prove that we’ve earned our money through struggle and hard work, even though that’s no longer necessary. Chillpreneurship feels lazy.
Of course, I’m not saying entrepreneurship is easy. You still have to get over your resistance, fear, and procrastination. But there’s nothing you can’t figure out on the internet.
Most entrepreneurs aren’t suffering from a lack of ‘how to’: they just overcomplicate business and become too paralyzed to take action.
What could you do with your extra energy and resources if things weren’t hard?
It’s your time and you’re ready for the next step.
xx Denise
P.S. This is an excerpt from my book Chill and Prosper and the chapter “Mindset blocks that will derail your business success”, if you’ve got this money block or think your relationship with money could be getting in the way of you growing your business, grab a paperback, kindle or audio version here.
P.P.S. This ‘Work Hard” block is so common because it’s often inherited. Our parents and upbringing have a dramatic effect on our money mindset, boundaries and spending habits.
In Money Bootcamp we work on Generational Money Blocks - the blocks you’ve inherited from previous generations and experiences that are impacting your relationship with money. If you’d like my support to look closer at this and clear your blocks, come and join us in Bootcamp.
March 15, 2023
The pros and cons of being the breadwinner in your family
The pros and cons of being the breadwinner in your family
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Hey there,
Now I know not everyone has kids, and not everyone's in a relationship, but I promise you'll all get something out of today's podcast episode.
I'm talking about the pros and cons of being the breadwinner of your family, and you know I'm going, to be honest about how this works in my own family.
I share about the pressure, the power, and the mistakes I've made along the way and provide a glimpse into how Mark and I navigated the expectations and pressures that come with providing for our family.
From speaking to thousands of people about this, I know there's a lot of energy and fear around this idea of being the primary income earner.
The fears we have about being a breadwinner are often similar to those of growing or making more money or doing something different and going past our perceived limitations.
It is important to acknowledge these fears to start moving past them, so let's dive in.
In this episode, you will learn:
The pros and cons of being the breadwinner of a family
The fears holding us back from growing our income or earning more than our partners
The real benefits of having a business and making your own money
How to get your family onboard with your money goals
An affirmation that’s changed my life
Links
Join Money Bootcamp
Buy my books
March 9, 2023
How do you set firm boundaries and advocate for yourself?
For me, I know that my time and energy is best spent working in my business and creating the abundance for my family and community.
I believe it is so important to own who you are and what you are good at. Anything else is wasting your time and energy.
But it’s taken time for me to develop the self-belief to set boundaries and advocate for what I want (and need).
It all starts with being in your own corner, giving yourself permission and doing the inner work.
Then you can start small and incrementally make the changes so you can focus on the things you enjoy and are good at.
Watch this video in full where I share more about owning my zone of genius and asking for what I want, especially around the house.
Click here to read more about how much help I have at home
March 8, 2023
Ask Me Anything: Kids, Money and Business Upgrades
Ask Me Anything: Kids, Money & Business Upgrades
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You know I’m an oversharer – but I just LOVE answering your questions about my work and money.
In my latest podcast episode, I answer listener questions about everything!
The first one is how to talk to young kids about money. We all have money mindset issues from our past. Now it’s time to change how we talk about money with the children in our lives.
At home I make sure to keep things positive or neutral around money. My kids don't hear: Money doesn't grow on trees, Do you think we’re made of money? or Money’s dirty. The stuff I heard every day growing up!
I tell them that money doesn't make you a good or a bad person. Money's just money. Some people do good things with money, others not.
The next question is What upgrades will work wonders for business growth?
Start with the things that annoy you. Upgrade things that make you feel poor, inconvenienced and angry. Those things take up bandwidth. You know when you feel like you’ve got 50 million tabs open?
So, begin with everything that causes friction and eliminate them one at a time.
Finally, a question about procrastination and how to deal with a perceived lack of time.
Read The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. Work in your zone of genius. Outsource as much of everything else as possible. Use this affirmation: There's more than enough time to do everything I need to do. I have spaciousness.
Create space in your calendar, hire people so you have more time, and automate!
In this episode, you will learn:
How to choose the perfect business model for your personality
Hacks for people with ADHD to eliminate stress
How I’ve tackled fear of visibility
My #1 secret for separating work and life
The exact way to take control of your time
Links
Join Money Bootcamp
Buy my books
March 2, 2023
How to deal with other people’s money blocks
I love talking about money blocks and helping people overcome their mindset challenges, but how do you deal with the money blocks of other people in your life?
What should you do if your partner, parents or mentor’s money blocks are impacting your money mindset?
When you start following my work you'll start to notice your own money blocks. Then, you start to notice the money blocks of the people around you and how this makes you feel.
Quite often it is your spouse who is the one that you notice brings up the most frustration for you. You know what I mean, you are doing all this work on your money mindset and they, well they are doing exactly the same thing they have always done, it is just that you now notice a different way of seeing things.
So, what can you do?
Accept that you are the one that holds the vision. Start talking to them about this vision and just ask them to not ‘poo poo’ it yet. Open up the conversation and develop a shared language. Explain how it lands for you when they say things. Slowly encourage them to start dreaming too.
Lastly, remember that you are immersed in this personal development space and connected into topics like money mindset and dreaming big. The people around you don’t always have this space to be connected with so for them you are the only person that shares this perspective with them. Hold that vision and open the conversation.
Watch this video to find out more tips on how to deal with the money blocks of other people in your life!
March 1, 2023
Why I’m selling my beach house and how I’m manifesting what’s next
Why I’m selling my beach house and how I’m manifesting what’s next
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You’ve probably heard me talk about my beach house.
It was a long-held dream, and manifesting it was a big deal for Mark and I.
It’s a stunning house, but we’ve decided to sell it.
I recently shared some photos and videos on social media and got lots of questions about “Why are you selling?” and “What’s next?”.
So last week, I recorded a podcast episode to share more about why I’m selling, what was once my dream house, and the steps I’m taking to manifest the next one.
Honestly, this process has been FASCINATING!
I love property, and listing our house has brought up lots of emotions for me. It’s also an amazing manifesting project.
Not only am I working on manifesting the smooth sale of our beach house at an amazing price, but we’re also getting clear on what we want next and calling in our new dream home.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why I’m selling and my tips if you’re selling your house
How my blocks and ego made me nervous to announce this publicly
Why it’s important for you to continue to refine your goals
How to navigate the “limbo phase” of not knowing what’s next
My best tips for manifesting your dream home
The lifestyle upgrades I’m craving and my new vision for OUR First Class Life
It’s okay for your dreams to change and for your First Class Life to look different.
You’ll love this episode if you’re manifesting a big dream.
And if this is you, take a deep breath and try these two affirmations…
“It’s safe for me to want what I want”
“It’s safe for me to change my mind about what I want”
I’d love to know what this brings up for you - send me a message at @denisedt on socials.
Enjoy today’s episode of Chill & Prosper
xx Denise
Links
Join Money Bootcamp
Buy my books
February 28, 2023
The biggest money mindset leaps you need to make to reach 7-figures
I was recently asked what my biggest money mindset leap was on my journey to a million dollars a year in revenue.
Such a great question!
We all have an energetic income level and upper limit blocks that we all need to identify and breakthrough.
The truth is you are going to hit those upper limits all the time. It's always going to be zero to something that is going to feel the most difficult. Just like getting your first launch done, writing your first book or hitting that first income goal.
I made around $65,000 in my first year and that wasn't all from my business, I had a lot of side projects. My next income level was $120,000 and then $250,000.
At the $120,000 level I started to feel weird because that was how much my uncle made, he was the wealthiest person in the family and very generous. I felt like I was taking over his role in some way even though I knew he would be completely fine with it. I had to become comfortable with the idea that I could be the wealthiest person in the family.
At the $250,000 level I was working really hard and I thought to myself that if I wanted to achieve that first million then I would have to work 4 times harder. I couldn't fathom it because I was already working 50-60 hours a week. When I did the math, I knew that was not possible.
It was all about making the right mindset shift.
To overcome that belief, I had to look at allowing myself to make things easier. I shifted from one-on-one coaching to group coaching and gave myself permission to feel okay with making more money even though it was less work for me.
Then at $750,000 I asked myself can it be easy? Is it allowed to be easy? I held onto the belief that it is safe for me to work less and that making money can be easy.
Before I knew it, I sailed past a million. I didn’t even think of it.
People will often ask if I partied when I hit a million. The answer is no, because it’s not like you go from zero to a million straight away. You’re acclimatizing to making more money each time.
I believe that there are upper limit problems that arise all the time, no matter what your income level is. One of mine is feeling like everyone has seen my work. I remember when I first had that upper limit problem and we had 50 people in my program. Now we have nearly 9000 members.
Something that helps me is to look at people who have had outrageous success, like Marie Folio's, B School, 70,000 people have gone through that program! That is incredible. Every time I think everyone's seen my work, I remind myself that it is possible to have more and there are always more clients.
Another one of my upper limit problems is that no one is going to like me, that they will think that ‘I am too big for my boots’ and people will not think I am down to earth enough. Once I realized what the origin story for this upper limit problem was, I was able to interrupt the pattern of behaviour by using positive affirmations.
I still think you go through the same money blocks every time. So whatever upper limit blocks you have right now, they are always going to be the same. Just the zeros are different.
Remember that the biggest money leap is always going to be the hardest and then every other income level is an opportunity to acclimatize to making more money. Before you know it, you will sail past $1 million too.
February 22, 2023
How to get clients to commit
How to get clients to commit
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Hey Gorgeous!
Getting ghosting sucks.
Whether it’s the person you’ve been enjoying getting to know romantically, or a huge lead for your business, a sudden stop in communication is a punch in the gut.
But to be honest, in your business people are going to ghost you. They will flake on you, change their mind, and sometimes be pretty rude about it.
But you can’t take it personally!
In this episode, you'll learn:
The power of following up to get what you want
How to overcome feelings of rejection in your business
Creating a mindset of abundance
How to avoid the pattern of feast and famine in your income
The subtleties involved in closing the sale
Links
Join Money Bootcamp
Buy my books
February 15, 2023
How long it really takes to get to 7-figures+
How long it really takes to get to 7-figures+
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People ask me all the time, “Denise, how long does it really take to make a million dollars?”
For me, the magic number was five years.
Five years from starting my business to pushing over the threshold of $1 million in annual revenue.
But that’s not the whole story.
Because truthfully, I was waiting in the wings for years before starting my business. Listening and learning – gathering all the information I needed to be successful.
I didn’t wake up one day and think, “I’m going to make a million dollars!” and then five years to the day later had a huge check in my hands.
But maybe that could be your journey.
Today on the Chill and Prosper podcast, I share the struggles I faced when scaling my business, from my first try at nine years old to everything I have today.
Links
Join Money Bootcamp
Buy my books
My top 3 tips when money is tight
Let’s be honest - it’s still a bit of an uncertain time for a lot of people.
It's natural to be thinking about cashflow in this climate, I know it’s been on my mind this week.
But there are still plenty of ways for you to manifest more money for your business.
All businesses have ups and downs in cashflow, so if you’re in a bit of lean period - that’s totally normal.
Here are three things you can do when money is tight.
#1 Shut down any unnecessary spending
Are there areas of your business you can scaled back or delay planned spending?
Can you put a few things on hold - maybe that new logo or no new courses for a while?
But don’t cut back on things that will make your life harder or stop you making money!
Click here to listen to my podcast all about finding and plugging money leaks in your business.
#2 Focus on money-making activities
I know it’s obvious, but sometimes we resist it.
It can be really overwhelming when you start to feel that pinch. And sometimes that can lead to procrastination due to fear and overwhelm.
But here's the thing, money isn't gonna come in by itself.
So it's time to focus on purely money generating activities for a little while, which means you might need to put some creation things or other projects on the back burner.
What’s going to bring in the dough?
For example, sending sales emails to your newsletter list. Creating a sale on a product that you've already got, or I bet there's some products that you've got just sitting there waiting to launch.
Another great way to generate some cash is to chase up some of your existing clients.
You know there are always a few clients that owe money, that sometimes you might be little lax in chasing up.
You’ve probably also got potential clients who have made inquiries about your product or service and you just haven’t gotten around to answering - so jump on them and I bet you’ll be able to generate some cash quickly.
#3 Tell people what you have to offer
I love sales strategies (ethical ones of course). But a really overlooked and almost-too-obvious one is just…. telling people how you can help them.
Like, “I have this thing and here’s how you can buy it”
I know, it feels more complicated than that. But for example, if you’re giving a lot for free at the moment to help your community - at the end, say something really simple like:
“If you want to take this further, here’s how I can help you”
So, if you’re doing a free webinar about how to create your own website, you say “and if you really just want me to do it for you, here’s my website package”
If you’re showing people how to really up their self-care right now, you say “and I have a package of candles, face masks and chocolate here”
It works for virtually everything and it’s totally in integrity. Even if all you have to sell is an hour of your time - make the offer.
It’s okay to give for free, and it’s okay to have a solution for people. There’s always someone who wants to take the next step - but they won’t if you don’t offer it.
But don't be afraid to reach out to clients - whether they're established customers, or potential customers.
What you offer may actually be something they really needed right now! So don’t make the decision for people.
Everyone values something completely different right now. Something that feels an unnecessary luxury to one person, might be a vital part of someone else’s self-care, mental health or personal growth right now.
Share what you know can help people and make an offer to the ones who want the next step.
And here’s a bonus tip.
This all comes down to how you feel about money - your money mindset.
I know myself, when I get these lean times or when we’ve got a month with a lot of outgoings, sometimes I let the fear come in and I start to doubt my ability as a businesswoman.
So I want you to stop that right in your tracks because you have to remember exactly why you're in business for yourself.
It's for the freedom, the flexibility, and also the ability to generate more money than he probably did in your old job.
So keep your eye on the prize and remind yourself daily exactly why you're doing this.
Try this affirmation…
“There’s always more money”
If you want more support to work through your money blocks, then the training and community in my Money Bootcamp program might be what you’re looking for.
We’ve helped over 9,000 people like you to make more money and create their First Class life. Come and join us when you’re ready.
xx Denise
