Heal and Rewrite Your Money Story

How to Heal and Rewrite Your Money Story by Changing Your Money Mindset

Have you ever heard of a “money story”? A money story is a popular term used to describe an individual’s personal beliefs and attitudes toward money, shaped by their unique experiences, upbringing, and cultural background. My goal here is to help you heal and rewrite your money story.

We all have a money story, whether we’re business owners or not. However, in the context of entrepreneurship, a money story can significantly impact how you approach your business, make financial decisions, and pursue your goals.

Entrepreneurs’ money stories are as individual and unique as they are. Sometimes money stories are pleasant & empowering–other times they’re complicated and fraught with negativity. In general, they often include beliefs about the role of money in your life (like whether money is a feel-good source of security or a stress-inducing headache), whether it’s a neutral/positive tool for unbridled freedom and success or a source of world corruption and/or whether you should hoard it or share it (or just spend it!).

Entrepreneurs’ money stories can also influence their financial decision-making processes. If you have a generally negative money story, you might have trouble managing your business finances, feel iffy about investments or undervalue and undercharge for your products & services. On the other hand, if you have a positive money story, you probably enjoy checking your bank balances and keeping your books up-to-date, feel confident in the decisions you make about when to save and when to splurge and generally feel like you’re making the money you know you deserve (because you wouldn’t accept anything less).

Here, I’ll walk you step-by-step through the process of unearthing & understanding your money story and the role it plays in your entrepreneurial journey, as well as help you ‘rewrite it’ so you can achieve your financial dreams with ease.

Step 1: Identify Your Unique Beliefs to Heal and Rewrite Your Money Story

The first step to rewriting your money story is to become aware of the story you’re currently telling yourself about money. Ask yourself questions like:
• What messages about money did I receive growing up?
• What beliefs do I hold about money and wealth?
• How do I feel about money?
• What patterns or habits do I have around money?

Write down your answers to these questions to help you gain crystal-clear clarity on your current money story.

Alternatively, you can try carrying a notebook (or your smartphone) with you for a full 24 hours and writing down any money-related thoughts that crop up throughout your day.

Step 2: Challenge Your Limiting Beliefs

Next, take a look at the beliefs you hold about money and wealth. Are they empowering or not-so-much? If they don’t fill you with joy & excitement, it’s time to challenge them.

In order to do that, take a look at each individual belief and ask yourself the following questions:
• Is this belief ultimately true?
• Where did this belief come from? (For example, is it from your family? Your life growing up? Your first year in business?)
• What evidence do I have to support this belief?
• What evidence do I have that refutes this belief?
• What would happen if I let go of this belief? Who would I be and what would I do differently if I let this belief go?

By challenging your limiting beliefs like this, you can start to shift your perspective. You’ll be able to ‘see’ whether the belief actually has any merit. And either way, you’ll open yourself up to new ideas and possibilities about who you are and what you’re capable of.

Step 3: Write Your New Beliefs

Now it’s time to literally craft a new money story. Your new money story should align with your values and feel empowering. It should also be positive, realistic and reflect a healthy and abundant relationship with money.

Here are a few questions you can answer to rewrite your money story:
• What is the opposite of this limiting belief? (Go through each limiting belief and write down the opposite.)
• How do I want to feel about earning money?
• How do I want to feel about spending money?
• How do I want to feel about investing money?
• How do I want to interact with money on a day-to-day basis?

You can also write out your new money story with positive affirmations. For example, if one of your old limiting money beliefs is, “I can’t manage my money,” you can transform it into a positive affirmation like, “I am capable of and competent at managing money.”

Step 4: Set Shiny New Financial Goals

Now that you’ve identified your money story and challenged your limiting beliefs and replaced them with new ones, it’s time to write out a few new goals that match your new money story.
What would you like to do with your money short-term? What about long-term? This might include:

• Setting up sales funnels for your evergreen offers so sales flow in while you sleep (Great for a money story like, “Money is always flowing to me”)
• Paying off debt so you stop stressing out over multiple monthly payments (Great for a money story like, “I am debt-free” or “I am financially responsible”)
• Investing in your business by hiring contractors to take on some of the workload (Great for a money story like, “Money comes to me easily” or “I work less and earn more”)

Be sure your goals are specific, measurable, and achievable. Write them down and review them on the regular to stay motivated and on track.

Step 5: Get Support

Finally, don’t be afraid to seek out support as you work to rewrite and heal your relationship with money. This might include working with a financial advisor or coach, joining a mastermind or networking group, or seeking out like-minded entrepreneurs who’ve been there and can offer their well-earned support, advice, and encouragement.

Rewriting your money story is an undeniably powerful way to transform your relationship with money and create greater abundance and success in your business. By becoming aware of your current money story, challenging your limiting beliefs, rewriting your story so it’s more positive and taking aligned action, you can start to cultivate an empowering relationship with money that will serve you (and your future clients and customers!) well for years to come.

Practical Daily Practices to Supercharge Your Money Mindset

Changing your mindset definitely isn’t an easy task–and changing your mindset around money can seem downright daunting.

But what if I told you there are actually several practical, simple practices you can add to your day right now (no matter how busy you are) that will help you transform your money mindset so it’s more positive?

Just imagine how amazing it would feel to feel content, and grateful even, when paying a contractor’s bill or sending a client flowers after they crushed their income goal- without stressing about your bank balance.

Here are a few daily practices you can easily add to your daily routine that’ll have you feeling abundant in no time:

1. Track Every Penny You Earn
This may sound obvious, but make sure you’re keeping track of all money coming into your business. Aside from it being a good practice that’ll prepare you for tax season, having a solid idea of how much money you’re making on the daily can help hush some of that negative self-talk.

It also gives you clarity on what’s bringing in the most money, and when, giving you a stronger picture of your overall business strategy.

There are lots of free apps that can help you track every cent and visualize how close you’re getting to hitting your goals. (And let me just say, visually watching yourself inch closer to your goals is a major rush and confidence boost.)

2. Prioritize Learning About Money
There are endless incredible resources out there that can teach you so much more about both money management and money mindset. Investing your time into building your knowledge base about basic finances–and business finances–isn’t just a smart money move, I’d say it’s essential for financial success. (I mean, just imagine how good it would feel to know without-a-doubt that you’re making solid money moves that will benefit you, your business and your community in the future.)

The good news? You don’t have to become an accountant or get an MBA. Instead, try reading just one chapter of a money-related book at night (check out “I Will Teach You To Be Rich“, by Ramit Sethi for super smart ways to manage your finances), or listen to a money-positive podcast during your mental health walk between client calls.

3. Talk About Money on a Regular Basis
Think about how much you could learn by having more open and honest conversations around money with the people in your life. What are other business coaches doing? How are they managing their finances? Are they investing? And if so, how did they start?

Consider signing up for a business mastermind focused on financial goals. This gives you a perfect opportunity to engage with other business-minded people who you can learn from. You’ll also get to ‘see’ wealthy people in action and connect with them on a more human level. This can help normalize wealth, which is another important aspect of a healthy money mindset.

Over time, having conversations about money will get easier and easier… And so will making money!

4. Try Money-Positive Affirmations & Visualization
I couldn’t complete this list without at least touching on the holy grail of money mindset tips. While these tools might seem woo-woo at first, there’s actually tons of data behind them. Studies show that affirmations can activate the brain systems that are associated with how we view ourselves–which means they actually help to rewire your brain and achieve your financial goals.

Here’s the truth: When you flood your mind with inspiring images and thoughts of where you want to be financially, your brain can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not. Instead, it ‘believes’ those images are real, thus making you more likely to make decisions that are aligned with your goals.

If you’re skeptical, I understand. Start slow. Try repeating a money-positive affirmation in the morning that you already resonate with. You can try out one of the below, or come up with your own:

“I am smart and capable.”
“My business is thriving.”
“I am always making money.”

Or take just a brief moment after launching a new service to close your eyes and visualize your inbox full of Stripe notifications.

It doesn’t take much time, but the benefits can be overwhelming–and very tangible.

5. Celebrate All the Good
Us humans have this not-so-fun habit of focusing on what we haven’t achieved. And because of that, we don’t spend as much time celebrating our wins. But we should. As an introvert, I spent way too much time in my own head before challenging myself to heal and rewrite my money story.

When you assess and appreciate where you are right now – all you’ve achieved and how hard you’ve worked to get here – it can massively ignite your drive to keep reaching toward your goals.

Plus, it gives you an opportunity to think about what you’re doing right, so you can keep on doing it. This is deep work that is very worthwhile for you.

Take time every day to celebrate anything good that happened. Whether a potential lead DMed you or an old client snapped up your evergreen offer, make sure you take a pause to celebrate your wins, no matter how small.

Add even just one of these practices into your routine and you’ll be right on your way to a healthier and more intentional money mindset.

I’m bestselling USA Today and Wall Street Journal author Connie Ragen Green, continuing to heal and rewrite my money story while working closely with others to help them to do the same.