• I have a healthy relationship with money.
• I am beyond excited about my financial future.
• I believe money is a resource that allows me to serve others.
• I give generously and cheerfully, confident that more money is on its way.

Do those statements ring true for you as a business owner? Or do these statements sound more familiar?

• I see money hurdles at every turn.
• I don’t deserve to earn a healthy profit.
• I blame others for my financial situation.
• I’d rather walk on hot coals than speak with prospective clients about working with me.

Raised in a family dedicated to public service, I had a heck of a time embracing a for-profit mindset. When I made the leap from public interest attorney to life coach, I struggled with becoming a for-profit business owner. How could I charge somebody to help them resolve their pain?

Besides, I felt very insecure as a brand new coach. Maybe if I earned another coaching certification (and perhaps one or two more after that), I’d be ready to invite prospective clients to work with me at a respectable rate. Maybe, just maybe, I’d be ready to become the owner of a for-profit business!

Guess what. No amount of “external” education, certifications, or training in your field will help you develop a healthy relationship with money.

You’ve got to do the “internal work” and implement a Money Mindset Action Plan in order to develop a healthy relationship with money.

The Inner Work: Transforming Your Beliefs, Attitudes, and Feelings about Money

I do not seek prosperity. I seek God’s will in my life, and prosperity finds me. True prosperity. ~James Robison

Thankfully, we have excellent resources, including the Bible, that can help us transition from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. I’ll list ten of my favorite prosperity books below and encourage you to share your favorites as well:

• True Prosperity: Living a Blessed Life (James Robison)
• The Eight Pillars of Prosperity (James Allen)
• Open Your Mind to Prosperity (Catherine Ponder)
• Pray and Grow Rich (Catherine Ponder)
• Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill)
• The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity (Edwene Gaines)
• Overcoming Underearning® (Barbara Stanny)
• From Crackers … to Caviar (James R. Cooper)
• Your New Money Mindset: Create a Healthy Relationship with Money (Brad Hewitt and James Moline)
• The Holy Bible

I am the rich child of a loving Father, so I dare to prosper! ~Catherine Ponder

Reading these books will help you, yes. For lasting change, however, you need to engage with others you trust as you travel along this transformational journey. Perhaps you’ll want to start a weekly book study group or commit to regular coffee dates with your fellow sojourners. Reach out!

If you’re determined to develop a healthy mindset around money, then take action now.

The Outer Work: Implementing a Money Mindset Action Plan

When you develop a healthy relationship with money, other areas of your life improve too, including your ability to serve others deeply.

• Imagine the joy of inviting someone to work with you NOT because you need the sale to pay your rent this month, but because you know you can make a significant difference in that person’s life.
• Imagine the thrill of living in integrity ~ having your actions match your words.
• Imagine the freedom of taking a family vacation without worrying about the cost.

Imagine what that’s worth to you!!!

Begin now by creating and implementing your own Money Mindset Action Plan.

Here are 10 steps to get you started:

1. Schedule a regular reflection time for examining and expanding your Money Mindset.
2. Create a list of affirmations that support the vision that you have value, irrespective of your current bank account balance.
3. Write down what you currently believe about money.
4. Write down what you are now choosing to believe about money (after doing some of the Inner Work described above).
5. Make a full list of your financial obligations.
6. Develop a payment plan that you can and will stick to in order to pay off your debt. (Communicate with your debtors and creditors if necessary.)
7. Make a decision to stop “debting.”
8. Make a decision (and a plan) to earn more money.
9. Step out of your comfort zone and regularly invite people to work with you.
10. Earn more money!*

*Note that I’m not suggesting you simply sit on your couch and “manifest money.” We need to Do The Work and gratefully remember from whence our prosperity comes:

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. ~Deuteronomy 8:17-18

Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors. ~Deuteronomy 30:9

While you must do the Inner and Outer Work to Master Your Money Mindset, you do not want to do this sacred transformational work alone.

Surround yourself with like-minded friends and colleagues who want to become successful and who enjoy helping others become successful too. Together you’ll become the “fully realized change agents” you’re meant to be.

May You Enjoy Abundance, Prosperity, and Success (even) this Side of Eternity,