There is a particularly seductive solution to almost any money problem when you’re a Solo CEO: Make more.
Don’t love the number in your bank account? Make more.
Credit card balance higher than you want? Make more.
Not sure where all the money went last month? Make more.
It’s a very entrepreneurial answer. 😉
“Make more” creates urgency. There’s money to find, clients to sign, sales to create. Your attention immediately moves toward getting more money in the door.
But underneath all that urgency is a message that gets reinforced every time you reach for more as the only answer: there isn’t enough.
There isn’t enough money coming in, enough in the bank, enough to feel secure or enough to finally exhale around money.
The moment “there isn’t enough” takes over, your attention races toward earning more instead of looking closer.
Looking closer is how you start taking the drama out of your numbers. Every time you look without immediately needing to change what you see, your nervous system gets a new experience with money: I can be here. I can look. I’m okay.
Because as long as you’re focused on getting more money in the door, you don’t have to do the thing that can feel far more vulnerable:
Look closer at the numbers you already have.
There’s a Difference Between Making Money and Being Comfortable Looking at It
“I’m not a numbers person.”
“I hate spreadsheets.”
“My bookkeeper handles that.”
“I know roughly where I am.”
“I’ll look when I have more time.”
Every one of these lets you stay at a comfortable distance from your numbers. You don’t have to look too closely, stay with what you see, or feel whatever comes up when you do.
The trouble is, your numbers don’t become less charged while you’re avoiding them. How charged they feel only escalates.
You can run a business for years this way. Money comes in. Money goes out. Taxes get paid. Bills get paid. Your bookkeeper sends reports. You glance at your bank balance when you need to.
The only problem? Looking at your numbers never gets any less nerve-racking.
And the less frequently you look, the more emotionally loaded looking becomes.
Looking at your numbers becomes this major event, complete with nervous anticipation about what you’re going to find and everything you’re afraid that number might say about you.
That’s when “I need to make more” becomes such an attractive escape hatch.
What If You Looked for Eight Minutes?
You don’t need to spend hours poring over spreadsheets or force yourself to become fascinated with numbers.
Start with eight minutes. Once a week. That’s it.
Eight minutes is short enough that there’s no need to make a production out of it, yet consistent enough to begin creating something incredibly valuable with money:
Familiarity.
When you look every week, you stop having to wonder what you’re going to find. Your numbers become part of your regular relationship with money instead of this looming thing you have to work up the nerve to look at.
Meanwhile, your nervous system is getting the message you actually want it to receive:
I can look at this.
You don’t have to immediately fix the number. You don’t have to make it mean something about your success. You don’t have to launch anything, sell anything or make more money before you’re allowed to feel better.
You can simply look.
Then you come back the following week and look again.
Looking Closer Changes Your Power Balance With Money
A number you’re avoiding has enormous power in your imagination.
It can make your stomach clench before you’ve even seen it. It can convince you there’s a problem before you know what the problem is. It can send you racing toward “make more” before you’ve spent eight minutes with what’s actually true.
But the moment you’re willing to look, the number loses its power to loom so large in your mind.
The number is no longer lurking somewhere outside your awareness, waiting to surprise you. You know what it is. You’ve seen it. You can stay in the room with it.
And each time you do, you’re creating a different experience with money: the number gets to be the number, and you get to remain you.
That is money empowerment.
Money empowerment isn’t only having more money. It’s being able to look at your money without your nervous system tanking the conversation.
From there, you can decide what you want to do about the number instead of reacting to how the number makes you feel.
Embrace “Look Closer”
When “make more” becomes your automatic response to money discomfort, it keeps you moving before you’ve given yourself the opportunity to become comfortable with the numbers already in front of you.
The next time your entrepreneurial brain offers up its favorite solution, I just need to make more, give “look closer” eight minutes first.
You may discover that one of the most empowering things you can do with money has nothing to do with changing the number.
It starts with becoming comfortable enough to look at it.
The Money Story ADVANTAGE
Your money story leaves fingerprints all over your money results, from the income you create to how much you save and how generously you pay yourself.
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