How to Cultivate Your Money Mindset
We all have a lot of feelings about money. Whether we like it or not, money is a cornerstone of modern life and our lives as artists. At different times money can feel like a supportive friend or a dark shadow looming over us. It’s a sensitive topic for sure, but an important one.
We want to share our ideas around developing your mindset around money with intention. Your mindset plays a huge role when you think about money and creating a rich artist life. Feeling powerless with your money is really a terrible feeling, and we’ve all been there. We are going to share some big “ah-has” that we have had around our money mindset. These are realizations that have changed everything and helped us put ourselves in control of the wheel as we think about money.
Changing your mindset, or how you think about money, can be a hugely empowering move, so we hope you will join us in shifting how you think with these 5 ideas around cultivating your money mindset.
#1- Know Your Stories
Our money stories are the deep rooted beliefs and ideas around what money means to us and the role it has or doesn’t have in our lives. We must know how we really think about money in order to work on creating an abundant money mindset. One mindset artists can have is that their work is frivolous and therefore they don’t deserve to be paid well, but that’s not true! Identify what your thoughts are about money so you can throw out the beliefs that are not serving you.
#2- Money is a Tool
Money is not bad or good, it is merely a tool we can use to create the life we want. This is important because often the stories we have about money imply that it is bad. However, money is a tool just like our health or our time, and it’s a tool we can wield for good or for bad.
When we know we have a choice with how we think about money, it becomes a tool that we decide how we want to use in our lives.
#3- Focus on Your Artist Wealth
Wealth is different from money. Wealth includes many things and we can feel rich in so many ways, but first we must define what wealth means to us. A “money mindset” can be broader and richer than just what money you have or do not have. This could be placing value on the time you get to have in your studio or time in community with other artists discussing things that are important to you. As artists, yes, money is important but we also have to define what our artist wealth truly means to us and grow it in all areas.
#4- Set Savings Goals
Focusing on what you are saving versus worrying about what you are spending can help you celebrate the wins. To do this you need to know your monthly personal and business numbers. This means always knowing what money is coming in and what money is going out. Focus on what you want to save, or what you want left in your bank account at the end of each month, rather than focusing on spending. You are not necessarily doing anything differently, but you are shifting the mindset away from the money LEAVING and making you feel SCARCE and towards the money building and growing towards greater abundance.
#5- Find Supportive Resources
Money work is hard work! There are no shortcuts. It is about getting to the root of your stories, collecting your evidence, defining what wealth is to you, and knowing your numbers to set reachable goals. This is all very hard to do on your own so finding resources that speak in your learning style is really important. Whether this is a money coach, podcast, or book, find some resources to support you. Continually learning and growing in your wealth mindset is going to help you reach your goals over time.
Money is a heavy topic, and we know it can be tough to keep on top of all the responsibilities you have as an artist. So, in addition to this post, we have another money resource for you as part of the Thrive Together Network! This is a DIY course available to all TTN Members called The Artist Business Planning Course. You can learn more about joining our community. Learn more here.
