Have you ever thought about your spending habits and the role they play in your life?
Kelly Marshall, our guest today, inspires a new concept: 'Empowered Spending' - it's about conscious, purposeful use of money and it could be a game changer for you.
Get ready to think differently about your approach to spending:
With Kelly's guidance, you'll discover practical steps to become more conscious in your spending decisions, create a positive relationship with money, and maybe even increase your profit.
Small changes in this area can lead to significant impact.
Get ready to be inspired and embrace a new perspective on your financial future AND walk away with tangible ideas you can start with today.
Enjoy!
Learn more about Kelly:
Website: https://terracarefinancial.com/
Connect LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-marshall-acct/
Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerraCareFinancial/followers/
Connect on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kelly.marshall.8/
Connect on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/terracare-financial/
Learn more about Carla: https:/www.carlareeves.com/
Connect on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reevescarla/
Connect on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/carlasreevesaz/
Explore Coaching with Carla: https://bookme.name/carlareeves/lite/explore-coaching
Support the podcast! Check out the merch! https://www.bonfire.com/store/the-differently-shop/
Have you ever thought about your spending habits and the role they play in your life?
Kelly Marshall, our guest today, inspires a new concept: 'Empowered Spending' - it's about conscious, purposeful use of money and it could be a game changer for you.
Get ready to think differently about your approach to spending:
With Kelly's guidance, you'll discover practical steps to become more conscious in your spending decisions, create a positive relationship with money, and maybe even increase your profit.
Small changes in this area can lead to significant impact.
Get ready to be inspired and embrace a new perspective on your financial future AND walk away with tangible ideas you can start with today.
Enjoy!
Learn more about Kelly:
Website: https://terracarefinancial.com/
Connect LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-marshall-acct/
Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerraCareFinancial/followers/
Connect on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kelly.marshall.8/
Connect on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/terracare-financial/
Learn more about Carla: https:/www.carlareeves.com/
Connect on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reevescarla/
Connect on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/carlasreevesaz/
Explore Coaching with Carla: https://bookme.name/carlareeves/lite/explore-coaching
Support the podcast! Check out the merch! https://www.bonfire.com/store/the-differently-shop/
Hey, kelly Marshall, welcome back to Differently. Thank you, it's so nice to be here. I'm so excited to have you back and, looking back, you were on in March of 21, which I can't believe it's been that long.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that really went fast. Yes, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:Today we're going to talk about empowered spending and I'm so excited about that, but I want to thank you. I'd love for you to give the listeners an update on the things that have evolved and changed in your life and business since we last talked here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting to think about that because there's so many things that haven't changed, which actually gives me a lot of comfort. The foundations of what I do working with bookkeeping, and also kind of the mindset and energy of money haven't really evolved too much, except I've learned more and it just kind of affirmed what we were doing even back then. And then, on a practical side, the business has grown. We're serving more clients. My husband is joining the business by the time this podcast airs. He will be in the business full time, which is super exciting and not something I held as a vision when I started the business, but couldn't be more perfect for us as we grow, which just will be able to support people even more. And he brings a really unique skill set to it and I'm excited about that. So that's about it. And then in personal life, we have a middle school, are starting, so that's a big change too, so that's an evolution in our family for sure.
Speaker 1:For sure. Well, and you didn't mention, I don't think your team has grown.
Speaker 2:Our team has grown, yeah, by a couple people, and I'm in a new space and you rebranded oh, my goodness See, this is why we need to do this. You forget these things. I did rebrand yeah, I from two, three, eight accounting services, which was really always a placeholder name, to TerraCare Financial, which really speaks to you know, there's a grounded, foundational piece that we have to keep the bookkeeping but we also need to nurture and we need to care for our money and care. I love to care for my clients and make them feel like this is an easy part of their business, like they don't, they don't have to worry about it, that I've got them and I help them with this piece so that they can help their business grow and they can nurture it in their way.
Speaker 1:Well, and something that's kind of new and I'm so excited to bring you back like on the podcast regularly because one you have done that for me. I mean you do that for my business. You've done that. I don't even know how many years it's been, kelly, now that you've been done the bookkeeping for my business and brought that piece of mind for me to to running my business, and I don't have to worry about that because I do know that you have that and I feel like having some more regular conversation with you.
Speaker 1:I'm excited for the listeners to get to know you better because you do. You do bring such value and I'm always telling people about you anyway, so why not do it here? I feel like we can go deeper into some conversations and ways that you've impacted me in my life and my business. But I had a question come to mind as you were just talking like having a business like you do, do you have to keep stretching and expanding your own beliefs around money to serve people with money? I'm assuming you do, but what is that like?
Speaker 2:Yeah well, I'm always investing in my learning, whether it's in my time or literally investing in. I believe in coaching, I invest in other coaching to support me, to elevate, and I think that that with everything in life, but especially money, as we cross another limit, another ceiling, if the ceiling raises again, new things come up, new stories come up. Something else will kind of recycle back or something triggers us and I don't use that word lightly, but something happens in our lives that changes a financial situation, even if it's not in our business, or something with a family member, and that can resurface certain things, and so it's ever evolving as we go through life, personally and professionally. And I honestly think in general, that's my favorite thing about entrepreneurship. I know not all your listeners are entrepreneurs, but what I love about it is it's like professional or personal development through business. Right, you just can't help but deal with whatever you've got going on as an entrepreneur. But because I deal so much in money, I have to walk my talk, and so we deal.
Speaker 2:Talk about, you know, my husband's joining the business. He's who I walk the talk with a lot and honestly, our growth in this area and truly his approach to money when we first met was such a big healing part of why I can do this work. It was I came from. I might have talked about this last time, but I came from a place that was really hard for me to talk about money in my early 20s and I carried a lot of energy around it and he really had a very neutral energy with money and he just held that space with me and we had these conversations and he really didn't understand what was such a big deal to me, that it wasn't to him. And we worked through that and we continue to evolve and just this next phase for us is bringing up new things and growing in new ways. So yes, the short answer is yes, and that's what I love most about it.
Speaker 1:It's so true, as an entrepreneur Like it is personal growth, like every day you kind of have to face and deal with your own stuff and keep pushing through it and okay, so let's dive into this idea of empowered spending. So, first of all, just what does this mean to you? And I know you have a lot of inspiration and passion behind this. But for people who have never heard this idea, like what is this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, empowered spending is. It's an approach, and it really is about getting conscious and on purpose with your spending decisions. So I personally am not somebody that's a big believer in budget. I'm certainly not a big believer in restrictive budget, because I think it's something that so many people have failed with. Now there's plenty of people that will listen to this and been successful with, you know, budgeting plans that have just changed their lives, and I don't I don't discount that for some people it is the absolute right tool, but for so many people it's something that they start like a diet they start with the best of intentions, stick with for a while, ultimately give up, which feels like failure and then feel even worse off than when they started, and certainly comes with a lot of guilt and shame.
Speaker 2:And so this is a new approach that helps us get on purpose and in alignment and coming from an authentic place that's very true to us, so that we're making different decisions about our spending, which ultimately gets us different results with our money and in our future. Right, it helps us have more choice around where we're going in our future.
Speaker 1:I love this idea because it ties so closely to the work I do with clients too. Right, it's just being intentional about the way that you show up to your day and your life and your relationships and your right they're. Often there's so many blind spots that are kind of running the show instead of us intentionally leading our life, and money is such an important place to do that and I feel like it just comes with so much emotion. But setting aside some of that old, outdated stuff, right, Can really help us step into a more intentional, empowered, empowered way. And why. I want to know why this is like. Why is this so near and dear to your heart?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this has been just such an important topic for me for, I mean, it is my favorite topic money in general. There's definitely, like I said, that struggle I brought into my marriage that us resolving this and finding a way to talk about it is really one of our biggest strengths now. So that's very personal and has a huge impact on our happiness and I want that for other people. So many people have these negative emotions with their money and they think about it when they think about standing, their stress and overwhelm and judgment and shame and there are a lot of that's coming from. They're carrying forward these beliefs and we're going to talk about identity and values and beliefs as we go into the exercise. But they're carrying forward inherited beliefs and inherited values or identities about money that just aren't their own. So it never feels good and they never, even if they've got some money in the bank.
Speaker 2:You know this, this a lot of times we focus on people who are overspending, if you will, but there's still people who are underspending.
Speaker 2:They've got all this money in the bank and they can't even enjoy it because they're so paralyzed by the negative emotions around this.
Speaker 2:So I feel like this is an opportunity to free people from those negative emotions and allow them to come into alignment with their spending choices and help them take their power back. This is really about like no longer giving away our power, taking our power back and getting really intentional about our choices, and therefore you can take steps towards the life you want, or just be it now and have the life you want and free yourself from this way to these negative emotions. It's just a game changer for people and I feel like it's a much better tool to start with. Even if somebody's going to go into budgeting or or something like that, this is a place to start with so that they come into alignment first and then go to use whatever tool they want to use or no tool at all and just kind of live from this alignment and make choices from this place that give them much more happiness and freedom and get them head in the direction that it feels really good to them.
Speaker 1:You talk about like your marriage and I I remember like just so vividly, like over the years, so many conversations like anytime we would talk about money, it would just like go down that same spiral into like, and you just end up feeling horrible at the end of the conversation and like nothing's accomplished. And that happened for a lot of years. And then I don't know, I remember one day like I just like saw that I was putting money above, like the wellbeing of our marriage. And so I was. Every time we had a money conversation I was allowing it to rob the wellbeing of our marriage and I just visually in my mind, I just flipped that hierarchy and put the wellbeing of our marriage above money. And I'm telling you over time, that was just you've mentioned a game changer. Like that was a real game changer for our conversations, just knowing what the priority was.
Speaker 1:But take it into like, what are some of the like? For people that feel like, maybe like that or like, oh my gosh, I wouldn't even know where to begin. What are the before? We can make something new? I always feel like we've got to look at like what's, what are the barriers to even starting to think about that? But what are some of the most common things that you see come up around limited beliefs or limited behaviors, around money.
Speaker 2:That's a loaded question right there, can we?
Speaker 1:do it over there, just give us a few.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I would. I want to just start with something that came to mind as you were talking about that piece with your husband, you know, because I think a lot of times we start right with the behaviors, like if somebody, like, let's say, a spouse, will stick with that theme and they did something you didn't agree with and you couldn't understand it, and it all becomes about the choice, like we're starting from the choice and it's. We don't even understand the process they went through to get to that choice and maybe they don't understand the process they went to. And we try to change that behavior at the behavior, we don't even think about anything that leads into that. And if you were to kind of wind back a little bit, you might find that you have the same values. You, you know, if you, if you can get to a place where you can kind of get away from the choice or the behavior or whatever thing that caused maybe the fight or whatever you want to word it, and kind of back up a little bit, we'll leave the same values and when you, when you come from that place now you can go into the choice from a different place, help each other understand it. You just you're approaching it from a whole different angle, with full of possibility, compared to a dead end fight that's not going to go anywhere, and so this process even goes back a few more than that.
Speaker 2:So I guess what's a barrier to that is a willingness to do this work like, a willingness to see this like okay, there's an opportunity to do something differently with my money or make choices in a different way. I don't have to just do the accepted cultural well, you got to go on a budget, you need a budget. There's literally a software called that which is an awesome software. But you know, if you just start at that place and not a deal with the intentionality, deal with the intentionality, then you're you're cutting yourself off from the source of like, really being in alignment and really, you know, coming from a place of value which is makes you so much more successful. So it's a willingness to take this approach, a willingness to think there's a different way to do it.
Speaker 2:For some people, especially in partnership, it's one of you doing the work and one not, so like that can be a barrier to this. So it just starts with willingness and I would say always be willing to start with yourself and kind of experience, it embody it, see what it does, and then you can go from there and approach maybe a partner or whatever. But if you're willing to give this a try and just, here's gonna be stuff you're gonna hear during this that feel kind of silly or like how can that even be even work. But if you just kind of approach this whole process with a belief that this could work, this could be true and I'm gonna choose to believe that what Kelly's saying is this makes sense, I'm gonna try it Then you get to see the results.
Speaker 2:So I think it's really the willingness as the biggest thing. There's plenty of limiting beliefs we'll bump up into as we go, but what I like to do with this work is not focus so much on the past and not focus on getting stuck in that, because again, there's so much negativity around this piece that it can just hold us stuck and there's an opportunity to suspend that for a little bit and just start with a new way that pulls you forward and not have to get mired in the stuckness. We can start today to embody this and move forward.
Speaker 1:Does that make sense? It makes perfect sense. I mean, what I hear you saying is let's look at the thinking and adjust the thinking to kind of open up and create room for possibility and something new, and then we'll address the bumps along the way. But let's get moving onto a new road first. Is that accurate?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes perfectly Okay, great.
Speaker 1:So take us through some of your. I know you have some steps that kind of help guide us on this empowered spending path, and so let's dive into that.
Speaker 2:Awesome. So remember, these steps are a way to get more conscious with your spending decisions, and it's really a goal to shift the power from your unconscious behaviors or thoughts or things that are going on now, to a conscious, empowered approach to your money. And step one is to create an identity around the type of spender you want to be going forward. So, again, we're not getting lost in the past, we're not getting stuck there. We really want to say as my identity, who I am today with spending is this. So we're going to get into that, but for just a second I want to play with what initially will pop up, for people might be that they're an impulsive spender or buying things they don't really need or want, or they're a nervous spender, or they are a guilty spender. Are they feeling bad about money they spend, or even sneaky hiding it? I worked in retail for a while and women would joke about hiding the bags in their trunk until they could bring it in the house, and that's fairly common. You might think careless or reckless, or some people might say really frugal, smart, playful, and so it can be any mix of negative and positive. So I don't want to ignore the positive, but there's probably an identity that pops into people's heads for where they have been or where they feel like they are in this moment. And what I want to ask is does that current identity make you feel empowered? So if somebody was to say, I'm a nervous spender, oh, let me back up, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:One of the things I like to add to this statement is so I'm a blank spender, which empowers my freedom. So if you were to say I'm a nervous spender which empowers my freedom, that doesn't make sense. That nervous spending is not empowering your freedom. So what we want to do is create an identity, pick an identity that leads you forward. That will empower your freedom. So I've got lots of examples, but the first one I'll do is I'm a savvy spender which empowers my freedom. So when I hear savvy, I think of I make smart decisions, I get a lot of value for my money, I can think through complex things and make a good decision, so it carries a lot of positive emotion with it.
Speaker 1:Does that make sense? Yeah, creative fun I hear lots of yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I'll give out more examples, and I'm just looking through my notes here. If you, I'm gonna skip through. I had some other that are negative. I don't think we need that. So if we were to give some more examples, one would be I'm a conscious spender, which empowers my freedom. I'm an intentional spender, which empowers my freedom. I'm a confident spender. I'm a value spender. I'm an investment spender. I'm a calm spender, I'm a generous spender. So in all these cases there's a specific intentionality. It's positive, it does empower freedom, and we would wanna pick one that feels like it would bolster whatever weakness we feel right now. So if somebody was like, oh, I'm a nervous spender, it makes I hate to spend my money, they might say I'm a calm spender, or they may say I'm a confident spender, and so it's an opportunity to shift that emotion that they're having around it into a much more positive place, and then we're gonna do some more steps that help support that.
Speaker 1:Well, and I like your approach in that it's if you're a nervous spender and you go to like a savvy spender, it might not feel achievable, but going from a nervous to like a calm spender, that's like a nice step forward, that feels doable and a stretch and I love that approach. It's a great point.
Speaker 2:And this can. It's not something you wanna. You're not gonna reinvent your identity around spending every day, but you could keep that new identity until it's like, oh my gosh, I am such a calm spender, now I wanna be savvy. You know like you can revisit this, and that's part of actually bringing this work into your reality.
Speaker 2:Getting on a new coat and trying it out, yeah and pushing it, kind of going to the next level with it. Yeah, okay. So once we have that identity that can really shape our intentionality, it really starts to form this identity that we're creating or this alignment that we're creating. So the next step is to create a spending goal, which is not something that people often think of a spending goal. You think of a savings goal, you think of things like that. I like that, and spending goal can be in spending into your savings even. But you're really looking to pick this goal that furthers your purpose with your spending, so that you can start to feel joyful about how you're spending as well as what you're not spending. So it's really there to counteract those negative feelings that might have come along with oh, I'm gonna do a budget and I've got my envelopes and I'm doing this, and that might bring up some negative feelings. But when we're going into alignment and we have a spending goal, that comes with like excitement and joyful and more positive emotions and feelings.
Speaker 1:Well, and it's so different, right. I love you because your approaches are, you know, sometimes upside down and different, which I adore, and it's because, with budgeting, it's like the focus is all on limitation and restriction and feels confining right, and we feel potentially confined by it. Where this can still have, what I feel is it can still have elements of kind of bumper rails, for you know how we want to run this part of our life, but it's done with this approach of, like you said, a goal that furthers your purpose. That's beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yay.
Speaker 1:I love that it when it resonates.
Speaker 2:So it's not an amount you know necessarily it could be, but it's really meant to influence how much you spend and what you spend on it. So it's not necessarily a specific amount. And in the process of achieving this goal you become really conscious and empowered in your choices. So that's why the spending goal it becomes that benchmark that you're measuring things to and it can help you just get more intentional with all the choices that come along to meet that goal right. So I've got some examples again. I think that's important.
Speaker 2:So my spending goal is to increase profit. So let's say you're a business owner, that spending goal might be investing in order to make more revenue and increase your profit. That spending goal may actually be to cut expenses and increase your profit. So it gives you that opportunity to look at it a couple of different ways. But every decision you're making ideally is driving towards that goal of increasing profit. It could be more definitive and this could work for a business owner or anybody.
Speaker 2:But you could have a spending goal to reduce expenses so that when you're making spending choices you're gonna look for a better deal or you're gonna decide like am I really using this? Is this something I really don't need, and you'll see further ways of how to do that down the road, but that goal of reducing expenses drives your intentionality. You can have a goal that is more specific, like my spending goal is to buy a house, and so as you're making your spending decisions and you remember your goal is to buy a house, it makes it that much easier to say, oh, I'm not gonna go spend this because we want the house. You know, I wanna buy the house, that's our goal, and so what might've felt like a sacrifice if you just did it through a budget can feel exciting because you're remembering your goal when you make that decision. I think that's a really important piece of the difference between what can feel like a restrictive budget versus what can feel like an empowered decision but still gets you to the same goal.
Speaker 1:I feel like I've experienced that recently. We are newly empty, have a newly empty nest, and we used to do these weekend getaways when we had kids right to get away. And so we've been in this thinking of like, oh, it's time to do a weekend away or something. And then we're like, well, wait a minute, we don't really have to do a weekend away anymore. Right, where are we getting away from? Let's save that money to put towards a bigger trip or something that we're more invested in now. So I like that.
Speaker 2:Love that. Yeah, and that's intentionality of a goal, so that's really cool. I have a couple more examples and actually you and I've talked about this before, or some version of this you could have a goal of being able to take two months off. So your spending goal is to take two months off as a business owner. So you're just being mindful of that. You're creating enough room in your life that that can happen. I have a couple that actually can't.
Speaker 2:I went back to worksheets that my clients had filled out and these are some spending goals to create financial security while living life to its fullest. So that was really about building a safety net and some reserves, but also having fun and remembering that balance of things, and that helped her really dial into that goal when she was making decisions. Another one is my spending goal is to create overflow. That's another way of looking at not necessarily saying I'm cutting expenses, but coming at it from a place of creating overflow is just feels so much more fun. And the last one is my spending goals to create a comfortable life. So when they were making decisions, they wanted to create more ease in their life or do things that just made life easier and more comfortable for them. So it's not always about savings, it's not always about spending. It's what is going to inspire you and require you to spend a little differently, so that it's in line with your goal and what's important to you.
Speaker 1:Well, and it's it's, you know, back to kind of the work I do with people. It is, you know, after they've moved beyond that survival model. It is having that vision and then aligning yourself to that vision. And some it does take discipline and commitment and consistency right to realize that, and that's what you're showing us here. But in the realm of our money, and having that vision that then allows you to like show up and make some maybe you know harder choices for this greater purpose, yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, awesome. So two more levels to add to it, and the next one is about values. A lot of people are just unclear about what they value in regards to spending, and this is another place where we take on other people's values by default, and you know, you can definitely think of this with parents or our partners, and, for sure, culture, like the society, dictates a lot of that. There's even a lot of gurus out there that'll tell you the percentages to spend on different categories, and that's good guidelines sometimes, but it also doesn't take into account your values, and so I like to. Often in my world, people value health, and they may spend more money on things that provide them health, groceries and different things, and that's going to be a much lower category for somebody that doesn't value that piece, and so it's really important to understand what your values are so that you're aligning your decisions with those values, because that's going to feel so much better to you as you're making your decisions. Would it help to go through?
Speaker 1:some examples there. Sure, I think examples always help.
Speaker 2:Okay. So spending value could be rich experiences. So for some people it wasn't about stuff or the person that did this. It wasn't about stuff. For them it was about doing experiences while their kids were with them in the house. That was really important. The one that went along with the creating a comfortable life one of her values was creating ease. That was really important. Another person that was being surrounded by beauty, so they were willing to spend and interested in spending money that changed their environment because that was really important to them. Another person said making the world a better place, creating a ripple. So it was important for their spending to value others in that and changing, making intentional decisions that rippled into the world. So those are just a couple examples. So good.
Speaker 1:I love the idea of tying in the values piece and I can see that even in my own life, like having money that we can meet as a family, like together as a family now that we're not all in a home together, right, that has become of utmost importance. Like setting aside a tradition, creating a tradition around all of us gathering in a spot, like all of those things and those are totally aligned with values, right, yeah, and I guess it also yeah, family and experiences and also seeing that when there were times in my life where I felt like in that limited or lack thinking, like I can't live in alignment with my values, with money.
Speaker 1:And that's really false too, because I think we can, even if we do it ever so small right.
Speaker 2:So you just set me up, perfectly, okay, I didn't?
Speaker 1:The next step is belief.
Speaker 2:And what you just said. They're brought to mind. Like you know, this is all great, they all work, but if we don't believe it's possible or we don't like it just feels too big and our beliefs don't support it, then it can kind of fall apart. So it is about making sure now that your beliefs align up with all these other things so that it follows through into the decisions, and so I loved what you took. So just to show that shift there, it was kind of like I can't spend in alignment with my values because maybe that felt too big or whatever your because was to I can absolutely do this and I can start small. That start making small changes that align with my values is going to make an overall big difference. You know, whatever, however, you would want to word that, and so that's the last step in the framework, and the approach is making sure that your beliefs are supporting your values, and so the best way to start with is what pops up, what bubbles up as as a negative, like something that makes it feel like it's not possible, and reframing that, and you can do it in a way, it doesn't have to feel entirely true, but it also can't be such a big leap that it's like it just dismiss, like it just doesn't affirm anything. Right, it just becomes like well, that's great, like Just a big affirmation that doesn't feel true. So like even what you did like I can start small is a really powerful stair step again, like we did earlier. That can, that can bring more of that truth to you. But I would also stretch and just say it's okay for it not to feel entirely true in the moment, as long again Is it's not such a big leap and just Take them on as true, be willing to kind of practice that and operate from a place where those beliefs are true. And I think when people do that, they're really surprised by them, what happens.
Speaker 2:So I'll share a few beliefs. It's safe and exciting to make so much more money. So if you've got some values, you want experiences, you want a comfortable life, but you know your current money You're making, it just doesn't feel like that's even possible. It's safe and exciting for me to make more Can help somebody that's feeling like, oh, if I make more money I'm no longer fit in with my family or I can't even make more money, like it. Just it starts to Become more possible for them to create more money and make more money.
Speaker 2:I Love to know what spending makes me feel empowered and what spending doesn't. So it's kind of opening up even to this process like this. I love this process, I love Approaching it this way because it's you know, it helps me feel more empowered. I love how my spending choices support my spending goal. Again, that's kind of a forming. Isn't that self-fulfilling for me? This one I?
Speaker 2:This was specific from a business owner and I have. I went through my worksheets, like I said, and there were two very different ones, because one felt really true to one person and it didn't to the other, and so she adjusted it and it's. I believe I can have a million dollar personal income, and when I presented that as a belief for the next person, she, she wasn't ready for that. So she's like I believe I can have a multi six figure personal income and that was a powerful place for her to start. I love feeling this empowered about my spending. My reserves are meant to be used to support me. So that was somebody that had trouble spending. She would get really nervous, and so she just remembered I have reserves and they're meant to support me and it's okay if I have to use them now and then, that's what they're there for. My self-worth is not defined by my productivity. That's another belief, and the more fun I have, the more money I make.
Speaker 2:So yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, and what I hear in all of that, too, is that there's no, there's no prescription here. There's, there's like, really, yours may look completely different than the person next to you, and like lean into your own intuition and heart to discover what this is for you. There's no right answer, but there is your, your answer. I Love these steps. So it was five steps, right. Oh, four steps, okay, I can't count.
Speaker 1:For four steps to. That's right. That's why you take care of my money. Four steps to empowered spending. So For people listening that wanted kind of put this into action, can you give us like a doing differently with money kind of challenge? Or maybe there's a way to like make this a little bit tangible as an Experiment to practice this week or something like that?
Speaker 2:There sure can be a strategy, that that you take forward into your spending choices. So as you go To make spending so first would be, do this exercise, to walk through it with yours, you know come up with your four things and Then, as you go to make decisions, attest them against that. You know, is this choice that I'm making going to be in alignment with how I, who I am as a spender, what my spending goal is, what my values are we're spending, what my beliefs are? Bump it up against those things and if it doesn't pass those tests, don't spend it because it's not in alignment with where you want to go and who you want to be. You can even go backwards.
Speaker 2:So if somebody's like, okay, that's great, I want to kind of implement it now and again.
Speaker 2:I'm not spending a lot of time in history, but take a look at a certain time period. So I wouldn't do more than 30 days, but you could do 30 days, you do seven days and go through your transactions. Maybe just start with your bank account and credit card or whatever, and go through your transactions and see if any of those things don't Don't feel aligned. You know, maybe you want to be a really intentional, conscious spender. You've got a certain certain goal of a trip or buying something, or you know whatever goal you had, and yet you found that there were a lot of impulsive purchases, things you just didn't really care about, that you didn't value. Then there's just an opportunity to look at that and say well, now that I know how I want to be like, what choice would I make differently? So it gives you an opportunity to start to practice that in, in the safety of practice, before you go out into the real world, and I think that that can help us do your confidence with this approach. That makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a great idea. I like take, I want to write down my little filter, like my little coffee filter for money and start putting my ideas or decisions through that. It is always such an absolute joy to talk to you about money because I just feel like you bring just a lightness and a new energy around money when it can feel Whatever it can feel for us right. It just comes with a lot of things and I you always inspire this like new possibility around money and you've reminded me today to apply what I do in all these other parts of my life, like remember to keep applying it here around money and stretching my own thinking, and so I know, for those people listening, I'm sure that that is happening for them too.
Speaker 2:So it feels so good to hear, because that's just my number one goal, because if people feel much better about their money, then especially and I have kind of a belief that when we get more money into the hands of the sounds judgmental, but good people, people who are conscious and care, then they're spending into that ripple so much more and that, I believe, is how we change the world. So if we have good people feeling really negative about money, it's not going to further that goal, it's not getting the power in the right hands.
Speaker 1:Well, I remember hearing somewhere along the way that you know like sometimes myself or others, like we have this fear of getting more money, even right, like it'll change me or change who I am. And I remember hearing that money really just makes you more of who you already are and I love that. Like that gave me permission to like it's not going to change who I am at the core, it's just going to yeah yeah, amplify that.
Speaker 1:So thank you so very much for the work you do in the world. I'm so grateful to have you as a friend and at my you know your business does my bookkeeping. I mean, I'm just so grateful that our paths continue to cross and I'm glad that you'll be joining us again soon on the podcast. Yes, so any final thoughts or anything that you're up to, that you're excited about, that you want to share, and where can people find out about you?
Speaker 2:I'm just excited about all of it. I shared the biggest one at the beginning, so there will be changes to come and I am I'm looking for more opportunities to support peer coaching and not just with bookkeeping, and so that there'll be more to come on that. But probably the best places to find me, I've got a Facebook group called prosperous and profitable conscious entrepreneurs. That's one of my favorite places to hang out. I'm on Instagram. I mentioned to you that the handle might be changing at some point because it doesn't have terror care in it, but right now it's kellymartial eight. And then my website is terrorcarefinancialcom and it's T E R R A C A R E financialcom.
Speaker 1:And if your Instagram handle changes by the time this airs, it would be something with terror care. Okay, something you could find it on the website. Okay good. Thank you so much for being here for everybody listening. Take something you heard today and put it into action in your life and we will see you soon. Thank you, Take care.