Managing Money, in the Gray
This week, we’re talking about money, honey. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise, since our Ellevated Outcomes theme for the year is in fact, Money & Meaning. Here’s the thing though: managing money is hard (understatement), especially when you’re a small business.
There are real-world bookkeeping and accounting components of physically managing money. And there’s a risk-taking and mindset component. The trick is: they’re at opposite ends of the spectrum. There’s an art to managing money for a small business owner, and it’s not black and white. It’s in the gray.
Before even getting into it, I’m going to fast-forward and drop the spoiler alert: this isn’t a how-to post. It’s more to make sure that you feel validated and “normal,” if you’re confused and frustrated, trying to operate between these two worlds of nice and tidy financial management and wanting to feel abundant but still sometimes (or all the time) feeling scarce.
Recently, three of our clients approached me (totally respectfully and nicely) but essentially saying,
Okay, we’re managing money with the principles from Profit First. Our business is setting allocations, paying me an owner’s salary, putting money aside for taxes, and limiting operational expenses.
And now you’re suggesting that I read You’re a Badass at Making Money and take a Money Mindset Bootcamp to feel more abundant. Um… have you noticed that these are opposites?
WHICH ONE IS IT?
Like I said, no one yelled. No one actually wrote in all caps. But if I read between the lines, this is the frustration.
And it is totally fair. This is the hard part! Because it’s not black and white. As with everything, all experiences are made up of facts and feelings. Smarts and hearts, you may say. We can look at the numbers. Manage the heck out of them (hey, we do in our business). And we can still have money feelings that do not jive at all. Because by the way, hitting financial “success” milestones doesn’t mean that you’re going to feel abundant and wealthy. This is the biggest mistake I see people make. They think, “When my business makes $__________, then I’ll be at ease.”
Mindsets aren’t a linear, if-then process :/ It has to be both things, married together. And they’ll flip back and forth. Even if you hit a place where you consistently feel good about your numbers for awhile, it doesn’t mean that you’re there for good.
When I say this, a recent personal moment stands out. My family is both lucky and has worked hard to have strong finances. Dave and I know that we’re financially fine, and we have every objective reason to feel confident about that. But after a recent purchase (which D gave me his okay for!), he circled back feeling not-so-fine. He said to me, “My brain knows that it was fine for you to buy that thing. But I just need to tell you that when the charge went through, my scarcity mindset kicked in.” For most of us, we’ll be operating in the financial gray forever. And that’s okay.
So the question is not “Which method do I follow? Financial structure or abundant mindset?” It’s
How do I mix the black and white – the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ together? How do I operate in the gray?
Because here’s the bigger lesson: we’re not just talking about money here. We’re talking about our lives. A life well-lived isn’t black and white. It’s not linear. It’s not an upward, climb-the-ladder trajectory. It has ups and downs. Climb the ladder, then slide down the chute. Make a decision, then make a new decision. A life well-lived, financial or otherwise, happens in the gray.
PS – please, some fellow nerd out there: tell me you caught onto my “in the gray” accounting pun… anyone?
