signal your value
I’ve shared before one of the main money stories I’ve had to work through, and am still working on, is the narrative that wanting to make more money is greedy.
For most of my career, I never set income goals or new asset goals. My internal story was that if I took care of people and did the right thing, money would take care of itself–which I still, and always will, believe is true. In the past, I was always afraid that if I set a financial goal, the Universe would interpret my intentions as self-serving and money-driven, aka greedy.
As I’ve grown, developed a better understanding of the Authentic Life, money’s qualities of energy, and getting to know my Authentic Self, I realized my old money story was preventing me from becoming more aligned with my Authentic Self because one of my values is to be able to support, invest in, and help others, which doesn’t always have to be financially, but often times it will. So my desire to attract more money to me is not greedy–almost the furthest thing from it, as the motivation is not self-serving, but to serve others in a way that I haven’t been able to in the past.
My internal dialogue has changed to reflect this new understanding, and this year I set a financial goal—an ambitious one at that. Energetically, my Self is on the frequency of the financial goal, which is a very important attunement to establish. You can’t attract from a level higher than you are operating from.
While my internal state is where it needs to be, I recently realized that not all of my actions or signals to the Universe align with it.
When I launched my business back in 2015, I established a subscription-based relationship for younger clients. It was perfect back then. It was a scaled-down version of the WealthManagement relationship, which met young professionals where they were in life and the complexities in their financial situation. The subscription model allowed me to apply the same principles and planning I was doing with my higher-net-worth clients and implement them in a way that helped young professionals at a cost that reflected the simpler planning and relationship needs.
As the years went on and I adjusted the subscription fee to match the value provided, I kept everyone from the early days at the initial fee I started with: $100/month. If I’m being honest, I never should have priced my services so low, but when I was getting started, I just wanted to help people and grow the business.
Lately, as Ive been conducting reviews and preparing for reviews with my subscription clients, I noticed that their situations are significantly different and more complex than they were ten years ago; the subscription model we started with, in my opinion, no longer serves them as they have tax planning needs and opportunities, kids getting closer to college, hitting the back end of their careers, and net worths that are hitting seven figures. They need what my WealthManagement relationship provides–but that comes with a change in fee structure, which will result in them paying more, while receiving significantly more–this isn’t just a fee increase with no additional value. Although I know the value is there, the “greed” money story has kept me from having the conversation in the past about graduating from the subscription relationship to WealthManagement.
I am no longer an advisor who only provides $100 a month value, nor do I want to do the work that only warrants $100 a month–I want to serve in a much greater way.
And here’s the thing… as long as I maintain the subscription model relationship, my external state (the business model) does not signal to the Universe that I am providing value to the world, thereby attracting the financial goal I am pursuing. Another way of putting it: unless I update my business to reflect the value I provide to the world, I will not attract the relationships that will help me reach my financial goal and allow me to help more people.
I considered changing the subscription model in the past, but quickly backtracked. The greed narrative and the fear of upsetting clients kept me from growing my practice in ways that aligned with my Authentic Self and the services my clients needed—and the need for them even more now. This past week, I started conversations with clients whose situations have evolved from where we started ten years ago, and shared that I will be phasing out the subscription model later this year.
I hope and expect most to welcome the additional planning, more time with me, and the opportunity to bring more life planning to the relationship, but I’m sure not all will, and I’ll probably even be surprised by one or two clients. I’ll certainly be disappointed to see any clients choose to leave, but I also know that if that happens, it just means the chapter of our lives of working together has ended, and that’s ok.
On the other side of all of the conversations will be a business more aligned with my Authentic Self and Life, which will signal to the Universe that not only is my internal state matching the goals I have stated, but so is my external.
The lesson from all of this is that it’s not just the internal state that has to match the frequency of your Authentic Life, but the external needs to as well–and maybe, if your external state isn’t matching it, then your internal state is not as sure as you think.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC
🦅 Some ways I might be able to help you live your Authentic Life:
🤝 One-on-Ones Let's hop on Zoom to do a guided meditation, a creative brainstorming session, or an overcoming an obstacle session.
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