#34 - 3 Hard Truths it's Time to Face

Ready for a perspective shift that will forever change how you see your finances? Join Chelsea, the Money Whisperer, as she dives deep into the surprising truths that often go unacknowledged in our relationship with money. This isn't your typical dry financial advice – we're exploring the vibrant connection between your inner world, your habits, and the way money shows up in your life. 

Key Highlights:

1. Money as a Mirror: Understand why money, despite being inanimate, acts as a powerful reflection of your energy, focus, and priorities in life.
2. Beyond Advice: The Power of Habits: Discover why simply seeking more financial advice often falls short, and the critical role of changing your daily habits for lasting financial transformation.
3. The Long Game of Financial Freedom: Learn that true financial freedom isn't found, but built through consistent, patient effort, much like training for a long-distance race.
4. Commit to Building: Identify a specific, quiet commitment you can make to build your financial future over the next year, whether it's budgeting or saving.
5. Liberation Through Truth: Embrace these three hard truths not as sources of guilt or shame, but as empowering calls to action on behalf of your own financial well-being.

Discover why money is both a simple tool and a profound reflection of you, and learn the crucial shifts needed to move beyond advice and into lasting change.

Always and Never About Money Episode Links:
Video Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@MoneyMasteryWithChelsea
Socials: https://linktr.ee/the_money_whisper
Money Mastery Website: www.moneymastery.work
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlwaysandNeverMoney/

Transcript

This is also why I appreciate money, because it's a really good place to start in life. It gives us this very black and white inanimate picture, but because money is a reflection of you, 'cause money is a tool, the way it's dressed up, the way it looks and appears in the way it moves, that is all you and your energy and your focus and your priorities.
So if this is all speaking to you. I would recommend asking your question and thinking long and hard, and even journaling around what are you pretending not to see in your money, in your relationships in life? Most of us don't need more advice. We need to change our habits and what we're doing.
Welcome to Always and Never About the Money. Are you ready to embark on a journey that will [00:01:00] forever change the way you perceive money? We'll get ready because we're about to dive deep into the fascinating world of finances and human behavior. I'm your host, Chelsea Williams and Money Whisperer. I am here to help you realize what your money story is telling you and how you can change it.
But hold on tight because this is not the dull black and white talk about money. We're gonna splash all the color into this typical nap inducing conversation on Always and Never About the money. We're gonna explore the intricate relationship between money and our daily lives. From the impact history has left on us and how we still manage it, how your habits shape your money, and what beliefs are driving your habits, choices, and relationships to the deeper values and emotions we've come to attach to it.
We are going to unravel it all through insightful conversation and personal anecdotes. We'll bring you the expert insights, real life stories and meaningful thought provoking ideas that will inspire you, educate you, and initiate some serious perspective change when it [00:02:00] comes to your money. Remember, money is just a tool.
Together we'll untangle the web of emotions, beliefs, and values. We've come to attach to it and find a new perspective on how it can enhance our lives. So whether you're looking for motivation, practical advice, or a good laugh, always and never about the money's got you covered. Thank you for joining us in this transformative journey.
Get ready to challenge your beliefs and embark on a financial exploration like no other. Without further ado, let's kick off the episode of Always and Never About the Money. Hey, hey, money Whispers. Welcome back where we are talking about how it is always and never about the money and. I think in today's day and age at this point, we have heard and been just deluded with so many messages.
A lot of us are waking up to those messages, validity, and how it is lacking, and we're really looking for the truth. [00:03:00] And here's what I have come to really trust and understand. Truths can be hard to hear and hard to accept. And I have a mantra that I live by. Kindness is greater than being nice. See, there's a difference between being kind and being nice.
Nice to me is when we're trying to make somebody feel better. Kind is where we speak the truth. Coming from a place of love, even if it stings a little bit. So today's episode isn't about surface level finance. It's about the hard truths I had to learn, the ones that actually changed my life and business.
So I wanna share three hard truths with you today. The first of which is you don't need more advice. You need to face your habits. I got a DM from what I consider a family member kind of extended and we don't talk all the time, but I love and adore her and [00:04:00] she reached out to me because she knows that I work with people and their money and she's like, Hey, do you help people like with their money and getting it in order and talking about debt and all of these things?
And I'm like, yeah, absolutely. Gimme a call. Let's just talk about it. And the first thing she said when we started to talk on the phone a few days later was, you know, I think I really just, I know what I need to do. I just, I need to do it. She's like, there's probably nothing you're gonna say that I don't know.
I'm just struggling and I need help. And I find that. True with a lot of the individuals that I work with, they have this really solid idea of what they need to do, and a lot of 'em are right for the most part. Hard truth number one. A lot of you don't really need more advice. You need to face your habits.
Right now, we are inundated with advice. Hacks information. Some of it's saying this, some of it's saying that some of it is [00:05:00] just flat out wrong, especially in the financial space. Some of it is incredibly misleading. You know, I have these, uh, I have friends that send me reels on people giving business advice, tax advice, money advice, and they're like, Hey, is this legit?
And it'll be a reel of like. How to get a $200,000 business loan from blah, blah, blah. You know, create an EIN and submit an application and do this and do that. And it's like, well, I mean, yeah, it would probably work to get the money. I. But you just created a business to get the money. What's your business gonna be?
How are you gonna pay it back? Like a lot of us are looking for a quick fix. And in the world of finance, there are very few, if any quick overnight fixes. The problem is we are looking for a fast solution, but the [00:06:00] problem isn't that you can't get the information or a way to deploy something with your money that's gonna actually work in the long run.
The problem is most of us avoid doing the things most of us avoid taking action, getting a grip, organizing and managing. Proactively and intentionally managing our money, which means looking at it, which means monitoring how much cash is where, what's coming up, planning bills, and focusing on how can I make more money.
So with my family member that called me, you know, and this is why I prefer to start. Helping someone with a conversation. I genuinely come from a place of curiosity, and my first question is usually, so tell me the story because if you listen to my podcast, you know and understand that everybody has a [00:07:00] money story.
And it is ingrained into them from a very young age, and they have the power to change that story. So what I do when I talk to someone for the first time about what it is they're struggling with in their finance, I listen and I come from a place of curiosity, of non-judgment because everybody's story is valid.
I listen. I listen to how they tell their story and the pivotal storylines that they bring up that inevitably shaped or impacted where they are now that they have felt the need to reach out and ask for help. The next question I asked her, because she had told me I was doing really good, and now I'm just deviating from the plan.
Part of what she told me when we were chatting is that. It's been a weird year, a great year, but I just haven't made the progress I wanted to, and I had asked her, why haven't you made the progress that you wanted [00:08:00] to? The story that she told me behind that there was a consistency, and it was that other people that she was involved with in her life had circumstances that led to her deviating from her financial plan.
And so while she knew the logistical steps that she needed to take to get her money plan back into action, what was important in her conversation was recognizing and looking at how did you fall out of the plan? And it wasn't outside influence. That was the only thing. It was also that she was so determined to pay off her debt.
That she overextended her budget in order to do so. Now, what that did is that. She had financial burnout. She was hell Ben, on getting this debt paid off, which is amazing and I love that. But understand that there is a balance. Even if you are in a [00:09:00] financial position where you are on paper behind in the form of debt, you still have to prioritize you, you, your fun money.
That money that you can go blow on whatever the hell you want and feel no guilt about it. And look, if that's one Starbucks drink. Uh, every other week. And that feels small to you. No, that is something you gotta start somewhere. And we all have our little simple pleasures. So it is important that even if you have a financial plan and it involves something like paying off debt or starting to invest in a, a retirement vessel, you still have to prioritize and balance.
Your fun money and your future self money. So after our conversation, you know, one of the things that she was going to have to look at in her habits wasn't really a technical money habit. It was her [00:10:00] habit of allowing other people to cross a financial boundary and. Practicing having those hard conversations, upholding her own boundaries and all of that was the challenge to do all of this while still coming from a place of love.
We don't wanna lose family and friends over money. Nobody does, but it happens all the time because we don't know how to have. A conversation around loaning somebody some money or paying for something for somebody, and they say they'll pay you back and they start paying you in payments and the payments are late and you're chasing it.
Nobody wants to lose a relationship because of a financial situation like that. So one of the things that you can do if this is speaking to you, is. Practice those conversations because here's the thing and why it's always a never about money. If you are having a hard time having money conversations and setting your money boundaries [00:11:00] and not allowing other people to cross boundaries that are going to risk your financial security, chances are you're probably exercising that same relationship habit.
In other areas of those relationships that don't have anything to do with money. And so this is also why I appreciate money, because it's a really good place to start in life. It gives us this very black and white inanimate picture, but because money is a reflection of you. 'cause money is a tool, the way it's dressed up, the way it looks and appears and the way it moves.
That is all you and your energy and your focus and your priorities. So if this is all speaking to you, I would recommend asking your question and thinking long and hard, and even journaling around what are you pretending not to see in your money, in your relationships in life? [00:12:00] Because most of us don't need more advice.
We need to change our habits and what we're doing. Hard. Truth number two, if your financial equation is not profitable, you are living in scarcity. This is another thing that if you listen to me at all, you probably know what I mean when I say your financial equation, but we are all, everybody on this planet is living in the same exact equation, and that is money earned.
Minus money spends equals money kept to save and invest. Whether you work a job, whether you own a business, if you have a side hustle, doesn't matter if your equation is not profitable, you are living in scarcity. And this is what we hear called the net zero mindset. A lot of people are living in a net zero equation, meaning we spend everything of what we make.
Therefore, [00:13:00] we have nothing left to keep and save and invest. So if your equation is profitable, that means you have money to keep, that you are saving and that some of that you are investing. And if your equation is not profitable, you are living in scarcity, meaning you are one major life event from your equation being broken, turned upside down, going into the negative, which means debt.
A lot of us have purpose and passion in our lives, whether it is through a job that you love and adore and truly believe in, whether it is your business and you love what you do over there, whether it's real estate, and you really enjoy that investment model. Some of us are incredibly purpose driven. But we are hiding behind that passion and avoiding the numbers.
I have come across so many people who work jobs they [00:14:00] love and who have a, an incredibly honorable mission, but they're not getting paid enough to survive and they have to make a hard decision of. Do I do something else? I work with business owners who have created a business on paper behind something they're incredibly passionate about, but it's not profitable, and therefore they are suffering because they don't understand how to rebalance that business equation, using that passion to generate profits.
And so what we. As a whole can work on is shifting our perspective. Profit is not greedy. It is sustainable. You deserve to live a life of peace and enjoy moments with P who you love and you deserve to afford whatever that's going to cost you, whatever your vision is. [00:15:00] And we have to let go of guilt around wanting that because what you're choosing between is sacrificing your peace of mind or making the hard decisions of changing your equation.
Your equation deserves to be profitable. Nobody should have to live from scarcity. If this episode hit home and you are realizing your personal money equation is off, whether that's how much you make, keep spend to save or invest, then I want you to do yourself a favor right now. I am creating a personal finance program designed to help you rebalance your entire money equation.
It's built on a proven framework that gets you grounded in your money right now without shame, spreadsheets or burnout. I'll help you move past the ick of budgeting. And into a system of boundaries that protect your future financial [00:16:00] freedom while still giving you freedom within your spending today. If that sounds like what you've been needing, go to our website and join the email list.
As soon as the program launches, you'll be the first to know, and trust me, you are going to want to be in the room for this hard Truth. Number three, financial freedom isn't something that is found. It is something that is built. I. Brick by brick. And this, I notoriously talk about lottery winners when we're talking about overnight success, quick fixes, financial freedom that you just stumble upon.
What comes quick, tends to leave quicker, and there are so many instances where that is proven. Financial freedom is something that is built. It is built slowly. Steadily. Sometimes some bricks fall off and you got a plaster 'em back on there. I don't build walls, so if plaster's the wrong word, let me have that one.[00:17:00] 
It takes patience. It takes consistency. And again, when we're talking about being patient with your money and consistent with your money, we're talking about living within your equations, within your means, even if it's not what you want to do now. And being okay with stepping up one stone at a time. That lack of patience and lack of consistency is not something that you're just struggling with in your money.
Heck, I struggle with it in my daily routines. I want a daily ritual, but I also don't like I. Mundane, repetitive, same exact thing. I like to spice it up. I like to do things different, so I continue to experiment with, I have a daily ritual, but how that ritual looks, feels how long it is, is different every day.
So it's almost like I am consistently inconsistent. And one of my favorite metaphors around doing something [00:18:00] consistently over time for a long-term goal is by Usain Bolt. So I love track and field ran it. When I was younger, I was so close to going to a college that had an Olympic training center and that was my goal.
And then life happened, but that's for another story. Usain Bolt has a quote where he says, I trained four years for a nine second race, and some people give up in three months. So using elite athletes as an example of what it really takes to create wealth and financial freedom is perfect because it's the habits, it's the showing up when nobody's there to cheer you on.
Look, I used to run track and field. Track and field is not like a basketball game or a football game where you have a. Stadium full of people and all that adrenaline is going and everybody's watching you. Track and field is a very humble sport. Our stadiums were pretty bare. There weren't a lot of [00:19:00] people there, and you train so hard and nobody sees it.
Track and field is literally exert your body to its complete potential for as long as you can, as long as the race is. It's also incredibly strategic. It's not just simply run a race. There are milestones and meters and your form matters. It's incredibly technical, but nobody sees the work that we put in.
But we show up every day, every season, every year for just the chance to win a medal. So here's what I wanna encourage you to do. What can you commit to building quietly, patiently for the next year? Is that a budget? Is that setting aside for savings? But remembering that financial freedom is not something that you are just going to find.
It is going to be something that you have to build. So what is it that you can commit to building [00:20:00] right now? And I want you to know from the bottom of my heart, these three truths. Come from a place of love. They are not meant to leave you feeling guilty or in shame. They're meant to liberate you, to call you to action on behalf of yourself, because I want this for you.
If you liked this episode, be sure to show us some love by subscribing and turning on those notifications. You can find me on Instagram under the Money Whisper, and also where we encourage you to contribute to join the conversation, ask questions, and share your thoughts. So we can create more episodes tailored exactly to what you wanna know about money.
I'm your host and your personal money whisperer. Until next time, remember, it is always and never about the money
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