Hey there, and welcome to the Fun Business Fun Money podcast! I’m your host, Deirdre Amies.

So heres the thing… I’ve been thinking A LOT recently about systems. I love them, I see them everywhere, I’ll keep talking about them because they’re the bomb!

Systems, processes, workflows, templates, SOPs, whatever you want to call it, its a system. Its the steps you take to complete something.

In theory it would be a perfect system, with simple clear steps that are super easy to follow and implement. Anyone could pick up and follow your system and replicate your results, right? 

Yeah, maybe not! 😂

 

The perfect system for your comfort zone

What if its a perfect system for keeping yourself small, or stuck in limbo? Where you’re never actually able to achieve the success you KNOW you’re capable of?

Thats a doozy of a system! And thats the one we’re going to crack wide open for a look at the actual process involved today. 

It can be a bit of a mind bender and this is something that I do recommend you take some time to work through on your own.

Grab a piece of paper and a pen if you can, or sit down at your computer with a blank document, and map out YOUR perfect system for keeping yourself small.

Full disclosure, this is not my concept. As I shared in episode 110 about being a creative copycat, don’t lay claim to something that you didn’t come up with in the first place, its not cool.

By all means put your own spin on it, put it in your own words, share your own thoughts. But don’t just copy something and lead people to believe you came up with it, ok?

Credit for this concept goes to Rich Litvin. He’s a leadership coach that I’ve followed for a number of years now. He’s the author of the book “The Prosperous Coach” along with Steve Chandler.

 

Your perfect money system is driven by your money archetypes

This idea of the perfect system to sabotage yourself has stuck in my head for a good 5 years now. Its something that I catch myself doing on the regular too so don’t go thinking I’ve got my shizz together, because I really don’t lol!

MY spin on this concept comes in the form of the money archetypes. Not only do I see systems everywhere but I see money archetypes and their various traits absolutely everywhere as well.

If you weren’t aware, I’m a certified Sacred Money Archetypes coach. A money archetype is the personality traits that show up in your relationship with money. We all have certain traits that can be categorised as one or a combo of the 8 different money archetypes.

I did a full episode to explain what each of them are, so if you haven’t listened to that already or you don’t understand what a money archetype is, go check out episode 3, Unlock the Power of your Money Personality for all the deets on those.

And if you don’t yet know YOUR money archetypes, go take my quiz! It’ll take you less than 10 minutes to find out what makes your relationship with money so different to someone else.

The quiz is over at deirdreamies.com/take-the-quiz. Or, y’know, you can hit the link in the description of this and every episode because lets face it, my name isn’t the easiest thing to spell!

 

9 money habits ‘helping’ you play small

Lets get into this perfect system shall we?? What I’m going to outline for you are 9 different ways you could be sabotaging your financial situation.

I’ve got some suggestions for how you can do things differently if you choose to, but my main intention in this episode is to bring your awareness to the gaps and potholes that may be contributing to you struggling with money.

I want you to think of something you’ve been aiming for for quite a while, but you can’t seem to crack the secret code. You know theres SOMETHING stopping you from getting there, but its not completely obvious to you. Even if its obvious to everyone else!

For a lot of my clients and people who listen to this podcast, its money, so of course we’re going to use that as an example.

 

What is it thats keeping you in a constant state of struggle around money, no matter how much you earn?

Keep in mind though, this perfect system for keeping you in the status quo can apply to any situation – relationships, business, creativity, career growth, absolutely anything.

Some people like to mind map their thought process for things like this. Thats where you write something in the middle of a page and connect the dots between that and all the other things associated with so you can see the patterns, aka the ‘system’ around it.

I dislike the messiness of mind maps, so I tend to brainstorm it as a list down a page, or even write it as a journal entry so I can free write my flow of thoughts or ideas.

Whatever you prefer, do that!

Don’t let the method be the sabotage getting in the way of mapping out YOUR perfect system for sabotaging yourself.

Because lets face it, thats what we’re talking about here. Self sabotage. Its our subconscious thoughts and experiences keeping us from taking action to improve our lives, or a particular situation.

Fear of change, fear of judgement, fear of being seen, fear of absolutely anything you can think of, is at the root of self sabotage. Whatever it takes to keep us safe.

That doesn’t mean whatever you’re doing now is wrong. Its worked great so far, its kept you safe, so its doing exactly what its meant to.

But what if YOU are meant for something bigger, better, different?

Here’s something I want you to write down and remember:

Every sabotage is a system AND it has a better system if you’re willing to embrace change.

So, mind map, brainstorm, journal, pick your method and roll with it. 

Here’s an example of a perfect system for struggling with money, no matter how much you earn. I’ll break each one down for you but heres the overview, in no particular order:

• Don’t look at your financial situation so you don’t feel the pain, and fingers crossed it’ll all magically get better that way.
• Don’t understand or learn about the tax system – even better if you have an excuse!
• Don’t look at the numbers, don’t track income or expenses
• When you’re feeling flush with cash you’re going to splash it around and buy unnecessary items
• Surround yourself with friends who see $100K as a lot of money
• Create just enough to get by, and then stop
• Fill your calendar with busy work to keep you occupied and ignoring the situation further
• Use credit instead of saving money, paying excess bank charges and interest on your purchases.
• Don’t invest in a team, be happy doing everything yourself and it’ll be FINE!

Lets dive into a bit more detail on each one.

 

Ignore your financial situation so you don’t feel the pain. Keep your fingers cross that it’ll all work out fine.

This one hurts me deeply, right off the bat, because its a Connector money archetype trait, which is MY main money archetype! We’re very optimistic, the house could be burning down and we’ll say its fine, theres always something positive!

Please don’t ignore your financial situation, it doesn’t hurt any less by doing that. Pull out all the info and take an honest look at it. It may not be as bad as you think it could be, but you have to get familiar with your numbers, know whats going on at the most basic level.

 

Don’t understand or don’t want to learn about the tax system – even better if you have an excuse!

You know what they say, the 2 guarantees in life are death and taxes. Every country is different and I’m by no means qualified to give tax advice anywhere in the world. But please make it a priority to understand your tax obligations. There should be no surprises at tax time, especially if you’re in business.

don’t use excuses like “Its too hard to understand” or “I don’t understand this country’s tax system, I’m not from here”.

What I DO recommend to clients is the Profit First system for managing your finances. Thats where you distribute your income into specific accounts for specific purposes as soon as you receive it. You’re allocating funds for your taxes right away. The percentages will vary depending on your situation and location, but the principles of Profit First are solid.

Hey, if I can do this as a Connector who needs to keep it simple, you can do it too!

 

Don’t look at the numbers, don’t track income or expenses

This is closely related to ignoring your financial situation AND claiming ignorance about taxes, but a slightly different approach. If you don’t look at your numbers, of course you have no clue about your financial situation.

You need to be tracking your income AND your expenses. That way you know whats coming in and going out. Most people will just track their expenses, they’ll follow a budget, but they’re not looking at whats coming in or what they can do to increase their income. Track ’em both!

 

When you’re feeling flush with cash, you buy unnecessary items

I do it, you do it, everyone does it now and then. Ok maybe not the Accumulator money archetypes, but definitely the Connectors, Celebrities, Alchemists and Romantics among us! 

Splashing the cash can feel really good in the moment, but not so much when its gone. Just check yourself on that one.

 

Surround yourself with friends who see $100K as a lot of money

Yeah, this one hurts too lol.

Think about the conversations you have about money with the various people in your life. They, whoever ‘they’ are, say you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with, and that applies to money too.

$100K is NOT a lot of money these days. Take into account the taxes, retirement savings (because thats being a good responsible custodian of money right there!), various business expenses, and you’re not left with a whole lot to actually splash around.

My hot tip here? Raise your circle of influence and connect with people who make a lot more money than you do.

Note how THEY talk about money, the energy they bring to it. Then do the same and watch your financial situation change. You’ll think differently about money.

 

Create just enough to get by, and then stop

This is me, again, to a T! Its easy to get comfortable with a certain amount of money, you can relax a bit and take your foot off the gas. Maybe even pull off the road at a rest stop for a while.

But what if you didn’t do that? What if you kept going a little longer, pushed a little further and created MORE money in your life? It doesn’t have to be hard work, it just has to be a bit further outside your comfort zone than you’ve gone before. It’ll feel amazing when you do, I promise!

 

Fill your calendar with busy work to keep you occupied and ignoring your situation further

Yeah, you know what I’m talking about! Busy work has been a trendy thing over the past decade or even longer. But if you’ve done exactly that, you’ll also know that its the fast track to burn out.

Saying things like “I don’t have time to look at the numbers right now!” is a very unhelpful trait of almost ALL of the money archetypes. I know you’ve got places to go, people to see, stuff to do. But if its mostly busy work and you’re really just spinning your wheels? Its time to quit ignoring the important stuff!

This is something that my Start Stop continue guide, or checklist. can help you with. Sorting out whats actually important, what you enjoy, what adds value, what makes you money. All the other busy work can GO! 

You’ll find the link to get your free copy of the Start Stop Continue guide in the description and in the show notes.

 

Use credit instead of saving money, paying excess bank charges and interest on your purchases

Another ouch, even more so if you’re an Alchemist, Romantic or Celebrity money archetype who likes to ignore everything and roll with what happens. And Nurturers too, who will take out credit or dip into their savings to ‘rescue’ someone else from the pain of THEIR financial situation.

I have nothing against credit, but its not a financial strategy for the long term. You’re essentially borrowing money against your future earnings, its a gamble that you’re going to be able to pay that amount off. And that doesn’t always pan out. Paying excess bank fees and interest only serves the bank, not you. 

 

You don’t invest in a team, being ‘happy’ doing everything yourself

This is a hard one but also a necessary one. Imagine if you could outsource or delegate all those essential things you really dislike doing, to someone who LOVES doing that thing?? That would be an incredible freedom for you! 

One of the best and first investments you should make in your business is someone to handle the stuff you don’t want to do. You don’t have to do everything yourself.

Work out what it would cost for you to get some help. In most cases its a lot less than you think. But of course that ties into one of the other parts of this perfect system, ignoring your situation and not knowing your numbers. 

 

Can you see how all of these parts are completely obvious by themselves, but maybe not so much as the parts of a perfect system for self-sabotage? An all encompassing thing!

I know, its uncomfortable stuff! Even as I was writing my notes for this episode I was giving myself a mental slap for STILL doing some of these things! Like I said I don’t have all my shizz together either.

We’re not made to be perfect. NONE of us are made to be perfect. But following a perfect system for self sabotage isn’t helping us be successful either.

As I said earlier, every sabotage IS a system, its designed to keep you safe in your comfort zone. But there’s always a BETTER system if you’re willing to make a few changes.

Whatever you’re doing now isn’t wrong. But are there things you could improve? I would say yes, most definitely!

If you’d like my help creating a NEW perfect system for making money and smashing your goals without burning out, let’s talk!

I help you create the perfect system to simplify all areas of your business including workflow, client roadmap, pricing, offers and how you run your money.

All of that happens in my IGNITE business and money coaching program. Head on over to deirdreamies.com/ignite for all the details, or you can send me a DM for a quick chat about your specific needs.

I’m @funbusinessfunmoney, all one word, on Facebook and Instagram.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, I’m Deirdre Amies over there. Make sure you tell me you’re a podcast listener, thats the fastest way for me to accept your connection request amongst all the other connection requests!

Or you can email hello@deirdreamies.com if thats your preferred method of communication.

Thats what I’ve got for you today! The perfect system for keeping you safe when it comes to making money.

Its not a GREAT system, but its one that so many people follow and I would love to see that change.

You deserve to have more, be more and do more in your life and business, and that starts with receiving more money instead of repelling it with all the unhelpful traits and habits we’ve implemented without realising.

Take care, have fun being open to a new relationship with money, and I’ll catch you in the next episode.