97: The Biggest Mistake My Clients Make About Money Goals & How To Avoid It

Transcript

The Biggest Mistake My Clients Make About Money Goals & How To Avoid It

Meaghan Smith  00:21

Hello, and welcome to the Money Mindful Podcast. I am your host, Meaghan Jean Smith. I'm a money mindset and life coach for women, entrepreneurs, women in business and women aspiring to have their own business. I help you change your money mindset so you can create the money and life that you want. So if that's you, you're in the right place, welcome. I want to talk to you today about how long it takes to reach your money goals, okay, and this is a really important topic and something that, oh, yeah, I have to share all the things with you today. Because, you know, I had a client who, you know, when we finished working together, I work with clients for six months,  we'd work together and she felt like she hadn't reached the goal that she wanted to reach. And she was so disappointed. And, you know, she said to me, six months is a really long time, I should have reached my goal by now.

 

Meaghan Smith  01:43

And, you know, this is tragic. And I'm going to tell you why. Like this thinking, it's like a thought error. And I don't mean she's tragic or anything like that. Not at all. She's amazing. But thinking this way, is a tragedy. And if you think this way, I want to just really persuade you otherwise, today and tell you the unseen cost of giving up on your goals because of how long you think it's going to take. And this works both ways. Like, for example, I've got another client who wants to make a big career change move within the industry that she works. And so she needs to upskill and get some further qualifications to be able to work in this field in her profession that she wants to work in. And it's in depth, right, it's going to take potentially 10 years of her life to get to this stage where she wants to get in her career. And a lot of what we've been coaching on is, she really wants to do it, but she keeps flipping back into Oh, it's gonna take so long. It's gonna take you know, 10 years is such a long time, it's so much effort. But mainly, it's about time, it's about this, it's going to take such a long time to do it.

 

Meaghan Smith  03:14

So today, I want to talk about how long it takes to reach your money goals, or any goal for that matter, why this is something really important to be aware of, and fleshing out what you make it mean, when you don't reach your goal at the date that you set it to reach. So first of all, just to answer that question, straight up how long it takes to reach your money goal. Well, it takes as long as it takes. Oh, I'm guessing you're probably thinking now, Well, Meaghan, if it takes as long as it takes, why would you set a date to, you know, reach a goal by, and why would we even go after a goal if we don't know how long it's going to take or if it's going to take forever?

 

Meaghan Smith  04:09

Now here's the thing, when you set a goal, when I get my clients to set goals, because if you work with me, all my clients have goals, right? That's why you have a coach because you want to create something in your life, right? So the client sets a goal, and one of the things I get them to do is set a date by when they're going to reach that goal. Now the only reason that I get my client to set a date, and I do this myself too, with my own goals, and I'm going to tell you about a goal that I recently reached in a moment, but it gives you something to work towards. Because if you don't set a date, I mean, setting a date isn't a requirement to reaching a goal. You don't have to set a date to ensure that you reach a goal. But when you set a date, it gives you an anchor point that you are working to, and timelines that you can set yourself to reach that goal. Right? But if you don't reach the goal by that date, what are you going to make it mean? And in this particular client that I was talking about, because she didn't reach this goal in six months, she made it mean that something had gone wrong, that it was a problem.

 

Meaghan Smith  05:33

Now, the issue here is that if you think this way, if you make it mean that something's gone wrong, or that there's a problem, you will give up on reaching your goal. Okay? And that's one of the reasons why I always ask my clients, if it takes you, like, if my client's set a goal, say, that they want to meet in a year, or five years or whatever, let's say they make a goal that they want to meet in a year. And I say to them, if you don't, if it takes you five years to reach this goal, will you still do it? Right? And that often takes my clients back a bit. They're like, what, five years? But this is a really important point to think about and clarify for yourself. Because if there's something that you want to achieve in your life, why does it matter if it takes you one year or five years? Like if it's something that you really, really want, why does the timeframe matter? And why would you give up on it if it took you five years instead of one?

 

Meaghan Smith  06:48

Now, I want to talk to you about an example that has happened for me, and why I'm discussing this with you and why I think this is such an important topic for you to be aware of. I recently reached a big financial goal that I set for myself. I set myself a target, a revenue target, in my business, and I reached it in August this year. Now, when I set this revenue goal, I set this goal to reach it by December 31st, 2020. That was last year, that was December last year. So by December 31st 2020, I had not reached that revenue goal. Was I disappointed that I didn't reach the goal? Yes, of course, of course, I was disappointed. I really wanted to reach that goal by the end of the year. But what did I make it mean about me? I'm going to tell you that I didn't make it mean anything bad. And here's why. I just kept going, right, I just kept going. Now, when I set that goal, I had a target, I wanted to more than double the price of what I paid to become a life coach. And I also wanted to make, at least replace, my income as a teacher, right? So I set that goal for myself.

 

Meaghan Smith  08:37

I had never coached before and earnt money for coaching in this way, working for myself, right, in this capacity, like running a business online, getting clients one to one to work with me. I hadn't done that before. I didn't know how to do that. I didn't know how to get people to find me. I didn't know how to make offers, I didn't know how to sell, I didn't know how to create systems to get people to book me. But I just created this revenue goal thinking I want something to work towards. And wouldn't it be amazing if I could make that money by December 2020. Now, it took me another eight months to reach that goal. And I've got to tell you that I am so bloody proud of myself. Because what I make that mean is that I became somebody who doesn't give up on my goals. Right? Like I take action until I create what I want. And this gives me so much confidence moving forward with the new goals that I create for myself. And I've created so much evidence for myself that if I set a goal, I'm going to reach it.

 

Meaghan Smith  10:05

Now, I want to talk to you about some of the external changes that happened in my life from reaching this goal and some of the internal changes. Basically, because I kept going and just kept going until I reached the goal, here's what happened. So I became somebody who dresses better. I became somebody who works around my family. So I now work during school hours, and a couple of evenings a week when my partner's home. Right, like that, in itself, is incredible. Like, that was one of the whole reasons why I wanted to work for myself, Oh my gosh, I'm getting emotional. Because I wanted to be able to have a job where I was with my kids, and I could drop my kids off to school and pick them up. And, that that was my life. Like, that was something that I just dreamed about. Like, I couldn't even imagine how to create that.

 

Meaghan Smith  11:10

And I have so many friends that had kids and that we've had so many conversations about, how do you do it? Like when you have kids? How do people do it, you know, like suddenly you become a woman who doesn't make as much money anymore, or you work part time and you know, the the nine to five workday just doesn't suit the lifestyle of having children when they go to primary school from nine o'clock in the morning till three in the afternoon, right? How does that work? And so for me, just that alone, is priceless. Like that is priceless. Even if - any amount of money, that is worth it, right? That I've been able to create that. But I've also become a person who has a booking system, right? In my business. I know how to do that stuff now. I've become somebody who knows how to sell. I know how to sell offers now. I had no idea how to do that. Like I know how to actually speak to people, find out what they want, find out whether I can help them, and then actually be able to make an offer if I know that I can help them. Right?

 

Meaghan Smith  12:22

I've become somebody who can help my clients ahead of time, by creating amazing content like on this podcast, like right now, stuff that I create for you every week for free. I've become so much better at doing that. And also other other things that I've done, I've learned how to run webinars, I've learned how to run open coaching calls. I've learned how to host a book club and support women every month with learning, like developing their financial knowledge and money mindset knowledge, right? I've been able to create a profit in my business in my first year and learn systems for how to set up my accounting to create that, right? I've learned how to do my accounts in a way that works for me. I've interviewed some amazing guests on this podcast and met some incredible women. Right? Through becoming a businesswoman and growing and learning and developing and getting more people on this show. I've now become a person who has clients in Canada, the US, Australia and Sweden. Right? My work has helped people all over the world.  It blows my mind. In the podcast, you see stats, like where people listen to this show. And there's people listening to this show in every continent, oh, not Antarctica. But like all over the world, hello, wherever you're listening, it just blows my mind, right, that people in South America, in Asia, in Africa, are listening to my podcast. And if that's you, Hello, I'm so stoked that you are here.

 

Meaghan Smith  14:17

I've been invited to speak at a money mindset summit. Where my gurus, my mentors, the people that I've learnt from, were part of the headline speakers at this summit, like Lynn Twist, who I love and adore and who is an amazing teacher and I've learned so much about money from her, I was in a summit with her. Right? One of the speakers, at the same summit as her. And I was able to do all of these things, because I set a goal for myself, like a revenue goal in my business, and just kept going. Now, they're just the external things that you see on the outside. But internally, the changes that have happened is that I trust myself, right? Like, I've become a person who really trusts herself. Like, when I say that I'm gonna do something, I might be wrong about the date that I achieve it, but I know I'm going to achieve it. Right?

 

Meaghan Smith  15:27

I've developed my own voice, like the way that I communicate with you and how I deliver content and the way that I develop my coaching programme. Right? I've figured out how I want to help women, because in the beginning, I was much more general, I was very general, and as I've continued, I've realised more and more that I'm really passionate about helping women change their money mindset, because I just see that that helps on so many different levels with your whole life, right? When you've worked out your money shit, it's so much easier, because how you do something in one area of your life, you do it in all areas, but money is just an area where I just feel really passionate about that I want women, more women, having an incredible relationship with money, and being able to make more money and not have money be a barrier in their life to the things that they want to do. Right?

 

Meaghan Smith  16:28

And so that's just another one of the most incredible things that has happened from me, you know, creating this revenue goal. I love myself and my life hard now, like I am loving my life. And I'm in lockdown right now, by the way, I think we're in week 12. And I can still say that, that I'm loving my life. I feel so proud on a regular basis from the things that I've created. And I've really increased the amount of enjoyment I get from my work and just being alive. And one other thing I would say is I'm comfortable with failure. Now I've become a person who, failure to me is no big deal. Right? I fail all the time. I try stuff and it doesn't work how I thought it was going to work. And it's just not even a problem. Like I don't even, it's not a blip on my screen, right? I mean, yeah, sure, I get disappointed sometimes when things don't work the way that I thought they were going to work. But it's not an issue, it doesn't shut me down. I just see it as data. Right? And the life that I'm living now is the life that I dreamed about a few years ago and didn't even know was possible to create. I didn't even know this was possible for me. And so I want to just say to you imagine if I had given up on myself and my goals and my dreams, just because I didn't reach my money goal by December last year.

 

Meaghan Smith  18:06

Seriously, can you imagine? It just makes me cry thinking of what I would have missed out on if I hadn't just kept going and just kept taking action until I created what I wanted, and not used time against myself, right? Like not used time as a barrier. Because time isn't a barrier. I mean, things don't take time in the sense that - like in this three months of this year, I have - so the financial year in Australia starts in July, we go from July to June. In these first three months of the financial year, this year, I have made the same amount of money as it took me eight months last year to make. Right? Like from May last year to December, the amount of money I made is the same amount as I made in the last three months. Like how incredible is that, right? And the reason, what I mean by things don't take time is, I didn't have the thoughts that I needed to be able to, like create the results that I wanted. And also I didn't have the skills that I needed, there were some skills that I needed to develop from when I set my goal last year to now. And the only reason I didn't reach my goal by December last year is because there was some personal growth I had to go through. I had to uplevel my thinking about myself and I had to upskill in some areas. There were some things that I had to learn. I have an online business. I work with people online. I needed to learn how to communicate with people online, how to sell to people online, right? Because if you don't have that skill, it's very difficult to create clients. Right? And it doesn't mean anything about me or my ability as a businesswoman, it just means that there were some skill gaps, right, that I've developed. And that's why now it's a lot easier for me to create income faster.

 

Meaghan Smith  20:31

So what I want to leave you with, why I'm sharing this information with you, and oh, man, yeah, it's just like, it gets me so deep, talking about this, it's because I haven't let time be a barrier to creating the life that I want. And I really want to encourage you to not use time against yourself, in both looking at it from both angles in the setting of a goal. So don't use time against yourself in terms of if you think something's gonna take a long time, or not even if you think, I mean if you know, like, for example, if there's a particular career that you want to do, some things take time. You know, my partner works in the medical profession. And he has now been studying, oh, my gosh, I've lost count how many years, like more than 10. And he's still got another 18 months, until he becomes, like, fully qualified in the field that he's in, right? There's all different levels in the medical profession, but like, forever, it seems like forever. But imagine if he didn't do that, because he thought it's going to take this many years. Right?

 

Meaghan Smith  21:53

Because that's what so many of you do. You give up on your dreams, before you've even started them. Because you think it's going to take a certain amount of time. And in your mind, you make, you use that against yourself, like you make that mean that somehow it's not available to you, but what else are you going to do with your life, what, you're going to spend that 10, 12 years doing something else that you don't even want to do? Like think that through, logically, right? And then on the other side of that, if you do set a goal for yourself, and you don't reach it in the time that you set for yourself, don't make it mean that anything's gone wrong. Make it mean, that Oh, you know, I wanted to create this goal by this time. But actually, it didn't happen the way that I thought it would. And use it as data, right? Like maybe there were some skill gaps that I still needed to fill, right? Maybe there was some internal growth that I needed to go through before I could create that goal.

 

Meaghan Smith  23:03

Because I've got to say that reaching my - the fact that I've reached the revenue that I wanted to reach in August, yes, it's a big deal in terms of I'm so excited that I've done that, and I'm so proud of myself. But it's all the other stuff that is just so much more important. And that's the unseen cost of giving up on your goals. Like all those things that I've listed out in this podcast today that the person that I have become through creating that goal is fucking priceless. Like this will carry through for the rest of my life. I can't unlearn this stuff. Right? The way that I think and feel about myself as a person who has created this goal and all the self development that I have gone through to get to this place is worth a bazillion times more than the revenue that I made. And to think of the opportunity cost if I hadn't just kept going, if I had given up on myself at the end of last year because I hadn't made the money when I wanted to make it by? What a waste, oh my gosh, I would have lost out on so much. Like so much learning and growth.

 

Meaghan Smith  24:35

So I want to encourage you that if you are using time as a barrier, please don't. Because it is robbing you of the life that you want to live and of the dreams that are in your reach if you just let yourself go for them, and don't use time as an excuse or as a barrier to reaching your goals, alright? Whatever you want to do, you can totally achieve it. I know you can, because there's nothing special about me compared to you. Like, of course, there's heaps of special things about me. But what I mean is, I don't have some superpower that you don't, right? Like you can reach your goals too, just don't use time as a barrier against yourself.

 

Meaghan Smith  25:27

Alright, if you are loving what you are hearing from me on the podcast, there's two things that I would like to offer you. One is please write me a review on iTunes. Writing a review on iTunes helps people find the show. Alright? And share it with your friends. If you're getting value from this podcast, please share it, because I want more women making more money. It's a thing. I'm never stopping. I'm not stopping now. Like I've unleashed something, it's like more women making more money everywhere. Share this podcast, please.

 

Meaghan Smith  26:04

And the second thing I want to offer you is if you really resonate with what I teach on this podcast, and if you would really like to work with me so you can change your money mindset and create the money and life that you want, I'd love to invite you to sign up for a consultation with me. It's a one hour call, you will walk away from the call knowing what is getting in the way of creating the money and the life that you want. And you'll also walk away from the call knowing whether we're a good fit, and whether I can help you because I work one on one with women for six months. So we want to meet each other first and, you know, meet face to face and make sure that we're a good fit. Okay, until I speak to you again next week, have an amazing week. Love ya. Bye.