📍 Hey friends. Welcome back to No Silver Spoons. I'm your host, Sarah Beth Herman, and today we are having a conversation that you didn't even know you needed to have. We're gonna talk about money, but it's not just about making it. We're gonna talk even deeper.   We're gonna go over learning the rules of business and how to leverage what you already have and how to stop waiting for your circumstances to change before you do.

  Now I believe the truth is this. Nobody handed me any sort of golden path, silver spoon. I had to build it, and it was one decision, one pivot, one moment of really uncomfortable growth at a time,   and it wasn't easy. And I had to make really hard choices and trusting that I was making the right thing without trying to rely on the traditional job environment.

  Now, it is true that not everybody is. Bound and determined to be an entrepreneur. Some people are completely happy working at the same job for 40 years, getting their 25 cent, 50 cent dollars raises every quarter or every year or every couple of years, depending on the business or the brand. But for me, that isn't enough because I want to be part of something really big, really incredible, and something that.

  I thought of in my own mind that helped me grow as a person and helped me reach more people and helped me become the version of myself that was always destined to become.   I had coffee with someone this week,   super smart, super incredible, thoughtful, amazing human that I absolutely adore.   They're doing very well for themselves,   and she looked at me and she said, Sarah Beth, you look at business the way you do because you already have money in the bank.

  I was scrolling through your pictures before we met for lunch today,   and I thought she probably has a couple of million in the bank.   I don't know if that's true, but that's what I thought.   I don't have the luxury you have. I can't afford to grow like you can.   Money's different for you. You're not scraping by to get it because you already have it.

So you can think of it as this really amazing and easy thing to catch because you've already got some.   And I sat with what she said the whole time she was talking, just kind of marinating on it, not because I was offended, but because I knew that that belief wasn't unique to her.   That same mindset is quietly living in so many of you right now.

Like it just must be easy because you've already got it.   But the truth is that just because someone has more money than you doesn't mean that they aren't still finding ways to stretch, to risk, to build.   Growth isn't for the lucky, it's for the strategic, and that's what this episode is all about today.

  You see that person that I was talking to, they make six figures a year. Now, I know many of you that would just give anything to make six figures a year, any six figures, 100,000, 300,000, 700,000,  999,000.   But they're feeling stuck. She's stuck exactly where she is. She's not reaching the kind of success that she's dreamt of, and she's always chasing the widgets.

She's chasing the next client, the next sale.   Why?   Because she's unwilling to sacrifice, her comfort to get there.   And that's where I'm going to get a little bit blunt   because I love you and I know that you need to hear this.   You cannot want the results of growth while refusing the cost of it.   You can't complain about your income if you're not willing to adjust your behaviors, your risks, your mindset.

  That's not scarcity. That's stagnation.   One of my clients, this one, it actually gives me the chills. This is a good story.   She wanted to work with this one mentor. Now, before I tell you the story, I know that I'm not the perfect mentor for every single person in this world. It's not possible. There are way too many people for me to ever mentor.

So oftentimes I speak with clients, people that aren't my clients, people that I've never met before, that just wanted to have a conversation about someone that they're working with, a different mentor, someone different than me. I don't mind those conversations because I believe there is plenty of business and room for all of us.

I don't need every client. I don't even want every client I want, what's meant for me.   So she's telling me about this mentor that she wants to have.   They charge $10,000 a week and yes, per week. And for that $10,000 a week, you get two sessions each week. Now you get to schedule those according to your schedule, but it's $10,000 a week.

  Now she really wants to work with this guy, like he's amazing.   She could have said, absolutely no way.  there's no way I can afford it. I don't have $10,000. I don't make $10,000 a week. How can I pay someone $10,000 a week?  But what she saw in this mentor was their capacity to get her where she needed to be to do the speaking gigs that she wanted to do.

  Now she's really trying to ramp up her business so much so that she is  minimizing her expenses by even changing her eating habits and her living situation  to save enough money to be able to invest in herself in different ways so she can get her business where she wants it to be. Now, is that always comfortable?

No. But is it necessary a thousand percent?   So what she did with this mentor is a page everyone can take out of her book and apply to their life right now.   This exact method   is proof that it doesn't matter how much money you have, it just matters what you're willing to do to get where you're wanting to go.

  She approached this mentor and she said, Hey, I don't have $10,000 a week,   but here's what I will give you. I'll give you 50% of the revenue guaranteed for two years   of all the money that I generate for speaking gigs that you helped me land.

  She took a bet on herself.   Now, she might only get a gig for $1,500, but seven 50 of that's gone first two years,  but she knows   that he can get her what she wants, high ticket in the rooms of people she needs to be in.   She took a bet on herself   and the mentor,   he said, yes.   So this is what I mean when I say you have to know the rules of business and you have to be willing to play them differently.

  You need to stop thinking that the only thing you bring to the table is money.   Do you have time,   a skill?   Connections, experience ideas.   You have to start thinking like an investor, even if you're only investing sweat equity.   When you understand what you're actually offering, your resource bank gets a lot bigger than your checking account.

  I often have conversations with clients, perspective clients, and just friends and colleagues of mine about business transactions. I do investment properties. I buy businesses. I take a chance on things that I invest in.   And I am always negotiating, always. I never take the first offer. I never think I'm gonna end at the first offer.

In fact, most times I don't even know where I'm gonna end. I just know that I'm gonna fight for what's best. I.   In fact, this last week I had a call with a gentleman, and I won't divulge the whole scenario with you,  but what I will tell you is that I used two different companies and leveraged them against each other to be able to get the results in a business transaction that I needed to get for me and my business.

Now, neither one of them knew that I was leveraging one against the other,   but I was able to get each of them to provide for me a locked in contract copy of what their offer was for me.   Use it against each other.   And the minute I started using it against them,   I noticed who was stronger. I noticed the stronger person who was willing to say, okay, wait, hold on a second.

We can do this, this, this. We can change this. We can modify that. Let's do this. Immediately going to the table, figuring every single thing out they could do.   Now what's very interesting about this scenario, without giving too many details, is that  by the time I was done with the transaction,   the better money initially   was with Party A.

  I ended up going with Party B because of principle.   Ethics, what they represented, what I thought my future would be with that company, even though   upfront it wasn't as lucrative. I saw the long-term win. I saw what it would become if I stayed the course. And when I got on the phone with person B, party BI guess we'll say,   and I told them that I was going to be going with party A because I had to strong arm them.

  I remember that conversation and saying, listen,   I know you've done a ton of work here. I know we've spent a lot of time on this project,   but what I have to help you understand   is that this isn't a personal attack on you. If I decide not to go with you,   this is me. My livelihood, my business, my money, what I am doing for me and my family.

So when I take a look at this project,  I am unwilling to sacrifice my family for more.   I'm unwilling. So what I am willing to do is to have a conversation with you to say, Hey,  this is what I need. My family's already made a ton of sacrifices. We've already fought the big fight   now. This is what I'm looking for.

This company over here is willing to do it,  and this is what I'm gonna do. So if you can't get on board with that, we can't move forward.   Now I will repeat that. I didn't go with company A after everything was said and done. I went with company B   even though it wasn't as lucrative.   The thing is that there was a risk.

There was a risk in losing both companies.  There was a risk in losing both deals  because I was leveraging them. Anyone could have bounced out at any point. Something could have changed, not in my favor at any given time.

  The thing is, scarcity will steal your options if you let it.   There's actual neuroscience behind this. When we feel financial scarcity, our brain's executive function, the part that makes smart long-term decisions, it actually starts to shut down.   We become reactive. We focus on survival instead of strategy.

We lose the ability to think creatively.  when you shift into what is called resource mindset, you start scanning for what is possible. You notice opportunities, you ask better options. You stay open to ideas that can change everything.   I remember when talking about this specific situation,   there was going to need to be more money on the table,   and then immediately my brain was already thinking of all of these different strategies of how this could come available.

  You see, I was in a resource mindset.   I wasn't in a scarcity mindset. Scarcity is, oh my gosh, what if this doesn't happen? Resources, how do we make it happen? How do we believe it's going to happen? How do we change the trajectory of absolutely everything by shifting our mindset and moving forward?

  Something I wish more people said out loud   is this.   Whether you're making $50 an hour or $5,000 an hour,   you are still thinking about money.   You're still figuring out how to generate more, how to keep it, how to use it wisely. The game doesn't stop.   The pressure just shifts.   So let's kill the myth that people are making more money and they have it easier now because they make more money.

  What they usually have is actually perspective   and a bigger toolkit for generating income when things get tight, but   you're still in the game. You just have to learn to play smarter.   You have to build systems that make money even when you're not working.   Now, let's say for example, your business is brick and mortar.

Maybe you're landlocked. You can't scale by working more hours, you're a solo provider.   That is a real limitation, but it is not a dead end. That just means you need other revenue streams. Think eBooks, affiliate links, product kits, digital courses, membership models.  You can create something once that sells over and over and over again.

  Lemme give you an example. My husband,   my husband is a serial entrepreneur just like me. He just does it differently. He's a real estate agent. He sells retail,   he flips cars. There's a lot of things in his tool belt,   but we're gonna talk about his retail products that he sells through eBay.   This summer, we're traveling a lot,    and he's having to bring part of his inventory with us.

  This morning, he woke up and he had $1,200 in overnight sales.   Why? Because he chose to set up his business to run while he sleeps.   That's what I want you to walk away with. The belief that you can create something today that works for you tomorrow, even if you're resting.   I am not where I am today because I had secret funding or a lucky break.

  I built businesses while I was raising my daughter,   growing in my marriage,   managing stress, recovering from failure multiple times. I   made calls I was scared to make. I still make calls. I'm scared to make.   I said yes before I was ready, and I bet on myself so many times and I didn't win all of those times.

  So if you think you can't do something, you're right. You can't.   But I want you to know it's not about being special.   It's about choosing to see possibility when it's inconvenient.   Let's bring this episode to your, that's good moment.   Here are your highlights and your next steps that I want you to take from this episode.

  Stop waiting to have money before you move. Leverage what you have now.   Growth. It costs something if you aren't willing to sacrifice. Comfort. Don't expect change.   Money fears hit at all levels. Wealth doesn't erase money. Mindset issues,   leverage is power.   You can trade time, skills, percentages, or creative contracts.

  You need income while you sleep. Don't tie all your income to hours that you are actually working.   You're not stuck. You're just thinking too small.   Over the next week, I want you to take some action steps.   I want you to inventory your assets. I want want you to write down everything that you have to offer.

Time, knowledge, contacts, experience, creative skills.   I want you to identify one way to trade and not spend,   who could benefit from your offer? What value exchange could you pitch?   Three. I want you to brainstorm one new income stream   that could actually run without you being present.   Number four, say the scary.

Yes. Whether that's investing in yourself asking for help or starting new,   I want you to do it anyway.   And number five, I want you to audit your mindset. I want you to ask yourself, where am I shrinking? Where am I assuming that I can't   friend? I know that it feels really hard right now. I know some days it feels like you're walking uphill, barefoot,   but you're still here.

You're still listening to this episode,   and that means that you're still in the game   and as long as you're in the game, you've got options.   This isn't about you chasing some imaginary dollar.   It is about creating a life where you get to choose how you show up, how you rest, and how you earn.   Thank you for letting me be in your ears today.

If this episode stirred something in you, I don't want you to sit on it,   share it,   explore it, re-listen to it, text it to your friend who's stuck, and I want you to remember that you are not too late, you are not too underqualified. You are exactly where you are supposed to be, and it's time to level up.

  I'm Sarah Beth Herman, and this is No Silver Spoons, and I'll catch you  📍 on the next episode.