Strengthen Your Relationship with Money | Interview with Chelsea Stratso
Chelsea is a fresh breath of optimism and knowledge. She is a true testament that with hard work and focus, you can design life on your terms! As entrepreneurs, it can be challenging considering we juggle multiple financial responsibilities on an unstable income.
Chelsea and I spoke about cultivating a healthy money mindset on Instagram Live the other day. Her practicality on achieving financial freedom reminds us that it’s all about making small steps towards our business goals.
Needless to say, I had a few follow up questions.
Michelle: What's a healthy daily routine we can implement to rewire a healthy money mindset?
Chelsea: Take time each day to write down 3 things that you are grateful for that money provides. For example, I'm grateful for money because: it allows me to travel, it helps me to provide for my family, and it allows to purchase things for my home like art that makes me happy. It's great to write these down in the morning to set your mood about money for the day, or in the evening to reflect on all the great things that happened because of money
Michelle: How do you create actionable financial goals?
Chelsea: I love breaking down huge goals into small actionable goals to make it seem more achievable and to have a solid plan. Take your big financial goal, and break it down into monthly goals. Once you have those monthly goals, you can write to-do list actions to move you forward. If your goal is to pay off your student loans in 5 years, you need to see what you need to put towards that each year, and then divide that number by 12 to see how much you need to put toward it each month. Then figure out a way to make that money - whether that's taking on an extra client or cutting another personal expense - and set a specific date that you make that loan payment. Then that huge figure seems rather small, and it's much easier to plan for.
Michelle: What can lead to an unhealthy mindset?
Chelsea: There's a lot of factors that influence our mindset, and our upbringing plays a huge role in it. If you grew up in a household that wasn't financially stable and your parents constantly argued about it, you probably have a really complicated relationship with money. You most likely see it as a cause of arguments, so you stray away from talking about it which leads to misinformation about finances. An unhealthy mindset can also come from the people you are currently surrounding yourself with. Take note of your friends and families opinions about money. It can be really contagious to take on their mindset if they are constantly complaining about money, the price of things, and how there's just simply not enough of it - which is untrue.
Michelle: "Wealth is not a single event, but rather it's a habit" Why this is your favorite quote?
Chelsea: I am living and breathing this quote right now! I look at this quote in two ways:
It means nobody is going to hand you wealth, so you must work toward it daily. You must partake in daily practices that will put you on the path to success, because nobody is going to hand it to you. Examples of those are being grateful for money, setting and planning for financial goals, and working on your craft so that you can eventually charge more for your services or product.
Even if you were handed wealth, how would you know how to manage it if you can't manage a lesser amount of money? There's a reason why so many lottery winners file for bankruptcy. They had an unhealthy relationship with money and they thought that more money would solve their financial woes. Instead it created more problems because they never made responsible spending a habit.
If you’re looking to cultivate a healthy money mindset this year, consider joining us at the Mindset Summit on February 22, 2020. Take this opportunity to surround yourself with like-minded women and begin your financial journey. Chelsea Stratso is facilitating a life changing workshop on “Cultivating A Healthy Money Mindset.” Register for Track 2 today!