Episode 240: Building A Healthy & Wealthy Money Mindset with Erinn Bridgman

Money is more than just pieces of paper. There are a lot of fears, beliefs, challenges, and mindset hurdles tied to money. If you don’t address those things, you’ll hide from your finances and bury your head in the sand like an ostrich hoping everything will somehow magically work out.

In our world, money is power so knowing how to manage your money and your mindset around money is incredibly valuable. But it isn’t enough just to manage your business finances. You also have to look at how they impact your personal finances to get the full financial picture and achieve your goals.

Today’s guest is creating a movement to help women entrepreneurs gain financial confidence and take the taboo out of their relationship with money. When you’re in the driver’s seat and in control of your money, you can change your life and change the world. If you feel embarrassed or anxious about the financial side of your business, you’re going to get a ton out of this episode.

In this episode we’ll cover:

• How your business finances impact your personal finances and vice versa
• How women have been disadvantaged financially
• Common challenges creative women have with money mindset and money management
• 2 common money mindset hang-ups
• How to take control of your money so it doesn’t feel so chaotic and scary
• Why we tend to avoid numbers in our business
• Why we can’t focus on just business finances
• The importance of budgeting for information
• How to break down long-term goals into small financial to-do’s
• Super practical things you can do today to better manage your money

Building A Healthy & Wealthy Money Mindset with Erinn Bridgman

How did Erinn end up working with women on money mindset & money management?

Erinn grew her photography business and was able to scale her business and move into the education space. She saw a consistent pattern where creative women were having challenges around how they think about money, their beliefs around worthiness, and how they manage their money. Now Erinn works with women on both money mindset and money management because she believes wealthy women can change the world.

Women being able to earn their own money and have true financial freedom is a relatively new thing in the grand scheme of things. Women have been disadvantaged for hundreds and hundreds of years by not being able to control their own money. After all, money is power.

Women in America only just got the right to open a bank account without a man in the 1960s and it wasn’t until the 1970s that women were able to get credit without a man. Pay disparities between men and women are still an issue in 2023. Not only are we dealing with a shorter history of managing money but we’re also pushing against societal frameworks. We have a huge opportunity to shift things as entrepreneurs.

What are the common money mindset issues Erinn’s clients face?

Erinn gets a lot of women who tell her they’re just not a numbers person. If you’re a business owner though, you don’t have that choice. You don’t get to just not deal with numbers if you want to create a profitable company.

Nobody is born knowing math or how to review financial statements. This is a skill that you can develop. You don’t have to be good with math or even good with numbers to be honey. You just need to learn the relevant skills so that you can make decisions from a place of power knowing they’re backed up by numbers.

Instead of saying “I’m not good with numbers” shift your language to “I’m in the process of learning how to better understand my numbers”.

Another common money mindset issue that comes up with Erinn’s clients is the idea of worthiness. We use our money to invest in our values and Erinn had one client who wanted to invest in a Peloton. She knew she could afford it but she felt so much resistance around actually making the purchase.

She dug into this struggle with Erinn and realized that she grew up seeing her mom put everyone else before her. Her mom never did anything for herself. She didn’t spend any money or time on herself and this client realized she was reliving that same pattern she learned as a child.

Worthiness comes up in many different ways. It can show up when we raise our prices and make us second guess ourselves. This is why I personally have a big problem with the phrase “charge what you’re worth”. It tells your subconscious that you are charging what you are worth. No, you are a human being. Your worth as a person is not equal to the amount a market will pay for a given product or service. Those are two completely different things.

Why do people say they’re not good with numbers?

Sometimes people are afraid of what they’re going to see when they look at their numbers so they decide instead to avoid it and just claim it’s not something they’re good at. That never makes anything better and it often makes things worse.

Some people are afraid to see if they’re profitable or not. They fear their bank account won’t have enough money in it so they just close their eyes and hope everything works out. This avoidance is understandable because confronting the truth means we have to deal with it and make changes which isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

People may avoid looking at their numbers because they’re not sure what to look at or what the numbers mean. They may not have the systems, tools, or training to know how to even get good with their numbers. Instead of seeking that out, many people just hope it’ll all work out.

Some creatives label themselves as “not good with numbers” because it doesn’t come as naturally to them as the creative parts of the business. That’s okay! Remember, these are skills we all have to learn. No one is born knowing how to do this.

Erinn points out that some women have an unhealthy relationship with numbers in general whether that’s the number on the scale or the number of followers we have. We often take these numbers and allow them to define our worth.

Even the way the media speaks to women about money reflects this. It’s more focused on what not to spend on and being frugal as opposed to true financial education.

Erinn will convince you that spreadsheets are sexy and they don’t lie so they provide certainty. When you decide to take control of your money, it puts you in the driver’s seat and gives you so many options. She works with women who have been in business for years and this numbers issue is the skeleton in their closet that they’re ready to be rid of. They want the control and the freedom that comes from taking control of your finances.

Why we can’t just focus on business finances

Many times these business owners are brought to finally work on this because their personal financial situation isn’t where they want it to be. They have this successful business but maybe they’re not paying themselves enough or they don’t have actual financial goals for their life.

The personal finances often don’t reflect the business success they’re having and they want to make that change. Most people don’t know how much it costs to live much less how much they need for retirement and figuring that out gives you so much power.

A lot of times we focus on just the business side of things but the whole financial point of the business is to impact your personal life. Who cares if you’re making $400,000 a year but you’re still living paycheck to paycheck? The power of the entrepreneur is to go make more money. But how much do we need?

65% of Americans don’t know how much it costs for them to live their current lifestyle. Most of those people don’t have a budget. If that’s you, you’re not alone and you can do something about it.

Erinn starts by helping clients understand the baseline of how much it costs them to live. Then, they work on creating a budget that covers monthly expenses as well as those expenses that come up at other intervals like insurance and travel so you know you’re covered. This isn’t a super stripped-down budget either. This is just how much it costs to live your current lifestyle.

Budgeting isn’t for cutting expenses, it’s for knowledge. Once you have that knowledge you have options. If you need more money, you can make cuts or you can increase what you make. That’s the beauty of entrepreneurship.

She then works with her clients to determine what they need to pay themselves and what other money needs to be set aside for long-term financial goals like retirement. She helps her clients strategize, dollar for dollar, where that money is going based on goals. This makes reaching those goals so much easier.

For example, if you want to retire your husband that can feel like a huge lofty goal. When you have this command of your numbers you can look at how long that would take and how much more money you’d need to bring in to reach that goal.

Oftentimes it doesn’t take as long as you might think. One of Erinn’s clients was able to retire her husband in a year by being really strategic. She originally thought it would take 5 years.

Erinn had another client who was feeling really frustrated by the real estate market. She was able to calculate that her family would be able to build their own dream house in the neighborhood they love which is something that felt impossible before breaking it down. Your goals are so much more attainable when you work out the numbers.

When you are willing to be both the CEO and CFO of your business and your life, you can make significant changes.

Feeling like you’re just supposed to be able to do this

It’s easy to feel like we’re just supposed to be able to do this and we should already know how. It’s just part of being an adult right? Not at all! It’s a learned skill and while it gets easier over time, it’s never perfect.

It’s easy to feel like everyone else has it together but planning for the future actually goes against how the human brain functions. It feels very refreshing when you realize that everyone else is having the same hesitations about raising their prices or fears about spending a certain amount of money.

We all have these same fears and struggles and that’s okay. We also have the tools to work through them and we all still freak out sometimes.

Practical things you can do today to better manage your money

If you do not have separate bank accounts for personal and business, do that right away. If you have multiple LLCs you need to keep those separate from one another as well.

You need to make sure you’re saving for tax payments monthly. Erinn works with her clients to calculate the % to set aside and you can do this with your accountant. Create a separate bank account for your tax savings and move that money out of your main business bank account so it’s there when it’s time to pay taxes.

Track your money for at least a month using Mint so you can see where it’s going and how much you actually spend.

Get in touch with your financial goals. Let’s say for example you want to be debt-free. Figure out the exact amount of money you owe and break down how much you can set aside to pay it off. If you want to buy a house, figure out what you can afford and exactly how much you’d need for the down payment and for your monthly payments.

PIles of green cash are not very motivating but when you focus on something that really matters to you, like being debt-free or buying a house, you’ll show up differently.

Do an abundance manifestation challenge. Set a timeframe and a dollar amount you’ll bring in above and beyond what you already know is coming into your business. Every time money comes into your world, track it in a note on your phone or in a notebook. When your friend buys you a $6 coffee, write that down.

Why do this? Naturally, our brain is wired to keep us safe and that can keep us in fear and scarcity mode. Seeing that there is money all around you will help you shift your focus away from scarcity. What we focus on builds.

Use automation to your advantage. If you figure out you need to set aside $200 per week to reach your goal, set up an automatic transfer to do that for you. Otherwise, fear will creep in and prevent you from making that transfer.

Knowing your numbers protects you

I got a letter from the IRS claiming that I owed them $10,000. I did not and I knew I didn’t. Why? Because I know I set aside the right amount for taxes, I make the right tax payments, and that my books are always up to date. I was able to easily check my records and confirm that I was right.

But what if I didn’t know that? I would have probably freaked out and just called and set up a payment plan.

Instead, I sent the letter to my accountant who wrote a letter explaining that I didn’t owe that amount and the IRS agreed.

About Erinn

As a money management and mindset coach, Erinn Bridgman empowers female entrepreneurs to design a business that is not just ‘profitable’, but actually grows their personal wealth. Born with an entrepreneurial spirit, Erinn started building her own wealth by scaling her photography business to over six figures in under two years, affording her the capital to begin funding the real estate empire she and her husband now run.

Ever passionate about supporting women as they uncover their own potential and earning power, Erinn supports female business owners to not just ‘scale their business’ but to use it as a means for building personal wealth. When she’s not working with clients or finding her next investment property, Erinn can likely be found vacationing around the world and spending quality time with friends, her husband, and daughter, Ava.

Website: www.erinnbridgman.com
Podcast: www.erinnbridgman.com/podcasts/the-wealthy-woman-podcast
Instagram: @erinn_bridgman
Erinn’s Wealthy Woman Checklist

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Links & Resources:

Get The FREE 6 Pillars To Creating A 6+ Figure Wedding Business That Doesn’t Burn You Out Private Podcast Training!
Join us inside The Wedding Business Collective!
Episode 114: Dealing With Doubt & Imposter Syndrome with Lauren Aycock Anderson
Episode 90: Smart Money Moves For Wedding Professionals With Mary Beth Storjohann
Episode 62: Financial Freedom for Wedding Professionals with Ashley Feinstein Gerstley
Episode 61: Managing Your Money & Dealing With Irregular Income with Carrie Smith
Mint (money tracker)

 

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