Do you know your 'financial thermostat'?

Like most entrepreneurs, I spent a fortune on marketing. In fact, I have spent six figures of my own money over the years on strategy after strategy: marketeers, advertising campaigns, copywriters. Where did it get me? Seven years ago my businesses were failing and I fell into tens of thousands of pounds of debt. But I managed to climb out of the ashes.

While many struggling business owners think they have a problem with marketing, this is only a secondary cause. Before they can address this, they must get to the root cause of unwanted results: their conditioning and beliefs. 

Your financial thermostat

We all have a ‘financial thermostat’. This is our subconscious belief around money and what we believe we’re worth. It develops from childhood through experiences, observations and interactions with others, and determines our income: how we price products, the clients we attract, how we position ourselves within our industry.

If you are not aware of what your financial thermostat is stuck at, and why, you will be stuck there forever. A person who is currently ‘programmed’ to earn £5,000 a month will never go above this figure. They may experience a temporary increase but, very quickly, it will level out again. This is why most business owners experience only temporary success. They may have one or two big months, but before they know it they're back to square one. They are running on autopilot, are programmed for the same old results and will continue to get them.

We all have an image of ourselves, the type of person we believe we are. This is formed over the years, as we reinforce beliefs based on our experiences, fears, worries and perceptions. This could lead to a fear of failure or worry that we’re going to lose all the success we’ve created. Through repetition, combined with emotion, negative ideas such as these form part of our subconscious mind, the blueprint we run on.

This self-image impacts how we think about money and wealth creation. If you have the blueprint of a winner - seeing yourself as confident and capable - you’ll have a healthier relationship with money, an increased sense of worthiness for financial success, and a greater ability to attract and manage wealth.

Override your old beliefs

So, if you want to grow your business, and to make more money, forget marketing. You need to create a new subconscious image of yourself. To extract some of those negative ideas and build new beliefs. This is a process. It will take time and repetition, because your thermostat wasn't built overnight.

Start by looking at your bank statements and your accounts. Look at what you've been bringing in and how consistent that is. Once you have an idea of your financial thermostat, you can start to change things. 

Get a pen and paper and make a list of some of the beliefs around money that you believe are holding you back. It could be that having money comes with great sacrifice. Or that the only way to make money is to work extremely hard. That money is the root of all evil. That people with money are more entitled.

Challenge those beliefs. Where did they come from? Why do I believe this is true? What evidence is there to back it up? Write new beliefs that you want to make your own, to replace the negative ones. Money is good. Money is easy to earn. Wealthy people are good. Money may not buy happiness, but neither does being broke.

Repeat that over and over and start to embody that person, to act like that person, to carry the thoughts of that person. Get emotionally involved with the idea that you are that person and start to get accustomed to living from that point of view. Override your old beliefs with positive thoughts.

You need to change YOU

Admittedly, you’re not going to become a new person just as a result of this. There are other steps you have to take, but this is your starting point. The person who gets results is the person who diligently and persistently invests time in this.

If you want to turn around your business fortunes, to make substantial gains in your income, you need to change YOU. Your mindset. To program yourself for success at a deeper level. Only then will clients begin pouring into your business, growing your income.

The truth is, while marketing is important, it can only be truly effective once you change your beliefs. I believe success is only 5% marketing and 95% mindset. I've worked with a lot of people who have turned their businesses around without changing anything to do with their marketing. If you want to scale your business, you’ve got to do something about your subconscious mind, to tweak it so marketing starts to work. And, if you do this successfully, things can change incredibly fast.