Soaking in the Benjamins

Ellen C. Wells

I’m reading a new book. This one will change my life, I just know it. Guaranteed. It’s called “You Are A Bad*ss at Making Money” by Jen Sincero. It’s a follow-up to a self-help book called, you guessed it, “You Are A Bad*ss.” I’m not sure why Jen’s first book didn’t convince me of my inherent “bass*ssery,” as she calls it, when I read it two years ago. This sequel, though—I think it’ll lead to good financial fortune for me. I can feel it in my bones.
 
I’m feeling it in my bones because I am visualizing my relationship with money. That’s one of the exercises the author suggests doing on a daily basis, a way to repair any negative connotations I may harbor consciously or not about my feelings with money. So, instead of my usual few minutes of meditation after a light yoga practice each morning, I’ve been meditating with the focus neither on my breath nor on an invisible candle. Nope. Instead I’ve been picturing myself in a huge, old-fashioned claw-foot bathtub, the overflowing bubbles replaced with Benjamins. I see myself with a great big smile on my face. People handing money to me (maybe I’m out of the tub and clothed at this point) and they, too, have smiles on their faces. They are happy to hand me money and give me more and more bundles of it. I’m not ashamed to say it’s an inspirational way to get started on my day.
 
DO NOT tell my yoga friends! I am sure envisioning myself bathing in money is very much against the principals of peace and love and universal oneness.
 
But then again, hold on. That’s not true, the author explains. Having money—boatloads of it, even—doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s just paper or numbers in a ledger book, after all. One’s feelings regarding the power of money and what one does with it—that’s where issues arise if something negative arises at all. It’s not the money, it’s the power.
 
My daily meditation on money doesn’t end with folks throwing money at my feet, of course. The natural progression of this money line has me accepting stacks and stacks of it, spinning 180° on my heels and giving it away in some charitable way. Okay, maybe some of it gets shoved into my virtual jeans pockets, I admit. But the more I have of it, the more good I can do. I visualize myself as a good person doing good things in and for the larger community with the money I’m given—actually, with the money I get for my hard work.
 
Jen Sincero went from being a getting-by-by-the-seat-of-her-pants freelance writer to a seven-figure making author, consultant and life coach. What was one of her critical steps along that path? According to her book, Jen became a bad*ss at making money by increasing her fees. She went from charging $25/hour for coaching sessions to $300/hour. Rather than spreading the love across the board by doing pro bono work or giving a deep discount for friends and family or feeling sorry for the folks who need a price break, Jen rakes in the big bucks with her clients and then turns around with that money in hand to be generous. She has a better life, her clients are happy because she’s doing work that fulfills her and she’s spreading the wealth and being charitable. It’s a win-win … win!

Inspiring, huh? I think so. The first step to not just finding wealth but to live well with money isn’t just raising your rates or prices. It’s admitting you are worth it. Your time, experience, skills and your reason for making money are all worthy of great sums. Become comfortable with that. And pretty soon you’ll have Benjamins jumping into your own claw-foot tub. GP