Every month, I strive to learn a new skill, build my knowledge in a certain area or work on something about myself. That makes me sound like such a focused person 😄, but I only started last month so you can also start now. I did Savings last month, which I’ll talk about it in another blog post, but I learnt a lot and I continue to do so.

This month, I was deliberate on knowing more about myself, especially how I view money, my attitude and mentality towards money. I know this is a business blog hence the name WazaBiz and you’re probably wondering, “Why is she talking about her attitude towards money? Where is the business??” Relax 🙂 With my short time in this world and in entrepreneurship, I’ve come to see and experience that much of the way we think on an individual level affects us also on a business level. So allow me, every so often, to share what I’m learning or working on personally, that makes me a better entrepreneur.

I finished reading Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki about a week ago. Such an amazing read and I’d encourage anyone to read it. It’s because of this book that I did some soul searching and asked myself, “What mentality do you have on money? Are you living with a mentality of fear or abundance?” A mentality of fear makes you a slave of money. It’s what makes you skeptical about most opportunities that involve money. It makes you feel like giving money to a worthy cause will dent you. You feel like you would rather suffer but have money in your account (that’s not growing). Most of the time, you fear that you’ll lose money and so you do anything to get the money but nothing to grow it. You slave for that money, you might even play dirty and be corrupt to get it. You’re so fearful of losing money, that you actually end up losing any opportunity to grow it. So, you play safe…very safe. Slowly, that fear starts to move into other areas of your life. You don’t dream big because “you won’t be able to afford”. You sell your soul just to get an opportunity because you fear such opportunities are rare. For some reason, everything seems scarce and it’s like everyone is fighting for the same things as you. So, because of your fear, 2 things will happen; You will either join the fight and play dirty so as to get that which is “scarce”, or you’ll give up fighting, give up dreaming and do any job, as long as it pays.

Then there’s the abundance mentality, where you believe that there is enough money even if you currently don’t have it. And so, when an opportunity comes, your first answer isn’t, “I don’t have money”, rather it’s, “Let me work smarter to get money for that”, because you know it’s there, you just need to find it. You take big calculated risks because you know the bigger the risk, the higher the return. You see things in abundance, including business opportunities. You don’t fight to fit in, you fight to be different. This kind of thinking is liberating! It allows you to dream big, be innovative and see what others can’t see. This month I made a promise to myself and to God that I will never pay a bribe or do anything dingy just to get a deal, because that sets me back. That will make me operate in fear and doubt the abundance of God.

I have been a slave of fear and I didn’t realize it till this month. Afraid to use money and afraid to invest because the fear of losing blinds me from the opportunity of gaining. Afraid to expand my business, worrying that I’ll put in money that will take a long time to come back. Afraid to dream big because getting there could be such a process, and I’m afraid of going through that process. Afraid to invest in myself. Wanting to be like someone else. Fear does that to you, it narrows down possibilities in your mind so you struggle to be like the others. But I’m leaving all that and I’m breaking that mentality every day.

I’ve been thinking abundance and speaking it into my life more this month. There is money, I only need to find the right way of getting it. There are many opportunities, being denied one does not mean I should stop searching.  There are businesses everywhere, I need to find them. I can work and invest in myself, doing so is not a waste of money. I’m striving to be a different kind of entrepreneur. I don’t want to be a copy of my role models and mentors, but instead, I want them to guide and inspire me to be a better version of myself and not a ‘mini them’.

You can be a prisoner of your own mind without realizing it. The mind is powerful! Think in abundance, not fear. Let’s dream big and do big. Learn to let yourself free if you realize you’ve been a slave of your own thoughts, especially fear.

Cheers 😊