Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to the solopreneur Sisterhood podcast. A podcast designed to help heart centered service providers like you build a purposeful, profitable and sustainable business that supports what matters most to you. I'm your host, Becky McCleary and I am so grateful that you are here today. I am so excited that we have the opportunity to speak with Wendy Muzzi. Wendy helps women transform their relationship with money so they can create and build lasting wealth and enjoy life without constant money stress. As a certified life and money coach, she has extensive experience helping women shift their mindset and take control of their finances with confidence. But what truly sets Wendy apart is her warm, upbeat approach, which makes tackling big topics like money feel less intimidating and even exciting. Drawing on her expertise, Wendy offers insights and practical strategies to help women plan for their financial futures. However, her coaching is not just about the numbers. It's about guiding clients to view their finances with joy, curiosity and a sense of possibility. The best part, this transformation brings more happiness and ease into their relationships and everyday lives. Small business owners and high achieving women who want to stop worrying about money and start living with more abundance can find the support they need with Wendy. She offers one on one coaching programs and online courses to help them get clear on their financial vision, create actionable plans, and build the key money mindset habits that lead to long term success.
Okay, welcome Wendy. I am so excited to talk with you today. I cannot wait to learn from you. But before we dive in, I would love to just learn more about you. So can you take a few minutes and just tell us more about your story and the work that you do and kind of how you found your way to this work?
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Definitely, definitely. I'm so happy to be here too. Becky, you're just amazing. I think that one of you.
I am a money mindset coach and I kind of stumbled into this world. You know, it's funny how people say where they got. But most, most coaches, I think have found their way through just kind of stumbling into it. But I was in life coach training. I believe in the power of coaching very, very much so. So I had my own coach and I had said something just kind of, I thought in passing and she said, that kind of sounds like scarcity. And I felt a little bit of resistance, which is interesting because I know that's whatever. I have to really do some exploration whenever I feel resistance or if I want to be like, no, no, it's not. So I kind of sat with that for a little while and I was like, okay, I can. I Can see what she's talking about. And I found a program where they do a lot of work with the individual, but they also train you how to do money mindset work, which was beautiful for where I was, because I was in, you know, life coach training. I was getting certified as a life coach. And so I was super excited by this potential. And it was fabulous. It was so eye opening. And I realized at that moment how scarcity had just folded into my life. And I thought it was just my normal way of being. And as soon as I could kind of step away from that and see how abundance can truly be, I saw a whole new world. And it steps you into, like, possibilities and opportunities rather than limitations. And this whole idea of, like, there's not enough.
So through my own work and through my training is kind of how I ended up here. And I realized it's my sweet spot. My mindset is very well set. It set for possibilities and opportunities. And I can very quickly now see whenever limitations are keeping us stuck in a place, or our fear of money or our worries of the future, how all of that just kind of keeps us in these boxes that we put ourselves in. So that's kind of how I ended up here.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: I love that, and I love how you came up against that resistance, and instead of just allowing it to hold you back, you dove into it a little bit and realized kind of what was going on. I think a lot of us, when we get to that resistance, it's very easy to just kind of shut the door and not go into that. But it really opened up so many more possibilities for you by being definitely.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: I think that is what life coaching does, is it allows us to kind of have that space to figure it out. And my coach was very, very great. Whenever she says things that do cause that resistance, I'm like, oh, gotta do some work here. Let's do some spelunking and see what's going on underneath the cavity there. So that's really helpful.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: I love that. So as we move ahead, I want to make sure that everyone is on the same page. I know we've talked before about there's a lot of different information out there about money and money mindset. And so I wanna make sure we're on the same page. So how do you define money mindset and then how does it impact us?
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Great question. You know, I think our mindset as a whole is just our beliefs about a certain situation. So money mindset very much is our beliefs, our unique beliefs about money and our beliefs on how money interplays in the world. And so often this comes from our childhood or upbringing.
Like the first time we tried to save for something and we didn't reach our goal. And I could never save. I'll never be able to do this. You know, whatever it is. Our brain wants to be really, really easy and efficient here. And it's like, okay, this is. This is exactly how money plays in your world. But whenever we can take a giant step back and evaluate what those automatic thoughts are that are then creating our results on the whole, you know, mindset loop. We have our thoughts, we have our beliefs. They come to our actions, you know, then our outcomes, and it goes right back to our mindset. Whenever we can stay in that and really evaluate our mindset around it, it can really change our results. It's just pretty much cognitive, behavioral, and our. In our strategies on how do we change that and how we make those big adaptations and our money results from our beliefs.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: I love that. So if someone is listening and they're curious, but this is a new idea, I could see someone listening and thinking, okay, but this is just my reality right now. This is just how it is. It's not what I believe about it. It just. It's just how things are.
Where do you begin or where do you recommend they begin with, like, examining their money mindset, but also with building a healthier relationship with money.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that proactive piece that you just brought. In it, we have to be aware of what those thoughts are. So, for example, Black Friday just happened. I go and spend money at Black Friday. How do I feel? Okay, so I can sit there in that space. Oh, my gosh, I'm stressed, I'm worried, I'm concerned, whatever else. Then we can kind of figure out what those thoughts are that are starting this.
I need to make the biggest Christmas ever. I need whatever. There's thoughts that generally start that process before we get to our feelings. So kind of getting to those thoughts and then examining them and saying, do I want these thoughts to stay? And maybe we do. Maybe we do want a really big, extravagant Christmas, which is great, if that's what you want, but making sure we're doing our actions and having those feelings from a place of intention. Not just. This is just my reality. Nothing's going to change. It's being very intentional and proactive in that space and not just reacting, being proactive. I believe we all fall somewhere on this spectrum of scarcity to abundance. Scarcity is this idea that there's not enough. I've got to kind of keep what I have to abundance. There's plenty and I can make more. We're all somewhere on that spectrum and I believe we're also all in the spectrum of reactivity to proactivity. And so we're going to fall somewhere on that line and however it falls and so being ideally we're going to be proactively abundant, that that's what the ultimate goal is, believing that there's plenty and I can make plenty and I can figure this out by my actions, by my intentions and being purposeful and then also having a plan to make that happen, if that makes sense.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. So diving into this a little bit more because I, you know, I've talked about this before. I have had some issues with people where they hear like if they just have a positive mindset then the money will come to them and a lot of times that doesn't work.
And then people get, they kind of beat themselves up like I'm not, you know, I'm not being positive enough.
So can you talk us through a little bit more about how to kind of evaluate our mindset and build a healthier mindset? But not, I don't think it's a direct tie between I have this happy thought and you know, $10,000 comes in tomorrow.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: So yeah, and I respect manifesters out there. Like I do not want to knock that belief system but we have to have action that supports our belief system. Like we can't just hope that we're going to win the lottery and never buy a lottery ticket. I'm not saying anyone needs to go buy a lottery ticket. Please don't hear that audience.
We can't just hope for something to happen and not actually do the action to make it happen.
I think it's important to understand initially that this goes well beyond money. Scarcity is like this whole fear driven place of not enough and then abundance is this whole possibility and I have the solution. So that's truly what I see abundance as.
But then we also have to have a plan, we have to have goals, we have to make sure our daily actions align with it. We can't go spend all our money on Black Friday and be like, well I'm just going to get a check in the mailbox tomorrow that's going to compensate for it. That's not really how abundance is intended to be. We have to be intentional, purposeful and thoughtful in our actions and also have the belief and the trust that it's going to be okay on the back end as well. Like, I was talking to a business owner this morning, and she was kind of struggling with this notion that she's not getting the revenue that she was hoping. Well, and we sat there and like, so what are the actions that you've done today to kind of get that revenue in? I haven't really done anything. Well, okay. What you do the week before. Well, I mean, I just. I just wanted to come in. Well, we have to kind of get to that action point because people aren't just going to knock on your door because you're hoping they're going to knock on your door. So I think that's the proactive piece in this abundance equation. And I don't think often we talk about that. We want just people to believe or we. Some people want to just believe it's going to happen, but we have to be intentional and proactive in it. Does that make sense?
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Yes. I love that. As you were talking, I was like, I feel like that's the missing piece because I just feel like. And I. I can believe in some of the manifesting, you know, the lessons that are being taught. But my personal issue has just been when I see people get, like, they really beat themselves up because it's not working, but they're missing that proactive piece. You know, they're doing the positive affirmations and then expecting that someone's going to sign on as a client the next day and there's more that we can do. And so I like that piece because I feel it's empowering to say, here's what I can do to move forward.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: In coming up with goals. So, you know, I talk to clients a lot about sufficiency. So it's being satisfied with where we are today, but not being like, I'm not going to work towards something else. Like, we can feel very sufficiency at its core. Like, I don't need to be frustrated that I don't have a million dollars in my bank account. I could be happy that I have what I have in my bank account, But I can want a million dollars in my bank account, and how am I going to get that, that path or that ladder or that piece to get the million dollars in my bank account? And I think so often you bring up a really good point of shame. Like, shame circles money in so many ways. And I do believe it often stems from our childhood. Or if you work hard, you're going to make a lot of money. Or there's so many stories we tell ourselves as it pertains to Money. And if we can start to separate that out a little bit and really see money is needed, we need it on our table. I also have other things that I want and how can I marry the two and make sure my actions get to my needs and my wants and kind of help me elevate beyond that. And I think that's, that's the key that's missing in a lot of the conversations about money mindset, in my opinion.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: I love that. And something that came up for me as you were talking there is, I think a lot of us as heart centered business owners, we didn't get into business to make a lot of money or because we wanted to own a business. We really want to help people and make a difference.
And so I think a lot of us can struggle with making more money because we do have that desire because of things that we want to do in our lives and in the world.
But part of us can feel like, oh, I should just appreciate what I have and not want more. And so I think there's a lot of emotion around that too. Do you have any recommendations for us? If someone's listening and they find themselves in that space where like, you know what? I'm making some money, that's okay. I shouldn't really want more, but deep down you really do.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: I want to first of all say, you are in such a safe space. I get it. People like, I struggle with this. I had an exchange recently. I was like, what the heck? When do you do this job? And I just wanted to give something away for free because this whole idea of whatever, again, there's a story going on there. I need to give it away or whatever else it may be. None of that really matters, the story. But the first part of it is to be aware of it as soon as it comes up. And as soon as we feel that feeling, awareness is key. And again, then we can make a decision if we want to change it or keep it. In my example, I was aware of it. I was like, huh, I've got to do some extra exploring. Resistance is my number one thing that I need to do exploring. And whenever I have a feeling of like, huh, that didn't jive. That isn't a plus two. Plus two here isn't equaling four. That's another place where I have to do exploring. And I realized I had some beliefs there that I just needed to kind of flush out and bring to the surface and then again have some plan to not make that be my consistent fallback in the future.
It's so often that we do things just automatically and we don't sit in a space of curiosity and awareness that what we're doing doesn't just have to be. It's not just my reality. It's not just how I am. It's. I can have choices there if I want to change those.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: I love that. I love the idea of giving ourselves kind of that space to be curious and to explore.
I know for me personally, I tend to feel like I have to have everything figured out and I have to know my next step at all times.
And that's hard because that puts a lot of pressure on us and it can be hard to even. I think sometimes some of what we're doing is just so ingrained in us we're not even aware of where we might be holding ourselves back because it's just how we've been for so long. So I love that idea of giving ourselves space to be curious and removing the labels.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Like maybe your label is, Becky just knows how to do things. She always has her stuff together. Maybe it's time to shed some of those labels. Mine was I have money mindset figured out. No, I don't. I need to take that label away and be like, what else can I do to improve? Or how else can I get to where I want to be? And it also helps us, I think, relate to people on a deeper level whenever we can explore a little bit deeper in ourselves. Not, not in a narcissistic, self centered way, but like to kind of know what our own thought process is. It allows us to have that connection piece with others because we're all kind of struggling and working through the same things that the thing that rise to the surface may be a little bit different, but at the deep, the heart of it, it's all centered on the same basic ideas. And that's ultimately stories we're telling ourselves. Yeah, that's really what it is.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, so a couple more questions come to mind. So one is if we realize, okay, I must have a belief that I don't want to believe anymore, what are your recommendations for starting to shift that? Because especially if it's something that has come with us since childhood, I don't think it's going to be as easy as, oh, I just choose this new belief and I just like, it's an instant switch.
[00:16:33] Speaker B: So true. So there's two techniques that I teach pretty consistently. One is the power of yet. So oftentimes I don't know how to manage money. Well, you don't know how to manage money yet. And that lets us know that we're growing and we're figuring it out again. It goes back to the possibility that, that belief that I, I can figure the solution out. I'm not just someone who swipes my card again. I'm going to go black to black Black Friday, I guess because it just happened. I'm not just someone who's just going to swipe my card all through Black Friday. And I don't know how to manage debt. No, you just don't know how to manage it yet. And you can decide if you want to again go into that space of figuring it out. The other thing that we do quite extensively is what I call the three C's. It's catch it. So it's that awareness place, it's challenge it. Is this thought or belief serving me? Is this benefiting me? Do I want to keep this slaughter belief? Again? That's that decision point. And then you get to change it. And we spend a lot of time talking about limiting beliefs and empowering beliefs and then you can start to change it to a more empowering belief. So for example, I don't know how to manage money. Is that serving me? Is that benefiting me? Now all the other pieces and then I can change it to, I'm learning how to manage my money. I'm a work in process. I am figuring things out. I have the resources, whatever that more empowering belief is to get to that place that you want to be and to reach your goals.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: I love those ideas so much because I think that's also a missing piece. I think a lot of times we come up with a positive belief, we want to believe instead and we try to make that instant switch but we, we don't really believe it yet. So. So these, these help us to be able to make that kind of bridge the gap and just kind of gradually change that belief and change our actions too. Very powerful.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: I think you're talking about the gradual piece that's really important. It's not I don't know how to manage money. I manage money efficiently and I have everything I need. No, no one's going to get there. Or if you're there, you're just not staying in that space of growth and curiosity and reality. You're kind of just jumping the gun. I don't think any of us could really go from 0 to 60 and like that fast. So I do think it's a very gradual process.
[00:18:49] Speaker A: Yes. Okay. And I like the idea too of kind of like giving ourselves Permission, giving us, ourselves, grace to be making this change, but understanding it's not going to happen overnight. But it's kind of a work in progress. And that's okay.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: Very, very much so. And also I think the other key piece of this, which I don't normally spend a lot of time with clients on this, but it's so important surrounding yourselves with people that have similar growth. They have a similar growth process, perhaps, let's say that. And they also believe in the power of ourselves and our. And. And how. Where we can be rather than. You're right. You don't know how to manage money. You'll never figure this out. You, from the day you were born, you didn't know how to manage money. Like, so often we get people around us that say those things, and that only just feeds back into that mindset loop. I don't know what I'm doing. I can't save money. I'll never figure it out. We can kind of get those people around us that. That's not fake cheerleading. It's helping us replace some of those thoughts that are keeping us from where we want to be. They're not serving us in the way that we need to be and kind of getting us to where we want to be.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: I love that, and that is so important. I. It wasn't necessarily with money, but when I was starting my business, everyone in my. Well, my husband was super supportive. Everyone else in my life is like, what are you doing? Like, this is crazy. You have a secure job.
And I wasn't expecting that at all. I was expecting support. And so what I really love about this online business space is that you can connect with so many amazing people from all different parts of the world. And what I have found is there are a lot of those people who are also on that growth journey and who are happy to cheer you on and help you keep going, Especially at those times where you're like, I'm just gonna give up.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: And I think your connect and cultivate group does that. You're your solopreneur sisterhood community does that so well. It's a team of just really supportive people, not fake cheerleading. It's true support. I've been there. I get that. How can I help you get where you want to be? And how can we get together and kind of team up to get where we want to be? I was going to do a shameless plug for you. I hope you're going to do your own. But I want to say, if anyone out there listening, please look into it, because it truly is just really, really, really good, loving, wonderful business owners that want to help women just excel to where they need to be.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And I will say I feel like that has made all the difference. I don't think. I know I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't found other people that understood and were a little bit further ahead and could help me figure out my next steps and also understand what I was experiencing was normal.
So with the money, I know what I was surprised about was for myself. And then I found with businesses that I worked with, we're going into business. We know logically business has to do with money. A lot of business owners don't want to look at their money at all.
I was shocked that it was not just me, it was a lot of people. And I was like, how do you. I mean, I reached the point where I'm like, I have to know my numbers or I can't run a business. I have. You know, it started off as a little bit of side money, and that was fine, but then I was like, no, if this is going to grow, I need to make sure that I'm actually making a profit and know where my money is going. So for me, it became this gradual exercise of having a regular practice of looking at things and tracking expenses and seeing where money was coming from and making decisions. And so I eventually came around to liking it because I felt like, oh, this is allowing me to see my growth. It's also allowing me to see what I need to focus on next. So I just took it as information.
But I know for a lot of people, it just brings up a lot of emotions. So do you have any recommendations for that business owner who is thinking, yeah, I need to look at my money, but I just can't go there right now.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: Definitely. I've often said, if you really want to know your deep issues, become an entrepreneur, because that is really where all of the things come to the surface. And you're so true. Like, so many business owners do have a difficult part of that.
I do think you bring up a good point of tracking. Sometimes it's just logging into our bank account. It depends on where the business owner is in the spectrum.
But logging into our bank account sometimes is just the first step. So let's say we logged in our bank account. We don't have any discomfort there. I think the next part is tracking. So then we start seeing how much money we made the previous month. We start seeing what our expenses were for the previous month or the previous six months, however it is. And then once we get to that place and we feel really comfortable, it's then looking ahead. So there's so many pieces of this and where people are on the spectrum, but it's getting comfortable with just looking at the numbers. So again, opening up your bank account, opening up your spreadsheet, whatever that may look like, then it's looking, starting to track backwards, seeing what we did before. And then again, it's getting that proactive piece. What are we going to do in the future?
I personally have. Sometimes I have to take money out of the equation for some of my goals because I will get so entrenched. It's almost like I put blinders on. And I know that money is not often what I need the outcome to be. We do need to make money as business owners. I'm not here to tell anyone not to make money, but if I make money the sole goal, it takes all the fun and joy away from it. And I just get so much in the doing of it. So I recently had a launch intentionally, I had no financial goals. I made. I have made very, very good money on it. I've been very, very pleased with that. But if I would have set that number, I would have found myself to feel perhaps differently than I feel now. Going into next year, there's going to be some, some money that are some goals that go with it. Because I need to know, does, do my expenses make sense? Does, does I. Do I need to continue putting whatever effort towards it, whatever the case may be? I don't need to go through and explain that with people, but I think sometimes we have to make sure that money is part of the equation, but not the only equation, is what I'm trying to say with this. And then use it as data for our future activities and our future goals.
And also make sure we can make a living doing this. There's a lot of expenses that go with the technology we need the VA that we have, whatever those pieces are. But making sure that we can make a living and be comfortable with this. And we're not continuing to pour ourselves out, but we're actually, actually getting something back that can keep food on our tables. So there's, there's a give and a take and a balance to that.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: I love that. That's really helpful. And I also love the idea of you don't necessarily need the money goals at all times. Like sometimes there are other things that are a bigger priority and I kind of do the same thing. Where I found for myself that if I got too focused on the money and I wasn't hitting my target, I would really beat myself up. So if I could set some other things as kind of goals for myself, things that I could control, like how many people did I support this week? How many people have I encouraged? Just little things like that. Okay. This is also important to me and I believe you think about it from a business like building relationships. That is, it's not just going off and being nice and being social. There is, there is part of a business strategy in there too.
If I gave myself other goals that that helped it to feel better.
[00:26:32] Speaker B: And there's also some great CFOs out there, fractional CFOs. Some of them are in my circles. If anyone wants to connect with them, I can definitely share that information. But they can also help you do it from more of a accountant standpoint.
I struggle with this personally because I don't think we always need to be dollars and cents. I don't think everything is time in, time out, money, money out. But I do think we need to have a little bit of that out there. I don't hate it, but I also don't need it to be the forefront of what it is. So I guess there's finesse to all of this. I guess is what I'm trying to say is understanding where you are and getting all those pieces together and making sure that it's a business and not just a hobby or not just a side gig or not just a money pit. All of those things can be true.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: Yes. Wonderful. Well, I know that I could go on for quite a bit asking questions and learning from you, but I want to be mindful of everyone's time. And so I know there are going to be listeners who are thinking, okay, I have questions for Wendy. I want to learn more. So can you tell us more about how listeners can connect with you beyond this episode?
[00:27:40] Speaker B: Definitely. Currently, I have a free money mindset quiz out there. It'll talk about where you are in the proactive abundance cycle that is findyourmoneymojo.com I also have a course if anyone's interested. They can find out about that at the end of the the quiz if they want to work on that. Look at that. I also have a website, Wendy muzzy dot com.
It will tell you how to get in touch with me, anything you may need. Currently, I think it's rerouting to my coaching one because it's getting redone by someone in your your circle that I was very pleased to meet. So maybe by the time this is done it'll be live, but if not it'll take you to my coaching one currently and you can find out how to get in touch with me there. I would love any business owners that want to talk about this or just nerd out on this. I'm all about it. Let's do it. Because I do think money mindset is one of the most fundamental pieces that keep us in the field where we don't want to be and it keeps us back. We can get our money mindset clear. It really truly can get us to exactly where we want to be and make sure that we're not staying in boxes that we are staying in unintentionally. And anyway, you know what I'm trying to say.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: Unintentionally, yes, I completely agree and I just want to thank you so much Wendy. We will have the links in the show notes for this episode so it's real easy for people to connect with you. And again, just want to thank you so much for your time and for joining us here today.
[00:29:02] Speaker B: Excellent. I think there will have you backing.
[00:29:05] Speaker A: Thank you so much for joining us and listening to the solopreneur Sisterhood podcast. I hope this episode has offered you some encouragement, some insight and some new ideas to support you in building a business that works for you. Remember that our world needs you, your gifts, your vision and your work. And I'm cheering you on as you bring your vision to life and build a purposeful, profitable and sustainable business that supports what matters most to.
