Allison Crow

Authentic and Ambitious

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abundance, Biz Secrets, Daring to Dream, List, money, online biz, personal, Small Biz Support, Soul-Work, Uncategorized

The Money Part of the Story and Some Tips for Making it Happen

November 14, 2012

Oh my gaa-wd, I’m gonna talk about money.  Yep that taboo — I’m gonna spill the beans about the money part of my journey to living my Soul-Work.  I often hear stories people make up in their minds about why they CAN’T move forward in their businesses.   I trust that each of you know your financial situation and I also encourage you to KNOW yourself a little more.  So often we just think of the one or two main stream ways of making things happen and then we give up.

If you aren’t ready to give up, and feel a bit stuck, I’m sharing my story in hopes of spurring on some new ideas, and to put some fire in your soul about making it happen.

My Story-$$

A year ago, I was still doing business as Crow Hill Conversations – the first incarnation of my coaching and visual facilitation company.  I’d bridged my transition  to complete entrepreneurship with an independent contractor agreement to coach for a large corporate real estate firm.  That bridge (for more on building bridges that lead to an entrepreneurial leap check out this post by Arianna Pritchett) certainly helped me financially in my conversion, but it wasn’t my only support.  I often have people ask me HOW the heck I was able to make the financial leap – and stay in an abundant mindset.

I KNOW starting and growing a coaching company isn’t cheap.  It takes a while to build your programs and offerings, and most importantly your list.   In my mind, it was something I HAD to do…I was born for this, and money – or lack of, was not going to keep me from living in my dreams – or working for “the man.”

So, here are just some of the things I did to MAKE IT HAPPEN ~ Maybe one or two of them will spark something in YOU and fire up your mo-jo and re-ignite your dream.

First a little background:  I am married…I was NEWLY married when I first quit my $$$$ job. It devastated my husband. While I am a risk taker, he is not.  He has been a teacher for 27 years and has had a consistent pay check for those 27 years.  He came from a military family who also had regular income.  I was his first exposure to self-employment and to the up and down income that can provide (especially in the early years).  I also was a spender and in debt.   Bill has no debt, and is incredibly wise with money, very frugal, and managed to be a single dad on his teacher salary.  He lived within his means.  I did not. When we got together, I drug him into my lifestyle.  Even though he was nervous, he trusted me to meet my financial responsibilities for our family without putting it on credit.

Our journey together matters in this story because

  • I get that decisions in your business affect others if you are married or partnered, or pay child support.
  • If you are single, and intend on being partnered some day, your financial decisions can deeply impact that relationship.
  • Bill’s influence on me was painful at the time.  He never MADE me do anything, but I also had to find a way to BE me and still respect our life together even though we had different ways of seeing money.
Thank you Bill, for trusting in me when I financially scared the be-jesus out of you. Thank you for becoming my biggest fan and a believer and supporter of my dream.

So here are some of the things I did to reduce my spending and increase my income to support my new business:

  • I sold my fancy car – no sense in paying an expensive car payment when I could have a much smaller one or none.  The day I quit, I sold my car and we became a 1 car family for a while.  It was an adjustment, but we made it work.
  • I combed my closet and gathered all my designer jeans and name brand purses and sold them on ebay (this was actually a pretty decent load of cash).
  • I cleared all the clutter out of our house – consigned what we could and donated the rest.  Clearing clutter energetically makes way for new funds to flow IN.
  • I sold my beloved central Austin home (we’d intended on moving back there after our kids graduated) – I sold it below market  value and sobbed through the whole transaction but the equity in that asset paid off my debt so that anything I earned was kept instead of paying of debt.  This was a huge dream sacrificed…and an extreme I was willing to go… to make my soul-work happen.
  • I scanned my credit card for those pesky $6.95 – $39.95 a month membership charges – and cancelled almost all of them.
  • I immediately secured a few clients to start bringing in income.  There was no time to “get ready to get ready.”  I put out a few offerings and I began taking clients.
  • I also leveraged GROUP work.  Group work allowed me to charge and serve clients all in the same time slot vs trading dollars for hours.
  • I chose to stay in good ju-ju – I chose a great attitude.  Yes, there were days when I was scared shitless and depressed.  I allowed those days and felt them.  If I resisted they persisted, but if I leaned in an tapped in to the deeper issues, the flow always came back.
  • We stopped all eating out and nixed our entertainment budget for a while.
  • I started making coffee at home.
  • I started coloring my hair at home.
  • We did put our house on the market and started looking to purchase in lower price range.  My intuition told me we’d stay where we were and that the money would come sooner rather than later. We had the house on the market a few months and never got an offer (thank you universe).  I think being willing to lower my spending on STUFF and MATERIAL comforts supported my energy.
  • I did spend money on coaching and learning online business development.  Yep.  This is what I put on credit.  All other spending could stop but I had to have the inner work and outer work support from the get go for this to work.  To date, my personal education and development is the BIGGEST expense in my business.
  • I bartered for everything I could.  If I had time, then I had a service to offer.  I traded coaching for dog training, for admin help, for web work.
  • I got a life insurance policy that would cover my business expenses if something happened to me (security for my husband).  I knew that I would have to create some deficit to start this business and I didn’t want it to stress Bill out.  My business still carries some debt and that 33$ a month policy allows my husband to sleep at night.
  • No more 11$ glasses of wine.
  • I did odd jobs and art for money.  Yes, I even babysat again, and I did tons of custom commissioned art.  I took the skills I had and I used them to earn cash when I could.  I wasn’t to proud to start building.  It wasn’t my soul-work, but those odd jobs, funded the soul-work.
  • I kept my coaching prices commiserate with my talent.  It was tempting at the beginning to lower my prices just to get clients, but I’d been charging 500/hr as a corporate coach and I kept my prices there. The cool part was, now I didn’t have to pay 60% to the company. I used to have to carry a roster of 47 clients – now I limit it to 15.
  • If I spent money, I spent it on my business.  My biggest and most profitable expenses were coaching, and my websites (both by Brian McDaniel of BKmacdaddy.com
  • We used (and still do) coupons at the grocery store.
  • I let my friends buy lunch- for years I’d been the one who said, “I’ll get it.” I allowed myself to receive.
  • I constantly reminded that Spirit takes care of the birds, of the wild animals… there is always enough for them, and always enough for me.
  • ***** I mastered my ABUNDANCE mindset – the most important thing I did was listen to my inner whisper and open my heart and mind to abundance.  There was NO room for scarcity thinking.  I spoke in abundance and took action to create it. And I maintain a daily appreciation practice.

During that season of shift, I took some pretty extreme measures to make my new business launch happen.  What I knew, and want you to know, is that it was only for a season.  I tightened the belt, and dealt with the discomfort to start building the foundation of my business.  And then I got to work.

That season actually only lasted about 4 months and because of my passion, my joy in the process, and my hustle.  I did the work, both in my heart, and in concrete outer ways.  I used the Law of Attraction, and I took action.  What I didn’t do was sit around and whine about how I didn’t have the money.

Today, I spend much less.  Excess is easy to cut.  I stash money away for taxes and in saving and my business is still growing.  I still invest in myself and in my business and learning all the time.  I pay for systems that are appropriate for my list size and that meet my demand.  I also am finally able to leverage some of the work that I don’t like to do (like editing and admin) to part time help.  I attract clients on a steady basis, and I find joy in creating content that my clients love.  I still do some corporate work and speaking gigs that bring in big bucks.  I use those chunks of money to pay down the early business debt.

All in all, it takes time, and constant alignment, an abundant mindset and working both on and in the business.

If all this sounds miserable to you – then you might not be cut out for running your own business.  There is no shame in doing a job and earning a great income and having nights and weekends off.  Find your pleasure and combine it with your genius.  For me, my genius was stifled by working for someone else telling me what I could and couldn’t do, and how I was to do it.  I would gladly go through all the discomfort of those early months…and that first year again.  I’m well in to my 2nd year and know that I will only continue to expand and grow!

105 ways YOU can make it happen even if you feel broke now.

If you have a dream that burns in your heart, if you have a business that you are wanting to grow…get past the wanting.  GET DETERMINED and use that smart, fabulous brain of yours to think of:

  • 50 ways you could reduce your frivolous and excess spending
  • 50 ways you could earn funds to build your foundation and pay your bills
  • 5 ways you will INVEST in your business NOW. 

 

 

 

I hope it helps you to see some of the story behind how I’ve built my business and the money decisions that were made to support the dream!  I’m so glad I went though all that and hope that you get a little UMPH in your caboose to get started and make your dream happen! I’d love to hear any questions or comments you have in the comment section below!

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previous article: The Dream I Had for All of Us ~ and the Message That Came WIth It
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Comments

  1. Leanne Chesser says: November 14, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    I loooove your blog and the look of it :). Gorgeous. There’s a money theme today, it seems. My post for today is about money and I’ve read several others today on the same topic. The steps you took are similar to the steps I took. Awesome story.

    • Allison Crow says: November 14, 2012 at 7:35 pm

      Thanks Leanne. Heading now to check out your post!

  2. Amethyst Mahoney says: November 14, 2012 at 9:05 pm

    Awesome post, Allison! I went to a training this past weekend where we talked about many of these things, as well as super-easy ways to start investing so that your assets actually work for you. My biggest advice is to have a Team Meeting with your spouse or significant other to tackle the issues, especially around money, that need to be addressed but really have no other place or time. Who wants to ruin Date Night bringing up money? Save it for the Team Meeting. 🙂

    • Allison Crow says: November 14, 2012 at 10:56 pm

      Oh my did Bill and I have lots of Team Meetings. The conversations were hard, and they had to happen. I had to allow his point of view and mine…somehow we came to some agreements that literally saved our marriage!

  3. Angel Sullivan says: November 14, 2012 at 10:52 pm

    i honestly cannot get enough of your website. it’s just absolute gorgeousness!!

    and this post? i think this is just about exactly what i needed to hear right now (finding that happening quite a lot lately, and love it!!). thanks so much for the peek behind the curtain!!!

    <3

    • Allison Crow says: November 14, 2012 at 10:57 pm

      Keep going! I know things can be tight. Find evidence of abundance and reconnect with your dream and the universe will bend time and space to support you Angel.

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My word of the year this year chose me, I didn’t My word of the year this year chose me, I didn’t choose it.

The word?

JOY.

It feels so fitting this week, as I played with what I was going to share with you on the podcast, the word “joyful” just kept coming up with “ambition” and I loved the way “joyful ambition” sounded.

It made me think about what’s required to have joyful ambition, what ambition really is, and how we can let it be fully part of us.

I’m sharing my reflections around these questions and YOUR amazing responses to my question of “what is ambition” (SO COOL to hear from you all, thank you for sharing your thoughts!) on the show today.

It’s my hope that this episode will help respark the ambition inside you if needed and will encourage you to allow yourself to be the ambitious person that you are.

Listen at the link in my bio, or wherever you usually enjoy the show, and if you want to add your definition of ambition to my collection, share with me below!
Hey.... be sure and #rest. Profound engagement req Hey.... be sure and #rest. Profound engagement requires profound DISengagement and downtime. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been requiring much more rest these last few weeks.

My tired lil brain likes to try and use that weariness to “should” on me... tell me I’m falling behind. Does your brain start to spin when you are tired? Yep. That’s not a sign to push through.... that’s a sign to slow down. 

You are NOT behind, you are not gonna miss out on anything. It’s important To sustain your body and soul.

This morning it was nice to put the phone and computer away for a while and play 18 holes of nature frisbee golf.... just to be outside. This afternoon is naps and chill time. Work can wait till Monday .... especially if your soul needs a bit of rest.

If you’re on fire and it feels good, go fast. You do YOU. No comparison or competition.

Xoxox,
Oh and do drink some water! Hydration helps.
Do you know how to feel good? Even better, do you Do you know how to feel good? Even better, do you know how to feel difficult emotions?  Grab you a copy of my Feel Good Guide!  The link is in my bio! 
.
#feelgoodguide #breatheyall #howtofeelbetter #manageemotions #selfleadership #mindset #lifecoachingforwomen #overwhelmedbylife #slowdowntospeedup #betterlifebetterwork #authenticandmbtious #transparentleadership
Don't forget... We "breathe y'all" so we can get Don't forget...

We "breathe y'all" so we can get back to center, to get back to ambition, to get back to BEing.

So breathe y'all, we're here and we're doing our very best.

Authentic & Ambitious,

Allison
I remember the first time I shared something from I remember the first time I shared something from behind the curtain of my life on a public stage. 

2008. It was in Austin, at the convention center Hilton. I was on stage, on a panel of successful Productivity coaches. 

I shared something about my mental health.... struggling for a lifetime with depression and anxiety....AND managing to run a successful coaching practice. 

After that session - I had a line 50 yards long of other coaches from around the country lined up to meet me.  All they wanted to say was, “thank you.... me too... you give me hope.”

A few days later I was talking with my mentor and the CEO of our coaching org.  I mentioned the impact my unusual (at the time authenticity was not cool) share... and she looked at me with steel, disapproving eyes, “I would have NEVER...” she barked at me. 

Well I did. And my heart 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤, other people needed to know that there were humans behind the leadership curtain.  Real live people, with messy, real lives, figuring out a way to thrive and prosper, not financially and emotionally. 

It only took two more years of wrist slapping and disapproval (I made them too much money for them to kick me out) at that company to get the guts to go out on my own. 

Unemcumbered, free to be me. 

It hasn’t always been pretty, or professional, and I’m SURE it has cost me business. But it has never cost me my soul. It has never cost me the gift of being fully me. 

And even that took practice and exploration. 

Be with people, clients, jobs, family, and friends, that you can be your full self with. 

Be outrageously authentic and your ambitions will be fulfilled. 

💛,
Your favorite life and business coach. 
Allison.
Doors closing! Y'all know how much I love my Soul Doors closing!

Y'all know how much I love my Soul-Full Success program.

It's truly a place where my Soulies and I grow, learn and SUPPORT each other.

It's where we can ask questions like: What do you want to create? What do you want to be known for? Who are you becoming in 2021? Where specifically do you want to stretch and grow?

I'm so damn proud of this community and all the work, both for Life and Biz, that Soulies put in.

And in order to create the sacred space that is Soul-Full Success, I can't continuously let people join.

So I'll be closing the doors to join us tonight, so I can focus on supporting those who are in the community.

I don't say this to scare or taunt you, I say this to be honest and transparent and hopefully motivate you if this is something you have been thinking about.

I want the RIGHT people in Soul-Full Success. Those that are ready to do the inner and outer work. Those that are looking for more authenticity and ambition in their life. Those that are ready to show up for themselves, their business, and their gifts.

If this is you, apply to join us at the link in my bio. If this isn't you, thanks for following along anyways, happy to share this space with you!
Here’s some truth: I’ve been told: * Your re Here’s some truth:

I’ve been told:

* Your relationship with your husband is awful. I can’t have you as a coach.  Oh. And why would anyone pay 188/month for your coaching. That’s insane. 

* I think you are codependent and need me to suffer. It’s all about you. 

* This podcast is awful. Why is all that noise in the background? Is she writing. I can hear markers squeak, squeak, squeak.  Horrible. 

* You are too authentic. 

* It’s your fault my marriage is a mess. 

* I wouldn’t wish friendship with you on my worst enemy.

* You are a liberal Satanist snowflake

* You are an asshole. 
♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎♒︎

.... to these people.... all these things are true and I’m ok with it. 

Stop stopping because of those who won’t align with you.  Keep sharing your heart and showing your work for the ones that need what you are sharing. 

Ps:
I AM a liberal snowflake. 
I believe in Aliens 👽 and Ghosts 👻 and NDE.
I watch way too much tv and I love it. 
I “hear” things audibly many people don’t. 
I see colors on people when I look. 
I believe in science and in the climate crisis. 
Human behavior fascinates me. 
I have a hot temper. Way less worse than it used to be. 
I believe in alternative and western medicine. 
I voted for Hillary. 
I am a better coach than I am friend. 
I am an asshole. Totally. 
I really hate Amazon but clearly I value convenience and comfort more than justice. 
My coaching is 333$/month or 18k+ a year. 
And....
I put pineapple on my pizza. 

I love me. 
💛
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