advice

Stay Safe: The Story of a Scam, Part 2

In my last blog post, I shared some of what I’d learned about Lightning Shared Scooter Company (LSSC), a pyramid scheme that stole millions of dollars from investors under the guise of a scooter installation and leasing company. After scrutiny from the FBI and customer complaints in more than 20 US states, LSSC shuttered its doors and vanished into thin air. When the company disappeared, so did many investors’ hard earned money.

In hindsight, I’m sure many of the participants in the scheme can identify multiple red flags that were always present. However, when in the throes of the excitement of generating income quickly, some of the usual caution is often disregarded. Some people who had been part of the company for a few years were earning the equivalent of an average US salary in less than two months’ time, and as a result, they probably didn’t ever stop to ask themselves, “Does any of this make sense?”

I want to be VERY clear: a pyramid scheme can only be effective if it causes participants to doubt their instincts. Even savvy investors can be scammed, as history has proven – time and time again – over the last 50 years. Nothing that I’m sharing should be interpreted as victim blaming, because the key to an effective scheme is sophisticated deceptive practices. NO fraudulent scheme can be effective if it’s obviously scammy, so naturally, victims may not identify the scam immediately. While I suspected the business was a scam as soon as I heard it, it was difficult to identify it as such when there are multiple people earning consistent profits from it over several years.

With that being said, here’s a list of some of the red flags, as well as ways to identify scams and schemes as they are presented to you.

  • Recent launch and request for individual investors instead of using institutional funds. Companies at the size and scale that LSSC claimed it was DO NOT seek random individuals to fund it. Companies that plan to expand and to set up an effective presence in a new country or market will use the banking structures of that country. And yes, crowd sourcing is an option for smaller companies, but even that is generally conducted on a third-party platform that offers some neutrality and security to investors.
  • Promise of a quick return of investment. The old adage, “If it sounds too good to be true . . . ” comes to mind.
  • Usage of a profit model that doesn’t look like any others that you’ve seen or experienced. Most compensation structures have already been created and tested: truly innovative models are as rare as hen’s teeth. If the profit model is new, then you should probably wait a while to see how it works, and if it’s sustainable over the long term. If some of the participants had just waited for a few months or a year, they would have seen that the company’s profit model was fraudulent and could have avoided being fleeced.
  • Complicated pay structures and mechanisms.If you don’t completely understand how and why you’re getting paid, then that could be a reason to pause and do some additional research. You should be clear on how the money gets to you and why you’re getting it.
  • Multiple concurrent activities that are not connected to the company’s mission. These are also known as “distractions”. Hosting dinners, raffling items, logging into a chatroom that requires constant involvement throughout the day, required training hours that don’t actually teach you anything related to the business, multiple unrelated “meetings” per week: all of these things add up to a company that wants you so distracted that you won’t notice that they’re failing to pay you on time . . . again.
  • Conflicting messages regarding pay, participation, etc.,. Once a company flip flops a number of times, you can bet that they’re simply readjusting as they realize that the time for the scam is running out.
  • Insistence upon involvement in activities that have nothing to do with the company’s mission and profit generation. If they want you, as an investor, to do anything other than put in money and read quarterly earning statements, then they are likely trying to distract you. If the company wants you participating in contests for no clear reason other than “community building” AND if the activities being promoted have nothing to do with the income generation of the company, you can better believe that this is part of the deception that makes investors more comfortable with sinking in additional funds.
  • Unclear connection between company activities and company mission and profit generation. Why would a company raffle off house plants, air fryers, and televisions daily, especially if the company doesn’t specialize in selling house plants, air fryers or televisions? Again, another distraction.
  • Structures that claim to be inspired by existing models but have very little actual connection. This is a common tactic that causes the investor to “fill in the blanks” when they should be more skeptical. LSSC claimed to be similar to companies like ride-sharing platforms (think Uber and Lyft), but the scooter operations were more akin to rental car agreements. The company also claimed to be focused on the “sharing economy”, but nothing in the scooter business requires that. This was part of getting the investors to associate the company with trusted models that had proven themselves, even though the company had not actually employed the model that they claimed was their “inspiration”.
  • Cryptocurrency as the sole means of conducting business. Please know that I’m not anti-crypto: I believe any platform or method of acknowledging currency is “valid”, so long as all participants are knowledgeable and agree to use the platform/method as intended. But the focus on recruiting individuals that are unfamiliar with crypto, then insisting that the individuals only operate within cryptocurrency platforms, is a red flag to me. It should be noted that the appeal of cryptocurrency lies in the fact that it exists outside of government regulations. So prosecuting people who have committed criminal acts on crypto platforms is challenging, and oftentimes impossible. Also, the relative anonymity that can be accomplished by using crypto platforms means that identifying culprits is almost always impossible.
  • Poorly constructed training sessions, and training that reads more like indoctrination than specialized education. When a business is newly formed, you can expect that some of the training and other information sessions may be a little disorganized, and trainers may not be able to answer every question that comes from the audience. However, after several years in business, there should be a streamlined, organized and fairly seamless training program in place, with trainers that are well-versed and poised. Also, your spidey senses should go off when training sessions focus heavily on indoctrinating participants as opposed to educating them. What’s the line between indoctrination and education? Even experts debate this, but generally speaking, any statements that push people towards ideologies without critical analysis would fall under the indoctrination umbrella. If you find yourself in a space that presents opinions as “logic”, uses an assortment of formal and informal fallacies to make arguments and utilize shaming and embarrassment tactics to encourage certain behavior, it’s likely that indoctrination – not education – is the goal. When you see poorly constructed training paired with indoctrination, what you’re likely experiencing is a scam.
  • Fanaticism is the main attraction, not the product or service. Going back to the point about indoctrination, one of the outcomes of being brought into a business that operates like a cult is that participants go from interested supporters to fanatics, allowing the business to take over their lives. One of the most peculiar things about the LSSC scam was how much time the business demanded of investors while still calling itself a source for “passive” income. There was nothing passive about the number of discussions, training and meetings that investors were required to attend each week. There was also nothing passive about the activities required by participants to maintain the payment levels that they achieved when they first invested. As a slight aside, it’s worth noting that requiring fanaticism from participants is one of the hallmarks of cults, and, in my opinion, so many things about the LSSC scam read as cult behavior.

Those are the main red flags I identified in the LSSC scam, but I can comfortably state that most scams use a number of the tactics that I mention. I hope that everyone involved with the LSSC scam is made whole, and I hope that anyone that’s questioning an investment opportunity does their research and makes sure that the opportunity is a legitimate one.

That’s all for today. I’ll talk to you all soon!

Entering My Opulent Era

This is slightly related to the subject of this blog so I figured I’d share.

Today is my birthday. I’m writing this ahead of time, since I’ll be overseas and practicing what I preach.

I’ve mentioned before how I’ve grown weary of the practical (boring) advice that is often offered by financial gurus. I am DONE with promoting austerity as the path to wealth, and I will no longer deny myself pleasure that adds depth and color to my existence. I believe it is possible to live luxuriously while also being wise with money. In fact, I’d argue that (for me) the only reason to be responsible with money is to enjoy the luxuries that money can buy. I may forgo ordering takeout to save up for a pair of Ralph and Russo shoes, or I may decide to stay home and read a book instead of blowing my quarterly massage budget on a night out with friends. Whatever the case is, I may opt for the responsible, “boring” choice, but only if it puts me in line for the luxury I really desire.

I have no interest in denying myself every pleasure, just so I can see a certain amount in my bank account. Yes, I believe in saving for rainy days and old age, but I also believe in leaving room for fun NOW! I don’t want a life where I’m not having fun: I want a life that is juicy, exquisite, and delightful from beginning to the very end. That is why I’m declaring this my Opulent Era. I require opulence in everything I do: my meals, my home, my hobbies, my travel, everything. If opulence means sacrificing the less interesting things, I’m happy to do it. I’m no longer interested in living a dull life JUST so I can have more money in an account. I want to LIVE (still responsibly, but not miserly!)

I’m committing to incorporating more opulence into my daily life. If that interests you, then stay tuned, because I’ll be sharing more of those opulent experiences here. I look forward to taking you all on this opulent adventure with me!

Posing at the Edinburgh Airport

Know Yourself, Grow Your Wealth: Personality as Your Secret Weapon

In the world of financial advice, we’re bombarded with one-size-fits-all strategies: wake up at 5 AM, use this productivity system, invest here, cut these things out. But what if the secret to sustainable success isn’t forcing yourself into someone else’s mold but deeply understanding and leveraging your unique psychological design?

This approach – using personality frameworks as the foundation for business strategy – can transform how you create, market, and deliver your offerings. Instead of fighting against your natural tendencies, you can build a business that works with your innate patterns.

Why Traditional Business Advice Fails So Many Women

Most business strategies assume we all process information, make decisions, and engage with the world in roughly the same way. This assumption creates a painful gap between expectations and reality, particularly for women juggling multiple roles or navigating health challenges.

When we try to force ourselves into business models that contradict our natural cognitive and emotional patterns, we experience:

  • Energy depletion from constantly overriding our instincts
  • Decision fatigue from operating against our natural thinking style
  • Motivation dips when we can’t connect with our core drives
  • Authenticity struggles that customers subtly sense and distrust
  • Self-doubt when we can’t maintain prescribed business approaches

But what if your personality isn’t an obstacle to overcome but your greatest business asset?

The Power of Personality-Aligned Business

By understanding your cognitive style (Myers-Briggs) and motivational core (Enneagram), you can design a business that naturally leverages your strengths while supporting your growth edges. These are two of the assessments that I recommend when working with clients to create an Archetype Analysis and Alignment. These are a great starting point for creating a personality-aligned business. The Myers-Briggs and Enneagram assessments create a foundation for sustainable success without the exhaustion of constant adaptation.

Let’s explore how these two complementary frameworks illuminate different aspects of your business temperament:

Myers-Briggs: Your Cognitive Blueprint

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) reveals how you naturally perceive information and make decisions – crucial processes in any business. Understanding your type illuminates which business activities will energize you, which will deplete you, and how to structure your workday for optimal energy management.

How MBTI Dimensions Impact Your Business Approach:

Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I): This dimension reflects where you primarily derive your energy—from the external world of people and activities (Extraversion) or from your internal world of ideas and reflections (Introversion).

  • Extraverted entrepreneurs may thrive with collaborative models, visible leadership, and interactive service delivery
  • Introverted entrepreneurs often excel with behind-the-scenes expertise, one-to-one client work, or systems that minimize constant social demands

Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N): This dimension describes how you naturally gather and process information—through concrete, tangible details (Sensing) or through patterns, possibilities, and conceptual connections (Intuition).

  • Sensing business owners typically prefer concrete, practical offerings with clear deliverables and tangible results
  • Intuitive business owners may gravitate toward innovation, conceptual frameworks, and transformational outcomes

Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F): This dimension reflects your decision-making approach—through objective analysis and logical principles (Thinking) or through consideration of personal and communal values (Feeling).

  • Thinking-oriented businesses often emphasize objective quality, logical systems, and clear principles
  • Feeling-oriented businesses frequently focus on client relationships, personalized experiences, and value-aligned impact

Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P): This dimension indicates your preference for structure and closure (Judging) versus flexibility and openness (Perceiving) in how you organize your external world.

  • Judging entrepreneurs tend to create structured business models with clear processes and predictable delivery
  • Perceiving entrepreneurs often develop adaptable, responsive business approaches that shift with emerging opportunities

Enneagram: Your Motivational Core

While MBTI illuminates how your mind works, the Enneagram reveals why you do what you do—the core motivations and fears that drive your behavior, especially during times of stress or security. This framework provides invaluable insight into what truly drives you in business and where you might sabotage your own success.

How Your Enneagram Type Influences Your Business:

Type 1: The Perfectionist/Reformer

  • Business Strengths: Strong ethical foundations, attention to quality, systematic improvement
  • Rest Challenges: Perfectionism, difficulty delegating, constant self-criticism
  • Aligned Business Model: Standards-based offerings with clear quality markers and improvement metrics

Type 2: The Helper/Giver

  • Business Strengths: Intuitive understanding of client needs, relationship cultivation, supportive approach
  • Rest Challenges: Overextending, difficulty charging appropriately, putting others’ needs first
  • Aligned Business Model: Relational offerings with clear boundaries and value-based pricing

Type 3: The Achiever/Performer

  • Business Strengths: Efficiency, results orientation, strong branding, adaptability to market
  • Rest Challenges: Workaholism, identity fusion with business success, image management
  • Aligned Business Model: Achievement-focused offerings with clear outcomes and recognition components

Type 4: The Individualist/Romantic

  • Business Strengths: Unique vision, emotional depth, authentic expression, creative approaches
  • Rest Challenges: Mood-dependent productivity, comparison, waiting for inspiration
  • Aligned Business Model: Distinctive, meaning-focused offerings with creative components and personal expression

Type 5: The Investigator/Observer

  • Business Strengths: Deep expertise, innovative solutions, well-researched approaches
  • Rest Challenges: Overpreparation, difficulty with visibility, energy protection to the point of isolation
  • Aligned Business Model: Knowledge-based offerings that leverage expertise while protecting energy

Type 6: The Loyalist/Questioner

  • Business Strengths: Thoroughness, contingency planning, community building, problem anticipation
  • Rest Challenges: Anxiety-driven overwork, overanalysis, worst-case scenario focus
  • Aligned Business Model: Security-enhancing offerings with transparent processes and community components

Type 7: The Enthusiast/Epicure

  • Business Strengths: Creative ideation, enthusiasm, multi-faceted offerings, marketing flair
  • Rest Challenges: Starting without finishing, scattered focus, difficulty with routine maintenance
  • Aligned Business Model: Variety-incorporating offerings with novelty elements and freedom-enhancing components

Type 8: The Challenger/Protector

  • Business Strengths: Bold vision, decisive leadership, barrier breaking, straight-forward approach
  • Rest Challenges: Pushing beyond capacity, resistance to vulnerability, difficulty asking for help
  • Aligned Business Model: Impact-focused offerings with clear authority positioning and protection elements

Type 9: The Peacemaker/Mediator

  • Business Strengths: Inclusive approach, conflict resolution, seeing all perspectives, creating harmony
  • Rest Challenges: Self-forgetting, indecision, merging with others’ priorities, numbing out
  • Aligned Business Model: Integration-focused offerings with consensus-building elements and gentle guidance

Your Unique Combination: The Key to Aligned Success

When you integrate insights from both MBTI and Enneagram, you develop a comprehensive understanding of your business temperament—how your mind works and what motivates your heart. This unique combination creates your personal “energy blueprint.”

For example:

INFJ + Type 4:

  • Natural Strengths: Deep insight into others’ emotions and needs; ability to create meaningful transformational experiences
  • Rest Needs: Regular alone time for processing; protection from emotional overwhelm; creative expression without pressure
  • Business Alignment: One-to-one transformational work; content creation with depth and meaning; behind-the-scenes expertise

ENTJ + Type 8:

  • Natural Strengths: Strategic vision; decisive leadership; ability to create efficient systems
  • Rest Needs: Physical activity to release intensity; safe spaces for vulnerability; protected time free from control
  • Business Alignment: High-level strategy; leadership programs; bold initiatives with measurable impact

INTP + Type 5:

  • This is my MBIT & Enneagram!
  • Natural Strengths: Leveraging deep expertise to create knowledge-based offerings, innovative solutions, well-researched approaches
  • Rest Needs: Regular alone time, manageable levels of visibility and low-pressure expression
  • Business Alignment: One-to-one transformational work; content creation with depth and meaning; innovate adaptive and responsive business approaches

Transforming Business Through Self-Knowledge

Understanding your personality-based patterns allows you to:

  1. Design offerings that leverage your natural gifts rather than depleting your energy
  2. Structure your schedule around your inherent energy flow rather than fighting against it
  3. Market authentically by communicating in ways that reflect your natural style
  4. Set appropriate prices that honor your unique value contribution
  5. Create systems that support rather than override your patterns
  6. Establish boundaries that protect your specific energy vulnerabilities
  7. Identify ideal clients who appreciate your authentic approach

The Integration Challenge

Understanding these frameworks intellectually isn’t enough—integration requires intentional practice. Try one – or all! – of these approaches to begin aligning your business with your personality:

To start, one of these practices to implement for one week:

  1. One Task, One Type: Align your most important daily task with your MBTI cognitive strength.
  2. Type-Led Wind-Down: Create a nighttime routine based on your Enneagram rest need.
  3. No-Type Bypassing: Avoid behaviors that bypass your true needs (e.g., a Type 2 people-pleasing out of guilt).
  4. Energy Audit: Track when you felt most aligned vs. misaligned with your natural flow.
  5. Design Your Ideal Workday: Based on MBTI + Enneagram, sketch your ideal rhythm.

After the week, reflect: How did honoring your type(s) shift your energy or outcomes? What felt most liberating about working with, rather than against, your natural patterns?

Liberation Through Self-Knowledge

Understanding your unique personality patterns isn’t about limiting yourself—it’s about liberating yourself from the exhaustion of constant adaptation. It’s about recognizing that your success path looks different from someone with a different type—and that’s not just okay, it’s essential for your sustainable success.

Your personality patterns aren’t flaws to overcome but natural expressions of your unique design. When you build a business that honors these patterns rather than fighting against them, you create from a place of authentic power rather than exhausting compensation.

If you need more assistance with integrating your MBTI and your Enneagram, I can help you with that. What would become possible in your business if you fully embraced your unique psychological design?

Why Your Business is a Temple: The Sacred Systems that Scale Elegantly

The deeper truth of what you’re building

Most people think of their business as a machine: something to be optimized, automated, squeezed for efficiency and profit margins. They don’t think of their business as anything outside of a mechanism to accomplish a financial goal.

In the Sanctum, we see it differently.

Your business is a temple. It’s where your deepest gifts meet the world. It’s also where your ancestors’ sacrifices find new form. Their tears, their strides, their efforts – all of these energetic investments culminate into something new and powerful in your temple.

Your business is where your future lineage will one day trace their security and opportunity back to: all of the choices you’re making right now are part of your dazzling origin story.

This is why your systems — the structures that hold your offers, your money, your client relationships — must be more than transactional.

They must be sacred.

The Power of Spiritual & Strategic Infrastructure

True wealth isn’t just about how much money flows through your accounts. Money is just an indicator – a mirror – of previous decisions. However, true wealth is about how your business holds that money, circulates it, protects it, and grows it — without fracturing your nervous system in the process.

Here’s how we approach it in the Aureum Sanctum:

Systems that free time

Your time is your most precious non-renewable resource.

A sacred business honors it by building systems that operate gracefully even when you step away.

Seamless onboarding flows? These ensure that each new client feels cherished and initiated, without you scrambling behind the scenes. Automated payment structures? These trigger beautiful confirmations, not clunky invoices. Evergreen offers or passive products? These allow you to make money while you rest, travel, or simply luxuriate in your life.

Your business doesn’t require micromanagement. Trust the systems that you put in place.

Systems that regulate wealth

The goal is wealth without structure leaks.

Just like water that seeps through cracked jars, or the harvest that rots in the field, a business without proper storage in place will have spoilage and spillage.

Sacred financial systems are like consecrated vessels: Trusts that hold assets beyond your lifetime. Thoughtful tax architectures that transform liabilities into legacies. Elegant dashboards that show you your numbers at a glance, so you steward them with calm clarity.

When your money knows exactly where to go, it multiplies with grace — not chaos.

Systems that honor your nervous system

What good is scaling if your body is in a perpetual state of contraction?

Systems that support your calm can look like:

Calendars that include Sabbath days and silk afternoons — not just back-to-back calls. Automated reminders that replace mental clutter. Ritualized CEO days where you review metrics over tea and candles, so your wealth is tracked in a way that soothes your soul, not spikes your cortisol.

The right systems don’t just make you efficient: they make you feel profoundly safe.

Your temple deserves more than duct tape

Too many entrepreneurs slap together duct-tape solutions and wonder why their empire feels shaky. Temporary solutions rarely generate permanent positive results.

Your business deserves the same reverence you’d give to constructing a cathedral:

Solid foundations, intricate artistry, and space for spirit to move through.

So yes, let’s build the automations and hire the right team.

Let’s set up smart tax entities and invest in beauty-infused client portals.

Let’s do it not just for profit, but as an act of profound devotion to your future — and everyone who will walk these halls after you.

Create Your Business Temple

If you’re ready to treat your business as a temple that blesses you as much as it blesses the world — consider having a conversation with me. My door is open, and I’m excited to serve you as you create the business of your wildest dreams.

Scaling should feel sacred. Your business should feel like a beautiful sanctuary. Your nervous system deserves to thrive right alongside your bank accounts. Let’s build your beautiful vision – together.

Why I’m Diving Deeper into Tax Law Right Now

Sometimes legacy work calls you into new terrain.

Or, more accurately, into old terrain with fresh urgency.

I’ve described myself as a tax alchemist, someone who reads and interprets codes and designs wealth strategies that are sacred and sophisticated.

But in light of recent developments, I’ll be turning even more of my attention to the evolving world of tax law — and I want to bring you along for the journey.

The landscape is shifting

A newly passed comprehensive bill — the “One Big Beautiful Bill” — has introduced sweeping changes that will ripple through tax planning, compliance, and wealth structuring for years to come.

Simultaneously, a recent Supreme Court decision regarding the IRS, the tax court, and collections due process has redefined certain guardrails that taxpayers have long relied on.

Translation?

The frameworks that protect your wealth, your legacy plans, and even your day-to-day financial serenity are all being re-negotiated in real time.

What this means for you

Most people only discover these shifts when it’s too late — when they’re hit with unexpected liabilities, audits, or discover that their previously sound strategies no longer hold.

But in the Aureum Sanctum, we approach this differently.

We stay ahead by weaving regulatory changes into our rituals of wealth stewardship before they become crises.

This is why I’ll be dedicating more of my offline time to unpacking these new legal currents — what they mean, how they might impact your trusts or business entities, and how we can continue to shape them into elegant, protective structures for your family’s future. And, as I uncover crucial details, I’ll bring these insights back to the Sanctum.

The Aureum Sanctum approach: calm, clear, strategic

If the idea of diving into dense tax law makes you anxious, take a breath.

We approach this the same way we approach everything here: with calmness, clarity, discernment, foresight, and the steady reminder that wealth design is both art and architecture.

Together, we’ll navigate these changes without panic — only with precision and the quiet confidence of knowing your financial house rests on solid, beautifully crafted foundations.

What’s next

So expect to see more updates in the coming weeks and months:

  • Thoughtful explorations of the new bill’s most impactful provisions
  • Insights on the Supreme Court’s most recent collection due process decision and what it might mean for audits and collections
  • And practical, graceful guidance on how to pivot your tax and legacy planning strategies in light of it all.

Because at the end of the day, my mission remains unchanged:

To help you build wealth that is elegant, enduring, and exquisitely aligned with the life you’re here to live — no matter what the laws of the land decide to rearrange.

Can’t Be Disciplined? Try Being Devoted.

In exploring paths to prosperity, I’ve been diving deeper into the habits and practices that can contribute to sustainable riches and a delicious life. With the advent of AI and other automation tools and technology, there are more paths to wealth than ever before!

Of course, in the path to wealth, there are as many hinderances as there are opportunities. Knowledge gaps, lack of time, inadequate resources, and a number of other stumbling blocks present significant challenges to people attempting to reach their financial goals. But, even in the absence of barriers, some people still struggle with reaching their financial goals. What gives?

I suspect that the main issue that some people have is that they struggle with being “disciplined”. They aren’t able to commit to hard (or easy) actions on a regular, consistent basis. This is similar to the aversion some people have to the term “budget” (which I’ve discussed in a previous post). They find themselves easily discouraged when they are inconvenienced or misdirected from their path. Also, “discipline” as a concept may feel uncomfortable. It may trigger emotions like inferiority, shame, frustration, or inadequacy, especially in cases where the figures from their childhoods that embodied “discipline” were harsh, critical or not particularly nurturing (insert caregiver trauma here).

In the spirit of redefining personal finance, perhaps a new term is the best solution. Perhaps, instead of “discipline”, we can try framing this dedication as devotion. Much like religious adherents that love the sacrifice that comes with their service, we can view our consistent actions as an act of devotion to our future selves and the future reality that awaits us if we just stay the course.

When discussing wealth generation strategies, most of the conversations tend to glamorize quick wins over the long game. The myth of “Sudden Wealth” is a pervasive one, and, by focusing on fast money, anything that occurs in the inverse (such as quiet, incremental growth) is seen as boring, difficult and unsatisfying. Including the topic of “discipline” in these conversations just further highlights the disdain many people have towards consistent work. However, when reframed as devotion, the conversation takes on a very different energy. The quiet power that comes from incremental devotion isn’t boring, it’s mysterious; it isn’t difficult, it’s an exhilarating experiment. Incremental devotion isn’t unsatisfying: it’s a fire that grows from a flicker to an inferno. Like compound interest that grows over time, incremental steps rooted in devotion to our future selves are small at the beginning but become monumental over time. The route of incremental devotion eliminates the need for intensity, since consistency and time do most of the heavy lifting.

Speaking of the “boring” and unappealing nature of discipline . . . Discipline tends to be associated with rigidity, and most people are averse to anything too rigid. On the other hand, devotion can be fluid and even sensual: it’s easy to take a necessary task and add elements of beautiful rituals to it. One of my favorite ways to make my devotion feel more like a ritual is to set up my desk before working on anything related to business. I usually light a gorgeous scented candle, put on a piece of jewelry or an article of clothing that symbolizes what I’m working on (as I type this, I’m wearing a soft red top that always makes me feel divine and polished), and put on some music that matches the mood I want to invoke (rainforest sounds, gentle chimes, success subliminals, and classical music are great places to start). The most important part of connecting rituals to devotion is to treat the task as something sacred and nonnegotiable, which are terms that can also be used to describe (you guessed it) discipline.

At the heart of devotion is a positive feeling of self worth. Even the most perfect plans and the most disciplined person will abandon their work if their don’t believe they are truly worthy of the goal they desire. Staying devoted is easier to do when you feel worthy of the wealth, ease and abundance you’re creating. Daily affirmations, mirror work, journaling, and other self concept practices can help with identity shifting. From that newly shifted space, it is much easier to stay devoted and cultivate consistent practices that will create the life you desire.

When I began this conversation, I stated how there are more opportunities to build wealth than ever before. However, along with opportunity comes another issue. The same internet that provides wealth-building access also floods us with distractions, comparison traps, and “shiny object syndrome.” And, unfortunately, discipline “punishes” us for falling into distraction, instead of gently refocusing us and encouraging us. Devotion requires discernment — staying loyal to your path and not being seduced by every new tactic, course, or platform. While discernment may take some time and experience to develop, devotion doesn’t have the harshness of a stern disciplinarian: it warmly invites us to return to our goals sooner rather than later.

Following the path of devotion has been a sweeter experience than the road of discipline. I invite you all to try devotion instead of discipline, and let me know how it works for you. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

3 Easy Things You Can Do In October To Invite More Money Into Your Life

Happy October! Can you believe we’re in the last quarter of the year? (I’m still in denial: how is summer over already?) This year is moving quickly but, fortunately, we still have time to set ourselves up for success before we welcome 2024.

While I don’t believe in waiting until tomorrow (or in this case, waiting until 2024) to make drastic changes, I do think that it’s wise to build momentum before committing to major uplevels. And this last quarter of 2023 is perfect for building momentum that will help you start 2024 on a strong note!

Here are three little things you can do now, to build momentum for a prosperous 2024. These changes may not turn your whole world upside down, but little steps can absolutely put you on the path to financial security and abundant living. I’m doing each thing mentioned in this post, and I’d love for you to join me on this journey.

Cancel one subscription or membership – Look carefully at your last 3-6 months of banking and credit card statements, and figure out which subscription, membership, or recurring payment is least important or minimally impactful. That’s the one to cancel, and even better if you can cancel a few of them. It’s always easiest to start with the ones that you’ve been meaning to eliminate but just keep forgetting. Even if it’s a small amount (perhaps $2-3 a month spent on an electronic game, or a few dollars for food delivery), try canceling it, then immediately designating that amount to go to a high yield savings account (HYSA) each month. If it’s a small amount, you probably won’t notice the savings as they build up, but believe me, those savings will grow over time, and you’ll be very glad you stopped spending your money on something that you really didn’t want or need.

A couple of months ago, I canceled a Patreon membership to a content creator who hadn’t generated any Patreon-specific content in more than 4 months. I earmarked that $6 to go to my HYSA. This savings will yield a whopping $72 annually, but it’s not about the amount, per se: the important part of this exercise is the ENERGY I embody when I direct my resources exclusively to things that bring value to me. At the beginning of this month, I canceled a subscription that cost me roughly $80 per month. Yes, the items I received from that subscription had value, but it was one of the least impactful investments I make during any given month. I’ll be canceling a bimonthly service by the middle of this month. Between these two cancellations, I estimate I will save about $135 a month. I will have to pay a cancellation fee for the service I’m eliminating mid-month ($161) but the savings I will enjoy over the next two months will more than make up for the upfront elimination costs.

Vow to go one week (or more!) without takeout or nights out – As a person that adores GrubHub, UberEats, and any other service that takes the thought process out of dinner preparation, this isn’t my favorite way to save money. However, I have a freezer full of food that I can prepare, and there’s no good reason for me to order takeout when I have downtime, adequate supplies, and some energy. So, right before I wrote this post, I started doing some prep: outlining some of the frozen, fresh and canned food I had, and using ChatGPT to whip up some recipes (AI is your friend!)

Perhaps you have someone in your home that handles all of the food decisions, or maybe you don’t order takeout. Look at anything you purchase weekly or monthly, and see if you can skip it. Think of beauty products, junk/snack food, alcoholic beverages when you go out, etc.,. I have some travel planned for the end of the month, so avoiding takeout for the entire month isn’t realistic. That’s why I’m doing my prep now, and committing to one week (maybe two weeks, if I can be disciplined) without food delivery.

Read 1 book that will increase your financial knowledge – This is such a simple thing, but learning more about how to handle your money can do wonders for bringing more money into your world. If you’re not used to reading financial books, don’t go for complicated texts. Try a book that isn’t too long, and serves as a good introduction to basic financial concepts. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, Saving on a Shoestring by Barbara O’Neill, or Earn What You Deserve by Jerrold Mundis are all great places to start. You get bonus points if you choose to borrow the book from the library instead of purchasing it!

But, perhaps you already read these kinds of books (I know I do!). In that case, an unorthodox self improvement book is a good choice. It will indirectly support your financial mindset, because how you do anything is how you do everything. I’m re-reading “How To Really Be Rich” (a 4-part workshop transcribed into a set of booklets) by Jeannette Maw, as well as reading, for the first time, Filthy Rich Woman by Dr. Portia Fulford (I’ll be reviewing it in an upcoming post). Both of these are basically workbooks that have exercises to improve your money mentality, but since I know I’ll have some additional downtime, I’ll also be reading A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives by Lisa Congdon. I figure those inspirational stories will feed my soul in innumerable ways.

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These three simple tips can help you build momentum as you invite more money into your life right now, and in the future! What are some things you’re doing to welcome the wealth? I’d love to hear your comments below!

3 Reasons Why Your Money May Be Stagnant (And How To Change It)

Recently, I had a great chat with a few friends, and we were all excited about a number of things, including our finances. One of my friends is transitioning to a new career and has been weighing different compensation scenarios. Her main concern is whether she’ll be able to continue growing her personal wealth once she takes the new position. She fears becoming stagnant in her financial gains, and doesn’t want to lose time or regress during the transition. I assured her that she wouldn’t experience this, because she didn’t have the most common stagnancy factors working against her. I told her some factors off of the top of my head, but as I sat down and thought about it further, I realized there are a few top reasons why someone may experience financial stagnancy. I figured you all may like to know what those reasons are, and some possible solutions for them. So, here you go: financial stagnancy reasons and solutions!

Reason 1 – Your money may be stagnant because you’ve stopped growing your knowledge or skills. I’ve noticed that many people complaining about their income have either stopped learning about money, or they stopped developing their skills related to their earning potential. This is very common with employees that have “comfortable” jobs (adequate salaries, good benefits, pleasant work conditions). The comfort within these jobs can make it easy to get satisfied with “good enough”, and that complacency often translates over to financial decisions that they make.

Solution: Start learning again. You can start by committing to reading one brief financial article daily, or listen to podcasts or YouTube videos about financial matters. Or, decide to learn something else. The fun thing is, you don’t have to limit your learning to financial topics: pick up any new (or abandoned) hobby or activity and start practicing again. Remember, how you do anything is how you do everything. The expansion that comes from developing one area of your life will flow over to other areas.

Reason 2 – Your money may be stagnant because you’re emotionally stuck. Perhaps you feel angry because you’ve been passed over for promotions. Or, you’re sad because you made an investment (emotionally or financially) that didn’t turn out the way you wanted. Maybe you experienced the death of a loved one, a traumatic accident, or some other devastating experience, and now you’ve been moving through life on autopilot. You may have seen someone close to you lose all of their money in a scam, and now you’re afraid to do anything that may result in a loss. Whatever the emotion is, you know that you’re stuck there, and you feel that emotion every time you start to think or talk about money.

Solution: Identify the emotion, then work through it. One of the simplest ways to identify the core emotion is to start with the scenario that created the emotion, and ask ourselves, “How does this make me feel?” Don’t stop asking the question until you get to at least one of three possible culprits: anger, sadness, and/or fear. Generally, every uncomfortable emotion will boil down to one of these three, at the most fundamental level. After identifying the emotions, seek resources to help you with processing it (FYI the professional that can help you most with these feelings is probably a therapist, not a financial advisor). You can start journaling about the emotion, expressing it in a way that gets the energy “moving” (crying, screaming, boxing class: whatever works), or whatever else helps you to process the feeling. Then, when the emotion has decreased, start venturing beyond your comfort zone. Start with small risks, and rack up a few wins before you go bigger and bolder with your financial decisions.

Reason 3 – Your money may be stagnant because you don’t have a clear goal. Money (like people) enjoys direction. If your money goals are vague, you probably won’t see your money growing or accomplishing the things you want it to. You need clarity to guide your financial efforts; without it, you’ll hop from idea to idea, making very little progress along the way. After reflecting on your experiences, you may find that you’ve taken no actions, because you thought you’d be young and healthy forever. Perhaps you didn’t hop through ideas, and maybe you took actions, but the progress is nowhere near what you wanted at this point in your journey. There are many things that can happen when there isn’t a clear goal, and your money generally suffers when this happens. In any case, a lack of goals and a lack of clarity will often mean a compromised financial path and delayed/denied financial growth.

Solution: Get clear goals and take actions that align with them. Instead of getting exasperated and throwing up your hands in frustration, sit down and ask yourself what you really want. There is no dream that is unreasonable or impossible, so remove those limitations and allow yourself to dream about what an ideal life would look like. Then, determine how your money figures into that: do you need a little more, a lot more, or none at all? After you have the dream life envisioned, and you know how money will serve you in that life, start the process of asking yourself how can you get there (if you want to devise a plan for that, I can help you!)

Stagnant money doesn’t have to be a permanent condition: you are one decision away from ushering fresh energy into your finances! So tell me: do you have stagnant money energy? Are you committed to changing that, or have you already taken actions to change it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Planning Your Financial Year

As we draw closer to the end of 2022, there is a feeling of hope in the air: tomorrow always holds the potential for us to be better, happier, and more successful than we were yesterday. One of the biggest advantages of embracing hopeful energy is that it motivates us to plan and prepare for the future we desire. With hope on your side, anything is possible!

With that in mind, I’m excited to share with you some easy steps for planning your financial year. It may seem daunting at first, but it’s surprisingly easy and quick to plan a financial year that will bring you joy instead of tears. The key to planning anything is breaking it down the big goals into smaller, more manageable pieces. Then, once those pieces are defined, take action daily in order to make your dreams come true. I’m getting ahead of myself: let’s start at the beginning.

Ask yourself, What do I want? Vague goals get vague results. Get specific and stop excluding yourself from your desires: eliminate the word “can’t” from your vocabulary. If the goal feels so huge that you doubt that it can happen, then take it down half a notch, but never make it so realistic that it doesn’t excite you. Your goals should light you up: if it feels lackluster, it isn’t big enough. Big, dreamy, specific goals are what you need to keep you motivated throughout the year.

Ask yourself, What will it take to get what I want? Break your big, dreamy goals into smaller, specific steps. If any part of your goals rely on luck, specify that, but also focus most of your attention on the actions that are within your control. If you identify a step that feels a bit overwhelming, then break that down into a much smaller, more manageable sub-steps. The objective of this exercise is to make your big goals feel obtainable (because they are!)

Ask yourself, What can I do today to get closer to what I want? Consistent, daily action is what takes a dream or plan and turns it into reality. The biggest problem I’ve seen people encounter on the path to their goals is believing that they need to take grand actions in order to make progress. If you wait for the right time to make big moves, you’ll find yourself frustrated, stuck, and feeling like a failure. Rarely do we get a “perfect” time to take big actions: we either sneak up on our goals or we hope for the stars to align before we make moves (I don’t recommend that you do the latter).

I’m still thinking of my big, dreamy financial goal for 2023: once I’ve identified that goal, I’ll share it here, and give you all my process for achieving it. Look out for those posts in the next few weeks!

I’d love to hear what your financial goals for 2023 are: please let me know all about them in the comments below!

5 Income Sources You Can Create For Yourself Now

Happy Finance Friday! I hope you all had a great, prosperous week. If not, then I hope this post gives you some ideas for turning your money story around, and for majorly upleveling your finances.

Many of the discussions around money center around making more (which is what I’ll be talking about today) and spending less (to be discussed soon). These are the cornerstones to creating financial freedom, so the quicker you can implement them, the better your results. But when it comes to quickly implementing money-making strategies, there is usually this looming sense of overwhelm and a lack of clarity regarding where to start first.

Never fear: here are 5 income sources that you can create quickly, so you can start making more money NOW. I’m keeping it simple, giving you links and sources that you can explore right now, to start making money quickly and to give your finances a boost.

Tutoring – There are many online tutoring platforms, but I recommend Cambly for its ease of use. Once you’ve signed up and your profile is approved, you can sign up for Priority Hours, which guarantee that you will get priority student placements (basically, students are routed to you first) and you are guaranteed to receive partial payment for the hour, even if you don’t get any students routed to you (this is rare, but it can happen). It pays about $10 per hour, so it won’t make you a millionaire, but if you do one hour a day, that’s $300 per month that you can use to treat yourself, knock out debt, or invest in your future.

Make printables – if you’re creative, this is a fabulous way to make money without having to keep a bunch of physical inventory. Design cute templates and printable documents using free online software (like Canva), then upload the designs to your own website or to another platform (like Etsy). You can be making money within a few hours, if this interests you.

eBay store ownership – Sign up for an eBay account, take pictures of your stuff, then upload and set your price. Yes, there’s a little more to it (writing out descriptions, figuring out what has to happen once the items are purchased, etc.). However, this is one of the quickest ways to make money with what you already have.

Personal assistant work – Fiverr, TaskRabbit, and Upwork are just three of the platforms where you can advertise your skills as a personal assistant. Yes, even TaskRabbit has options beyond yardwork and furniture moving: you can find gigs for errands and clerical tasks. Once you set up your profiles on these websites, you can start making money.

Host virtual cocktails – This is great if you’re social and want to quickly monetize your popularity. Come up with a fun cocktail idea, set up a FB event page for it, work out the Zoom (or other meeting platform) details, then start selling tickets. Yes, it will take a few moments to set up a way to receive your payments, but that’s what PayPal, Zelle and CashApp are for. If you’re a fabulous hostess, you can make a memoral event happen from the comfort of your home.

These are just a few ideas for generating money quickly so you can start hitting your financial goals. Look out for another post in a few weeks, discussing 5 ways to spend less money, so you can hold on to more of what you earn. Have a great weekend!