0035: Cracking Your Money Code: How to Uncover Your Money Personality Type with Money Mindset Coach & Public Speaker Eleni Anastos

Ea interviews episode 35, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week. Join Mario Ficcini for today's Expert Authority Effect interview.

Welcome Expert Authority World. I am excited to be here with another great episode for you.

Have you ever had hang ups with money?

Have you ever wanted to make more but not quite sure what was holding you back? I know I have in the past. Have you ever wanted to help someone else out but you were struggling yourself? Was there something that happened when you were younger that you may be carrying with you when you're older? Does your business want more profits? Do you want more margins? These are all important things. But what is that breaking point? I assure you it is not the shiny object you're seeing on Facebook, LinkedIn or anywhere. It's deeper than that and we're going to jump right into it after we thank our sponsor.

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Eleni, how are you?

I am good and it's so good to be here with you. Mario.

I am excited for you to share. I've been wanting to have you on the show for a while. I was so thankful when I reached out and you were so excited to come on. It is an absolute pleasure and let's just jump right into it. Why did you decide to do what you do? What inspired you to start your company?

I've had the entrepreneurial spirit in me for a long time and for many years, well over a decade, I worked with a lot of entrepreneurs helping them get money. When the bank said no, things like equipment leasing, accounts receivable, financing. But throughout that, I realized almost every single entrepreneur I worked with, including myself, had a very contentious, negative relationship with money. And it was really impacting their bottom line. I mean, money touches every area of your business. It touches almost every area of your life. So if you've got a contentious relationship with it, you're not going to be growing the way you want to grow. And I want people to really value themselves and value the work that they put out to the world.

Where did you develop the sense that it had to be on money? I mean, there's different ways you can help people. I mean, there's many different ways you can help people. And you chose money. Why is that?

I did because of the impact that I see that it has. I have learned that how you do money is how you do everything. And uncovering those money blind spots can significantly impact so many areas in your life, professionally, personally. And again, since money touches every area of your business, you need to have a positive, healthy relationship with it if you're going to grow the way you want to grow.

Let's dive into your clients. Who do you help and how do you help them?

Well, I work with entrepreneurs that may be struggling with how to price their product or their service. They know that the work they do, the product or the service they offer is worth way more than what they're charging and they need. Sometimes they just get stuck on how do I really package this, how can I put it into a program, how do I create a profit pyramid that makes sense for my business? And also I see a lot of entrepreneurs, they could be so gifted with whatever they do, but so uncomfortable talking about money. And if you're uncomfortable talking about money, you're going to hesitate to ask for the sale or you might even apologize for your fees. At the very least you're going to over deliver.

Why do you think people apologize for them?

I think it goes back to some limited beliefs they have like who am I to charge this, who am I to ask for money for what I do? And is simply looking at the other side. Who are you not to do that? But if you grow up with, oh, you know, having too much money makes you greedy, or money is evil, or there's never enough to go around, you've got those limiting beliefs. That's like a, that's a boatload of carry on luggage to drag with you to try to make it successful in business.

Would you say that a lot of entrepreneurs go into entrepreneuring, so to speak, to break free from that? But it's also that contention point, like you're saying, that holds them back so often.

Yes, I think many people do become entrepreneurs because they have that spirit and they want to be, you know, the master of their own destiny, professionally and financially. But you can't succeed beyond your current money beliefs. So not having the awareness of what you're dragging with you that most likely came from childhood or maybe if you were in corporate and it didn't matter how hard you worked or a certain type of job, it didn't matter how much you put in or how many hours, this was all you were going to make.

Let's dive a little bit deeper in this specifically because a lot of people have those limiting beliefs. How do you first identify it and then break free from it.

Well, when I first work with a client, the first thing we do is look at the foundation, where those beliefs with money came from. And honestly, often goes back to childhood. They could have been watching their parents or anybody else close to them. And if they heard people stressing about money or arguing about money or heard things like, money is evil or wanting to have a lot of money means you're a greedy person, that's all weighing on them subconsciously. So even though they want to go out on their own and have an abundant life, they still have that subconsciously pulling them back, going, oh, yeah, no, no, you don't want to be greedy. And they end up undervaluing themselves and not honoring their skills and their gifts.

So what are a couple things that you start people off with once you've identified it to get them through it?

When we first identify their limiting beliefs to go through that, we also look at how they're hardwired. Everybody has a money personality or money archetype. And like any personality, we all have gifts and we all have challenges, but it's about the awareness. So once you understand how you're hardwired to deal with money, then you can begin to make the decisions, you know, to move yourself forward. But I also want entrepreneurs especially to look at who they want as clients. You know, all too often, we get caught up in, I just need to make a sale. I just need to get a customer in the door. And I get being hungry, been there. I get it. But there has to be a point where you draw that line to get what you deserve. And a lot of entrepreneurs think they just have to basically take whoever comes in the door. And those people might not be appreciating your value, your worth. They might be looking for the cheapest deal in town. And I see people try to compare cost with value, and they're not even in the same ballpark. That's easy for an entrepreneur to get hung up on with.

That being said, what's the biggest breakthrough you've ever seen a client have? They came to you. They had some limiting beliefs. You worked through it, which is fantastic. What's the biggest transformation you've seen in one of your clients?

One of my clients, a very creative, talented entrepreneur, but so, so scared to even deal with money. She could barely discuss fees. In fact, she often apologized for her fees when talking to potential clients. She was living basically from hand to mouth, very inconsistent months. And we started working together and digging back into her past. She realized that she adopted a lot of limiting beliefs from growing up where she heard money's the bad guy. There's never enough to go around. And whenever we talk about it, you know there's going to be a fight, there's going to be an issue. So she just didn't want to deal with money. It was like, hands off. I don't want to. I'm not going to be able to stand up for myself. Because she only saw the contention. But through coaching, we're able to write that ship. And she transformed her relationship, became empowered, became. And then she was able to confidently state her fees, confidently talk about money in any situation, and not just professionally. She was standing up for herself personally, and she began earning more money month after month. Right now she's earning about six times what she was earning before she realized she had those money blocks that were holding her back.

Wow, that's fantastic. I don't know anyone who, regardless of what they're currently making, wouldn't want to make six times more.

Yes. Me included. Yes.

What was her goal once she got past it? Did she have any new goals, like, you know, here's my dream before and now here's my dream now that I can see that more as possible.

She wanted honestly to carry that voice into all aspects of her life. I had mentioned that how you do money is how you do everything. And because she was so afraid to even stand up for herself where money was concerned, she wasn't standing up for herself in her personal life either and was just accepting, accepting whatever came her way. And four months ago, she married the love of her life because she stood up for what she wanted. She no longer tolerated, you know, what wasn't serving her. So again, it impacts all areas of your life.

So you piqued my interest with the archaeotypes that you mentioned, and I'm curious which one she is. And congrats to her for breaking through and now improving other areas of her life. I'm curious what she is, and I'm curious what I am. How many archetypes are there?

There are eight main archetypes, and she was a romantic nurturer. Well, first I want to say there's no one archetype that's better than another at attracting abundance into your world. Again, it's about the awareness, because we all have the gifts, we all have the challenges. So we want to champion the gifts and consciously navigate around the challenges. And there's a very simple assessment that people can take to determine their archetype. Series of questions and the Good news is you can't study for it and you can't fail, so it's all good.

Why didn't you tell me about this in high school? I would have loved this option for all my quizzes.

Yes, yes. Not being. Not having to study and not being.

Able to fail would have passed more classes that way. You said she was a romantic, a romantic nurturer.

So a romantic nurturer. And you can just think of what the words mean. You know, when you're romantic and you believe that things are beautiful and there's grace and ease and things will flow. Yes, on one hand, they will. And as a nurturer, you love taking care of people. You want to be there for them. Of course, whenever you can help, you want to help. But by the same token, you can often default to becoming a bank or allowing people to take advantage of you if you don't have boundaries in place. So I wouldn't want her to stop being a loving nurturer. But then she knew she needed to have some boundaries in place to protect herself so she could continue to be of service to others.

So I know we don't have time to go into all eight of them, but what's another one or two you could share with me?

An accumulator. I'm a strong accumulator. We're the inner banker and we know where every penny goes. We have a very tight knit, close relationship with money, which on one hand can be a match made in heaven, but then on the other hand, sometimes even spending a small amount of money can cause a lot of anxiety and stress. So it has to have the balance. Because if you don't, if you don't have the balance, if you're not willing to kind of loosen those purse strings once in a while, then you may end up missing opportunities to invest in yourself that could catapult your business or doing something for yourself on a personal level that could really enhance your life if you're too tightly knit with money. Another archetype is the maverick. They're kind of that rebel with a cause and they just illuminate that risk is essential, which in many ways is a good thing. But sometimes mavericks can take that too much to an extreme. And again, it's about going back to the balance where, yes, you got to be willing to take that risk. You got to be willing to take a chance. Any true blooded entrepreneur knows that. But by the same token, you also have to have some sense of stability. You know, sometimes the old, tried and true is what you need. You still need a foundation to leap off of.

I love that. And it reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Robert Kiyosaki. In all of his books he says that savers are losers. And he's alluding to the fact that if you're trying to save your way to wealth, it's never going to happen.

You're going to lose in the long term.

Right.

And he said, I have a plan to be wealthy, but I also have a plan to be comfortable. And I think too often people confuse those two. Would you agree?

Yes. Completely. Completely. And especially using the word comfortable. I don't ever want to be okay with just being okay, but I'm grateful that I'm okay on many days, if that makes sense. You know, again, it's having the foundation, but I know that I can leap from it and grow in directions that if I hadn't done this work on myself, I probably would be sitting still, sitting so tight knit with my money, being a hardcore accumulator who. I remember my very first savings book as a kid and I slept with it under my pillow because it was so cool to see that money in my savings account. But again, as Robert said, that's not how you amass wealth, but it's about balance because you can't be the maverick all the time and risk every single day and everything you have. So I think it's a nice marriage of the two.

The balance, it meant a lot to me because I identify with that maverick. I've even heard some people say gamble. Gambler.

Yeah.

And there might be some truth to that, but you know, you can't always go for the big risk. But like you said, if you never take any risks.

Right.

Nothing's going to change. So there's. I don't know if there's a fine line, but I will say there's a big old gray area that you got to figure out what works for you.

Yeah.

So you were talking about your clients and you work with them one on one. How else do you help them?

I also work with them in small groups, but primary. It's been one on one, but I'm adding on more and more small groups for the more people want to come in and not everybody is ready or at a place for one on one coaching and mentoring. So I've created groups to help fit that need as well so people can still get support and still get, you know, some of the services. Because again, I'm on a mission for people to truly value themselves, stop undercharging, value their work and Realize that they have every right to have abundance. You know, money is not a bad guy. Money's neutral. Money's energy. Like anything, it's whatever we apply to it. Whatever meaning we apply to it. So helping people get away from those limited beliefs. Oh my gosh, it's been a. It's so gratifying to see the breakthroughs that they make and like the freedom. It's like busting free of the chains.

Well, you have such a compelling message and I'm. I'm thankful you're sharing it with the audience. How would you say speaking has helped you get your message out there?

Being able to connect directly with people? Absolutely, because I'm very relationship oriented and I believe in connection. Connection is what matters most, including your connection with money. But when people can see you and hear you, I think it's far more impactful because at the end of the day, you know, people still buy from people. And yes, I am grateful for the Internet, online platforms, everything, and I utilize them. But I think we can't forget the human element and just connecting. So being able to be in front of somebody face to face, or at least when they can hear you and see you, I'm so grateful to be able to connect with them on a human level.

I agree. Too many people forget the art of just caring.

I grew up and one of my favorite things was always friends and having fun and family and different things. But there was that connection. There's that relationship like you were speaking of.

Now.

I also like the Internet. I'm a frickin nerd and I feel very comfortable with all that kind of stuff. However, it's given me the opportunity to be able to speak in a way where you can communicate with people from one generation and bridge the gap to the next one. Because the reality is they both work and help each other out. It's not that anyone that has more wisdom and experience, let's say, if that's a good way of saying it, yes, you know, it's not this generation's fault. But conversely, if you don't know how to do this nowadays, you know, open up a cell phone, check out an iPad, send an email, you're going to have just as much trouble as 100 years ago for someone that, I don't know, didn't have a car or something, you know, any point in time, there's always that level. And it's like, how can you stay ahead of the curve? Well, you need to be able to, you know, be more than just one thing at any one Time. So we're going to talk about how people can do that. We're going to come back after we thank the sponsor for the imperfect action round.

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Right, we're back with the imperfect action round. Lenny, are you ready to take imperfect action?

Absolutely.

Pretty much the only way to do it, right?

Absolutely.

You're going to love this question. You're going to love all of these and I ask them every interview, but you're really going to love them. The first one is what is the fastest path to the cash? What is one way that someone can make more money sooner than later?

Very simply is looking at raising your fees because guarantee, almost everybody is undercharging. That being said, also look at the clients that you want to have. You know, look at who you want. What are the characteristics of your ideal client? Because you want to attract people that are going to happily pay your fees because they see the value in you.

I like that. All right. The second one, what is the biggest problem you see your audience make and how can they improve it?

Not charging what they're worth. Again, completely undervaluing themselves is they seem stuck on how do I appropriately or properly price my product or my services, maybe into packages and then programs so you can create a profit pyramid that makes sense for your business. What I Think a lot of entrepreneurs forget is that you get to decide, is the juice worth the squeeze? Now you decide how much your time is worth, and then you can build accordingly. Not everybody needs to make the same amount. But going back to remember, it's your worth, it's your business. You decide if the juice is worth the squeeze.

I like that analogy. I love orange juice. And I'm assuming you're talking about orange juice, but I also like lemon. I don't generally drink it, but. But it is still good. It's your choice either way. And so many people do forget that. It's your business, it's your show, it's your life, it's your book, it's your whatever. So the last thing I want to ask is maximizing customer lifetime value. What would you say is the best way to do it?

Focusing on the value, because to me, that's the key word. And it's cultivating that relationship with them and remembering that you're on the same team, you want the same result. And again, not confusing cost with value, because it's not the same thing at all. Clients are going to invest in themselves when they choose to work with you. And I think that's the message that needs to continually be conveyed to them. They're investing in their own growth, their own future by choosing you.

That is beautiful. So many people need to hear that. And I hope you're listening with both ears, expert authority world, because she is being utmost honest and truthful and you need to take this to heart. So the last thing I want to ask you is about books. What is the best book you could recommend to anyone?

Oh, because there are so many. One of the first ones that came to mind, though is the Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. It's a very small book, but so potent and powerful and it really demystifies everything. You know, how many people think that. Oh, that, you know, getting rich is only for the lucky people or the special people or the super talented people. It's truly, it's truly available to all of us. So the Science of Getting Rich.

Is there another one you want to recommend too? You said there's so many and there are.

Yeah, I'll give you an extra one.

If you want it.

I mean, the classic tried and true Think and Grow Rich. You know, I love Napoleon Hill and it goes back to the beliefs and the mindset. You know, he didn't say build a widget and grow rich. He said think and grow rich. So it goes back to my point of you can't succeed beyond your current beliefs. So you have to do the inner work first.

I love that. So where can they find you to learn more? Because I know they're going to want.

To I'm@businessinsightsnow.com and I would love to offer for anyone curious, you included, to learn what their money personality, their money archetype is. It's a very simple assessment. You can take it via my website. Probably take you about 10, 15 minutes. As soon as I get the results, I'll reach out so we can schedule a time and I will help explain what all of those numbers mean and how they may play out in your life personally and professionally.

Wow. That sounds good. Thank you for making that available to everyone.

Absolutely.

This has been fantastic. Thank you for your time. It's been an absolute pleasure and I look forward to talking with you again.

Thank you. I really appreciate it.

All right, take care and God bless.

Bye.

You're already successful. You've worked hard to get where you are.

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