In this solo podcast episode, Sally Koering Zimney opens with a probing question about listeners’ feelings toward money and then shares her own "money story." She recounts growing up in a modest, middle‑class family of teachers, her early career in nonprofit education, and the internal conflict she felt about wanting wealth. A pivotal moment came when she listened to Brooke Castillo’s podcast episode titled "Money is Awesome," which helped her reframe money from a source of guilt to a neutral tool that can enable greater impact. Sally describes how she now uses the mantra "money is awesome" to challenge limiting beliefs each time she prices a program or makes a purchase. She connects this mindset shift to her larger "Million Dollar Mission" – a goal to inspire 100 speakers to each earn at least $10,000 through speaking, thereby amplifying collective impact. She invites listeners to join her free Emerging Speaker Society Facebook group for deeper weekly discussions, upcoming trainings, and a panel on money blocks. Throughout, she emphasizes that more money can translate into more impact, empowerment, and the ability to pursue personal dreams like a hot tub, travel, and supporting her children’s education.
Chapters
How do you feel about money? When I talk about like making a lot of money, what comes up for you? That's a really big question. There's a lot. We are all carrying around beliefs and gosh, the thoughts, some really heavy thoughts that creep up. I don't even totally realize what those thoughts are. Well, I'm trying to pull them all out, become aware of them, and to talk about my money story because If I'm going to help lead you on this million-dollar mission, I got to tackle my money story. Hey, movers! It's Sally Koering Zimney with Be Moved. Let's go create some talks that will move this world. We're going to talk with amazing speakers, share tips, tricks, resources, and we are going to be moved so that our audience can be moved. Moved. This moved me. What is moving you? I was in the car. I had just joined a coworking space. This was pre— I don't know, 2018 or something. I was listening to Brooke Castillo's Life Coach School podcast. I was really sure actually that Brooke was actually from Minnesota because of her accent and the way she goes, "So, oh my gosh, this is so whatever." She's not from Minnesota. I tend to think everybody's from Minnesota in their heart. So in this episode that was titled "Money is Awesome," I was like, is money awesome? Money is like the source of all kinds of problems. Money is greed. Money is all the— I had all this immediate reaction to it where I was like, I have never once thought that money was awesome. But I listened to that episode, and by the end of it, I thought, money is awesome. Money is awesome. Money is awesome. What people do with it may not be awesome, but money is awesome. And if people do good things with money, it's even better. Money is awesome. And that became my mantra for a long time. It was my first step into really figuring out what my money story is and how my ideas about money might be holding me back. Now I'm reminded of my limiting beliefs around money every time I go to price a new program Every time I go to sell something, every time I have to, uh, rationalize a purchase. I mean, we are facing up against our money belief systems every day, all the time, all the time. We're probably not even fully aware of it, but as entrepreneurs, we're probably more aware than most people about the whole money thing because we are running everything through our own lens.. So we gotta talk about this. We gotta talk about the beliefs that we are carrying around with us. So I thought I would start our million-dollar mission with a quick little peek into Sally's money story. Money's awesome? To money is awesome. And I'm still convincing myself of that in every moment. But I'm better now. Some beliefs and part of who I am that led me to a place where I was questioning whether or not money was awesome was because I grew up with two awesome parents in a total middle-class, middle America, middle, middle everything. They were both teachers, and we had a certain pride in not having money. I don't know why, because my parents worked hard. They worked hard, and we had everything we needed and a little bit of what we wanted, and that seemed like the best path. So of course I found myself working in the nonprofit sector in education and living with that same intention. I had everything I needed and a little bit of what I wanted. I went to college in a place where we admired and held up people who took a vow of poverty, and we held that up as really the most godly way of living. And I think there's something so beautiful about that. I really, really do. And all of that has made my other wish of making a lot of money feel a little fraught, a little bit like, "Oh, should I be wanting to make so much money?" I would really like to make more money. I would love a hot tub, guys. I really want a hot tub. You should see, you should see my vision board. There's a hot tub on there. New carpet. I want adventure. I want to travel. I want to help my kids with college. Oh, money is awesome. All the things I could do with money. I know money is not happiness, but it might make happiness a little easier to come by. I'm not an expert, you guys, and I'm not a life coach, but here's the deal. When I sat in that Brooke Castillo moment in the car and realized that money in and of itself isn't evil. Money in and of itself can't make amazing things happen or terrible things happen. But people, people who wield money and have money and share money, and they can do amazing things with money. Money is awesome. That's what I go back to again and again as I push myself to dream a slightly bigger dream and to take bigger risks and to go for it, because I've been holding myself back. And maybe this resonates with you. Maybe you have been in a moment like that where your views around money are complicated and conflicting. And makes it hard to invite money in abundance. Makes it hard to invite abundance in. My new beliefs look more like this: when I have more money, I can have a bigger impact. I can empower others more effectively when I have more money. My amazing speakers will be able to access more when I have more money. I will be able to lead the way. I can inspire a greater impact. Good people with money can do more good. Money allows me to have a greater impact. It's all tied together, the impact and the money. And so for me, I'm not done yet. I still have a long ways to go. But I'm doing the work. I'm reading the books. I'm listening to all the podcasts. I'm doing the work. I'm writing the statements down. I'm vision boarding. I'm trying to unearth all the beliefs, clear them away, forgive what needs to be forgiven, and keep moving forward. Because I know if I don't, as an entrepreneur, if we don't, it's just— it's not gonna happen. So here we are in our Million Dollar Mission. We are inspiring and empowering 100 speakers to make at least 10 grand in their speaking. You can do it. You got this. I know you can. When you do that, imagine if 100 of us are doing that, the impact that we are having together. I want us to acknowledge the power and the impact that we can have. Because speaking is such a force of good, right? It is such a force of inspiration and empowerment and education. It can change the way people think and feel and act and behave. And imagine if we unleashed that in an even bigger way. That's what we are doing. That's what we're doing in our Million Dollar Mission. So I want you to come join us. Over in the Emerging Speaker Society. That is my free private Facebook group, and together every Thursday we're doing a deeper dive into what we're talking about here on the show, and you can ask all the questions. We've got some really wonderful conversations coming up about this, and you can come join us officially. You can put your name on the dashboard and we will track 100 speakers bringing to life $10,000 at least, at least. And you're speaking, you got this, you totally have this, but you've got to come join us over in the group, bemoved.com/ess. We'll do big things together. More money, more impact. In fact, tomorrow in the Movers Live training I'm going to be asking some questions that can help you figure out where your money story comes from and some resources that I have been enjoying and that have been pushing me and all the triggers, all the triggers. It's good for me, it's good for me, it's good for you. That's what we do as entrepreneurs, we go headfirst into the tough stuff. And then next week on the show, we are inviting in a panel of amazing entrepreneurs who are all in the same process we are. We had a really awesome conversation about money and entrepreneurship. How do we get past our money blocks so we can think bigger? And then leverage speaking to make more of it. All right, my friends. Great to see you, and I'll see you next week. Bye-bye. A million dollars, baby! Mm, mm! More money, more impact! That's terrible. Don't do that.
