(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to Ask Allison. Y'all ask the questions about having a fun and thriving practice and I answer them. We have a worksheet for you today so you can bring this answer into your life. You can access that at abundancepracticebuilding.com slash links where you'll also be able to ask any questions you have for Ask Allison. If you want more support, we've got some free trainings in there too.
If you can't get enough Ask Allison, check out our YouTube channel for our entire Ask Allison library. Welcome back to Ask Allison. Here's today's question. I'm bad with money. I spend too much. It makes me feel like a bad business owner and a bad adult. I've heard you talk some about spending on Instagram. Can you say more? I love talking about money and appropriate management of it, which appropriate we'll get into. That sounds like a judgy word, but I don't mean it like that.
Before we get into it, I want to thank TherapyNotes for sponsoring Ask Allison. I've talked about them for years. You probably know their features by heart just like I do, but here's what really sets them apart. First, they genuinely care about your experience. It is not just about troubleshooting a problem. They actively implement user-suggested features like therapy search, secure messaging, clinical outcome tracking, real-time insurance checks, and a smooth super bill process.
Everyone at TherapyNotes believes in the product and wants you to love it too. Plus, they're independently owned, which means no venture capital and no pressure to prioritize investors over customers. This independence allows them to keep prices fair, to focus on innovation, and to prioritize customer experience. With over 100,000 therapists already on board, they've proven that you don't have to compromise success for quality.
If you're ready to see for yourself, try TherapyNotes for two months free with the code ABUNDANT at TherapyNotes.com. Okay, is your spending aligned with your values and your business goals? That's my question for you. If you're not sure, don't worry. We're going to break it down together, but by the end of this, you'll have a clearer idea of how to make sure that your spending is more intentional so that it helps you build the life and the practice that you want. So let's start with mindset.
Spending can come from a place of scarcity or a place of abundance. Scarcity-based thriftiness might feel really like noble and responsible, maybe even very adult, but it's often fear-driven. And there's a rebound effect where as soon as you get some money, it's immediately gone because you haven't spent on anything you wanted to. It makes me think about my work as an eating disorder therapist and how for most of us, if we restrict all day long, we are likely to binge in the evening.
On the flip side, abundance-based thriftiness is intentional, it's thoughtful, it's about choosing to spend or not spend in a way that aligns with your priorities. And I always think about my friend Allison with abundant thriftiness. I'm not talking about myself, but she has used the same travel mug for 20 years. She doesn't get sucked into consumerism. She has peace about it with spending that I really admire and I've tried to model more of. The same is true for generosity.
There is scarcity-based generosity, which often leads to poor boundaries or martyrdom, whereas abundance-based generosity is responsible, it's intentional, it comes with a lot of healthy boundaries. So the key to moving from scarcity to abundance is values and intentionality. So I want you to take a moment to reflect. What are your priorities in life and business? Maybe even write them down, not if you're driving, but come back to this. What are your priorities in life and business?
And ask yourself if your spending reflects those priorities. So for example, if your goal is to grow your practice, does your money show that? Or does it show a pattern of avoidance spending, like retail therapy or ordering takeout when you're feeling stuck? There's nothing wrong with treating yourself occasionally, but if it's not moving you closer to your goals and that is making you more stressed out, which keeps you in this cycle of spending, then it might be time to renegotiate your habits.
Investing in your business is one of the best ways to grow it. That doesn't mean you need to spend wildly. Sometimes there's no extra money to invest and that's okay, but when you do have resources, think about where they're going to make the biggest impact. So for instance, could a consulting program or a marketing course help you attract more clients? Are there tools or systems that would make your practice more efficient?
I know it's really tempting to say I can't afford it, but I want you to be honest with yourself. Is it truly about affordability or is it about priorities? If you could make it work and it filled your practice, would you be turning an investment of like $400 into hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years? I want us to think short-term versus long-term spending. Sometimes we hold on to money or we spend it on things that feel good in the short term, but we don't serve our long-term goals.
So if you take some time to pause before clicking buy, by thinking about your business and your life goals, you probably wouldn't buy that sweater just because it's on sale. You'd put that money towards the things that you've already decided are your priority. That pause is invaluable and I have probably saved so many thousands of dollars with that alone. I will put things in my cart and I will leave them there for at least 24 hours.
And if I'm still thinking about it the next day, I come back to, is this a priority? But I have so many abandoned carts in so many places because I just completely forgot about it by the next day. It was not an actual priority and I was this close to having spent money on it. Here's your challenge. If you choose to accept it, first I want you to look at your bank account and I want you to compare it to your list of priorities.
So really take a look at it and figure out, okay, I'm feeding my family, I'm paying for rent. Categorize what priority is each of those communicating? I want you to ask yourself, where can I adjust my spending to better align my goals? And I want you to make just one intentional change because if you do a bunch of changes, you're going to be in that restrict binge cycle, right?
So just one intentional change, whether it's setting aside money to invest in your practice or cutting out an unnecessary expense. Your money is a tool and how you use it can either propel you forward or it can keep you stuck. By aligning your spending with your values and with your goals, you are not only going to grow your practice, but also feel a lot more at peace and empowered by your decisions.
If you want to dig deeper into this, I've got a free resource with a list of my favorite therapist financial resources. You can DM me the word sheets to get that and all of our other previous free worksheets. If you want some help building your practice, we do talk about money a fair amount in the abundance party. I want you to DM me the word party, and I will send you the link to the abundance party and a coupon, which you won't actually need because you can't afford it.
It's very affordable, but it takes you through step-by-step how to build a sustainable practice. And I want you to think about whether that's something that you need or not to get where you want to go in your practice. All right. I hope you'll have a really great day and I will talk with you soon. If you're ready for a much easier practice, therapy notes is the way to go. Go to therapynotes.com and use the promo code abundant for two months free. I hope that helped.
If you have questions for ask Alison, or you want to get your hands on the worksheet for this episode, go to abundancepracticebuilding.com slash links. If you're listening, you probably need some support building your practice. If you're a super newbie, grab our free checklist using the link in the show notes. I'd love for you to follow rate and review, but I really want you to share this episode with a therapist friend. Let's help all our colleagues build what they want.