Today’s shared story comes from money mindset mentor Denise Duffield-Thomas.
I was a born entrepreneur but it doesn’t mean I was naturally good at it.
When I was 9, I had a fluoro bracelet business. The trouble was that I sold them for the same price as the cost of my materials which meant a zero profit. When my school teacher pointed that out, I felt ashamed, whereas before I was just thrilled by the pure joy of selling and making my own money.
That year my mum gave me an electric typewriter for Christmas and it was the best present ever! After dabbling with writing newsletters and short-stories, I went into the forgery business, selling ‘personally signed’ letters from Kylie Minogue for $5 a piece by claiming she was my cousin.
Aged twelve, I organised a club for my friends, inspired by the Baby Sitters Club, but we called it ‘The Cool Kids Club’ (we even had a song!). We worked on a random variety of projects that we never got around to finishing, like selling horse manure and organising garage sales. I’m great at the ideas, less on the follow up and eventually my mum made us throw out everything we had accumulated. Manure included.
In my teens, I came up with this concept of ‘being brave’ with my close girlfriends. We encouraged each other to get involved in ‘scary’ school projects like the debate team or running for school council. We watched Oprah together and talked about our dreams. It was my first ‘mastermind’ experience.
Undoubtedly from a young age I exhibited clear signs of being a creative entrepreneur, a dynamic life coach (although I didn’t know that was even a job) and an enthusiastic (though occasionally unethical) writer and communicator.
These are all the things I do professionally now, but why on earth did I spend my twenties denying my natural talents and doing everything from waitressing to event management – a total of over 50 random and often very unfulfilling jobs?
Why does anyone waste time living small just to pay the bills?
Don’t tell me you don’t know what you’re ‘meant to be’. I’ll bet there were just as clear signs in your childhood as there were in mine.
When I left my small town to go to University, suddenly I was in a much scarier pond, very far removed from growing up with a struggling single mum in a low-income area. I didn’t realise that people would look down on me, because most of my friends back-home had the same.
I allowed myself to feel ‘less than’ everyone else. In consequence, I failed most of my degree and often felt depressed and frustrated.
So, rather than being the vibrant kid who had zero doubt of her capabilities, I drifted from job to job, trying to find the ‘thing’ when it was completely obvious. I allowed self-worth issues to block that which would have fulfilled me. I sabotaged easy success.
Recently I went back to my old high school and spoke to 25 of the school’s most promising students. Like me, some of them came from struggling backgrounds and had limited imagination to what was possible out of our town.
Here’s what I told them:
Work with your natural strengths
Life is so much better when you give yourself permission to live in your brilliance. Don’t feel guilty because it’s easy and feels good. Better yet if you can find the sweet spot between your natural strengths and your passions. Every combination you can think of is possible.
Believe you’re good enough
I didn’t get this until my late twenties and then some of my natural enthusiasm and creativity came back with a vengeance. Nobody else was holding me back except for me. Give that gift to yourself and be in your own corner.
Continue to set big goals for your life
I’ve seen that any crazy dream is possible, but nobody is going to track you down and say ‘YOU – you must share your talents with the world!’ You have to be clear on what you want.
I wish I could go back in time to meet the little hustling entrepreneur I was at 9 and say ‘keep going – you’ll get there’. But it was my journey and I can honestly say that finally, I’m in a place where I can say – I LOVE what I do.
[Images courtesy of Denise Duffield Thomas.]
Denise is the money mindset mentor for the new wave of online female entrepreneurs. Her best-selling books “Lucky Bitch” and “Get Rich, Lucky Bitch” give a fresh and funny road-map to create an outrageously successful life and business. Denise helps women release their fear of money, set premium prices for their services and take back control over their finances. Denise is an award winning speaker, author and entrepreneur who helps women transform their Economy-Class money mindset into a First-Class life. Find her at www.LuckyBitch.com
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