Episode 185 Transcript

Heather Porter (00:02.318)

Well, hello, welcome back to episode 185. Today, a little bit different. Questions for you guys. Have you ever felt like money controls you at all? Do you ever feel like you're chasing after it? Maybe you think too much about it, but not really like in a positive way, more in a way that brings up stress for you. Is that you at all ever?

 

Today I want to explore a topic that's a little bit different than my normal episodes. And the reason why it's kind of been buzzing around in my mind, I read a recent financial newsletter and the conversations in that newsletter stuck with me enough to actually start thinking about my professional journey and ask me or ask myself deeper questions of really where I want to head in 2026. And I'm naturally, sometimes I like to share that with you guys.

 

So let's chat about something that goes beyond budgets and business plans and business ideas in this episode. And let's actually talk about our relationships with money and how evolving it might be the change that you're actually looking for. I find that there are sort of three money mindsets. You have the survival mindset, you have the success mindset, and then you have that

 

Ease mindset. And I want to start with the first one which is survival. Now that's where probably what 90 % of us live. Money's like our master. It controls our decisions, our stress levels, even our self-worth.

 

If maybe in this phase you're just trying to make enough to not feel like you're drowning, to pay rent, to cover bills, to deal with the high cost of living that many of us are dealing with right now, to find a way to make payroll in time and somehow have something left for yourself at the end. In this stage, money tends to feel like anxiety. Like when you're thinking about it, you don't feel joy around it. You get a little anxious.

 

Heather Porter (02:13.515)

about it. You maybe check your bank account, you know, waiting for those invoices to be paid. You might even resent people that seem to have more than you and you wonder why you don't either when you work so damn hard. But here's the thing, this mindset is not our fault. It's what most of us are taught and conditioned to believe. Work hard.

 

And it's where we all tend to start. Most tend to start on our money or professional journey. And it doesn't have to be where you stay either, of course, right? So then there's naturally level two, which is success. I feel like this is.

 

where money becomes more of like a scoreboard. You've escaped that survival mode and you're a little bit more proactive. So you're earning a little bit more. Maybe your business is starting to thrive with more profit, better margins, more boundaries with your clients and or new projects that you take on. Or maybe you're just in that space where you're finally hitting those financial goals that you've set out for yourself. But now you start measuring your worth in a different

 

way. It can become more about status, growth.

 

more, just having more of things. And this level can feel really, really good. You're building, you're winning, you're proud. But sometimes your ego can definitely step in here as well. And your identity can be quite wrapped up in this. And maybe you don't want to take anything on unless you make money from it. Or maybe you see, you know, those phone calls and those conversations with people as a bridge to making more money.

 

Heather Porter (04:05.773)

and you start asking yourself or you can tend to start asking yourself in this phase is this all there is? is this all there is? I remember feeling like this not too long after I moved to Australia and I was like a freelancer so I didn't really have my own business per se with employees I mean I was I had my Australian business number but I was more of a freelancer and I was doing like really really important work

 

I was making really good money, but I felt like it was for someone else and not for me. And I was capped with where I could go and how many people I could reach in the way that I actually wanted to. yeah. And I just remember feeling like almost like, know,

 

hamster wheel but in a different way it was weird. So I feel like this is a really powerful stage and dealing with a lot of businesses over the years I see many people get stuck here and this is where you can start to feel a bit flat or disconnected with people or even your own business. This I also find is where we can start to sacrifice time for doing things that like

 

that they are more business driven versus what light up our soul or even we forget what those things are. For years you guys I forgot what actually like made me happy. It's not until recently where I have this girlfriend of mine that has pulled me out of this endless like work cycle and reminded me that there's more in the world to that. What a concept right? So this is yeah like that's I

 

I where a lot of us aim for, We're like, we financially hit the goals or we're close to hitting the goals. but there's a third level as well. And that level is ease. And I feel like probably few people get here and it's not about being rich financially. That's not this phase at all. It's more about alignment.

 

Heather Porter (06:09.697)

Here is where I think money becomes more like energy. I remember back in the day, I think it was T Harv Eker. He said, but like a lot of the personal development speakers I worked with, they all kind of cross pollinate ideas. So it might not be him, but he said something along the lines of you get paid in direct proportion to how many people you help.

 

And then there was another guy that, that you may or may not heard of Joe Polish. he's been huge about relationships, build relationships, focus on community. And I've always sort of listened to it, but I didn't really feel it in my soul. And so I feel like that has a lot to do with this sort of ease for phase of money.

 

So money becomes more about energy. It like kind of flows through you and it's not just about you at this phase. Work starts to feel like play again and clients feel more like community and you start to think of them more like that. You really start to care more about them as people and what you sell and what you deliver in your business starts to feel like your art. Like truly something that's

 

powerful that only you can do or your team or your business and you stop asking questions like what is going to make me the most money and you start asking things like what am i here to create who am i here to serve and ironically

 

this is where your biggest growth often happens, often happens as I should say. It's not from hustle, but it's actually more from like resonance. This is where I feel like I'm actually working towards right now. Like, and I'm really excited about it. And I can't wait to share with you guys soon, like what's happening in my business, what I'm changing next year, and some shifts to this podcast again as well. And I think, you know,

 

Heather Porter (08:07.287)

for a lot of people they want to start in business in that phase, like ease and, you know, here, who am I here to serve? So I don't want to mistake this level for the starter phase because there is a phase you must go through, which is survival and then building to actually get to this level, to understand how you really feel this in your bones, so to speak. So,

 

How do you move through these levels if you want to? You always start with awareness and you ask yourself, know, is money like taking control over me? Is it my scoreboard or is it my ally?

 

And what activities give me energy? That's really important. And what drains your energy as well? I've been talking about this quite a bit lately and you know, my guests have been talking about it a bit as well. Am I chasing numbers or am I building something meaningful, deep, long lasting? If I already had all the money I needed,

 

What would I still want to create? That's always a good question. I used to always ask myself back in the day when I worked with lot of speakers, you know, if money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your days?

 

And of course I am not implying this is easy, especially if you're in survival mode as well. You need to travel through these steps to get to the next one I find. And I am sure there are more steps and obviously this is just sort of me and my brain and how I read a newsletter and how I'm thinking about things. I'm not a financial expert of course, right? I always talk about I'm a marketing expert, but I've had different businesses and...

 

Heather Porter (09:48.619)

I find I'm a really great observer of people from so many interviews on this podcast to the clients I've had over the years to friends that have their own businesses or struggle with their sort of conversation with money to members of previous business communities that I have led. have observed this flow and I feel like that's a simplification of sort of how we move through money. And even the wealthiest people in the world

 

could still be in that middle phase where they're letting their life be led by the value or the money behind a transaction, whether that's a new project or, you know, a new relationship with somebody. Um, but I think that this moving towards that ease phase is really, really, really powerful. So I guess I want to leave you with this as we wrap up. Chase.

 

meaning and not money. Profit tends to follow purpose. So if you've lost track of why you're doing what you're doing, maybe just maybe it's time to recalibrate or if you're on the journey like I am to something bigger.

 

that hits harder, that reaches more people, where you truly want to grab your clients into your community, then let's do this. Here we go. Wherever you are, you're exactly where you need to be. And maybe it's just time to revisit that and ask yourself, do I want to be here much longer? Thanks you guys, as always, for tuning in. I really appreciate you being here and hanging out with me. And I'll talk to you in the next episode. Bye.