Breaking Through the Money Mindset Barrier in Business Michelle Kuklinski | EP197

Ever wrestled with the unease of undervaluing your work? Michelle Kuklinski sure has, and she's not alone. In our inaugural Monday Mindset Mini, we're joined by the spirited Health and Mindset coach who's turning heads by bolstering body confidence and transforming energy levels among rebellious women. Michelle's candid revelations about her entrepreneurial endeavours—from childminding to dog walking, all the way to coaching—offer a mirror to our journey, reflecting the multifaceted nature of building and sustaining a business that aligns with one's passion. Prepare to traverse the landscape of human psychology, societal influences, and the tantalizing world of food's impact on well-being.

Dive into the heart of Michelle's story as she confronts the challenge that many entrepreneurs face: charging what you're truly worth. She doesn't just share her struggle; she arms you with an arsenal of practical tips to shatter the money mindset block. Michelle's strategy is a rallying cry to recognize the inherent value in what we offer and muster the courage to demand it. As she guides us through her tactics to sidestep undervaluing her services, the conversation becomes a treasure trove of wisdom for anyone yearning to enhance their business savvy and self-assurance. Catch the full spectrum of Michelle's expertise in this Thursday's episode where we'll be looking at health in business.

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Transcript

Donna: 0:33

You're listening to the Mindset and Action podcast, the place to be to grow and streamline your business. I'm your host, Donna Eade. Let's jump into the show. Welcome to the first ever episode of the Monday Mindset Minis on the Mindset and Action podcast. I can't wait for you to hear from different business owners how they handle their mindset and how they move past mindset blocks. So we're gonna jump in today with Michelle Koklinski. I hope you enjoy it. Welcome, Michelle, to this first episode of Mindset Mondays. I am so excited about this and I'm so excited to share this with you because we've known each other for a little while now, so it's really nice to do it with somebody that I know I'm so excited. So, welcome to Mindset Mondays. I would love it if you would just take a moment just to introduce yourself to the audience and let them know who you are and what you do.

Michelle Kuklinski: 1:34

Thanks, Donna. It's really exciting to be part of this next stage of your journey, really really pleased to be here. So I'm Michelle Koklinski and I'm a Health and Mindset coach working with rebellious women who want to feel better in their bodies, more body confident, want to increase their energy and improve their mood. And it's been quite a journey to get to where I am currently. I've kind of dipped in and out of the solo gig, sort of running my own business, for about 24 years now.

Michelle Kuklinski: 2:11

I was like looking at that this morning I was like wow, and I've kind of done all sorts, from being a child minder when both my kids were really young to dog walking, but most of all doing my passion, which is coaching, and I love the combination of how the human mind works and its interaction with the bigger picture, like society and stuff like that.

Michelle Kuklinski: 2:37

We're not an island on our own. So, yeah, just many years of learning lots of different things like psychosocial studies, so I sort of studied the unconscious mind, getting my coaching qualifications and then my whole journey around food and where I am today with health coaching is I've been fascinated by food because I love it. What's not to love about food? Having an obscene cookbook collection and that link between how we feel and food and food. Food is so vital to our energy, our mood levels and for a number of years I really struggled with low mood and mild depression and GPs quite often just want to throw medication at you and that's not to say that that's not right. For certain people that is the answer. But I was so convinced that there were other answers out there to help women with their mood and stuff and I just investigated more and more about food and that's where I am today and just absolutely loving it.

Donna: 3:59

Fabulous. Well, guys, we are going to be talking more in depth about what Michelle does in Thursday's episode, so make sure you tune into that. But today we have just got one question that we're answering and, michelle, I would love it if you would talk to us about what has been your biggest mindset block during your business journey and what is it that helped you to actually move past that block, so that we might be able to learn from what you've been through.

Michelle Kuklinski: 4:26

Biggest thing for me, reflecting back on sort of all the businesses I've run, is actually charging my worth. So I guess arguably that could be, you know, classed as money mindset. But there's always been this fear around that number that I charge for my services and quite often undervaluing myself and not charging enough and that leads to a lot of problems down the track. You know you're kind of feeling pretty poor about yourself. You're not bringing in the income you want. Quite often I hear of people giving up their businesses because they're not bringing in the income and I think a lot of that comes down to actually feeling confident to charge what your service is worth or what your product is worth, depending on what your business is. So I have used the business coach to help me with mindset, because that is a huge business thing and I recognise that's not always affordable for people. It's not in their plan or what have you. So the key things that I find because I dip in and out of this mindset and I always bring myself back to being quite practical is the first thing, which is being honest about how much you want to bring into your business. So we can start with the realistic figure what do I need to bring in to cover my bills, living expenses. So, for example, if someone says, right, I need to bring in a thousand pounds a month, how many of your packages or products do you need to sell in order to bring in that thousand pounds? So, for example, if I had a I don't know a coaching course and I was sending it at 25 pounds, I've got to sell 40 of those in a month. And that kind of makes you stop and think and go well, for 40 packages, I've got to sell 40 packages in a month, well, and then deliver them and deliver them Every month. So then when, if we go OK, if I'm selling them for 500 pounds, then I've only got to sell two. So I think having those figures written down gives you quite an insight into the reality of what you need to charge, depending on what it is you're selling, and obviously that depends on your business model and things like that.

Michelle Kuklinski: 7:04

The second thing to help with your mindset is to pick the figure that you would like to charge for your course, but the think oh no, I can't do that and sort of say it out loud OK, my course is 2,500 pounds, for example, and see what immediately comes up for you. What is that voice telling you, is it? It might be a belief like, oh, people can't afford that, that that's a limiting belief. Or it might be, oh, my goodness, no, I'm not worthy of charging that, that's. You know, I don't know enough to charge that. So you've immediately got a tangible thought that you can then look at and go how true is that? And look for the evidence to support the opposite. So a classic is people saying, oh, I can't afford that, and there are always people that can and can't. Then look for the evidence to support it.

Michelle Kuklinski: 8:03

You know what have you invested in yourself? And sort of thought well, yeah, I've invested quite a lot of money. And that brings me on to my third point is look at what you have invested in you and your business. Chances are you've spent thousands on personal development, on your actual knowledge. You know the courses, you've done the continuous professional development, your business courses, and you think that's what people are investing in. I've spent that kind of money. I haven't just picked up a book and read it and God, yeah, I'm an expert. I've spent years, months, money, whatever, investing in myself to make sure I am the best I can be, and I think that mindset helps people realise yeah, actually. No, I am worth it. Those are my three big things.

Donna: 8:57

Thank you for that. I think it is really important that people understand that charging your worth isn't just plucking a number out of the air and going this is what I charge. And I think it is a big block for a lot of people because we all sort of see the sort of leaders in the online space especially all the leaders in our particular industry, whether that's the wedding industry or the business coaching industry and we see these kind of front runners and what they charge and we may feel that that's like completely out of our realm of possibility. Like you know, I couldn't possibly charge that and maybe maybe that's not where you are, and I always say that there are, you know, different levels for everybody. At the end of the day, you have to look at your experience, your skill set and, you know, say okay, so, based on that, versus these people that have been in it for, you know, 20 years longer than me have been doing this particular thing, where do I feel comfortable in that of saying, well, actually, yeah, okay, they charge this much, but I'm still worth this much because I've still done the work, I've still done that learning, like you were saying, all the different courses and things that we've done and those three steps that you gave a really great way to sort of sit down and start thinking about this ourselves, because Money Mindset is a huge, huge block and I have some resources for you guys on Money Mindset.

Donna: 10:21

Actually, friend of mine, Sarah Brill, is absolutely brilliant when it comes to Money Mindset particularly, so I will leave some links for you for her in the show notes if you want to sort of dive deeper into that. But I love what you said about working with a business coach as well, because I think it is really important that we have our own sort of pool of people that we can pull on when we get stuck in these situations, and oftentimes it is things that we aren't able to unstick ourselves from. We need to go a little bit deeper. So thank you so much for that. That is our 10 minute Monday Mindset session. Join us on Thursday when Michelle is going to be talking to us about our health and wellbeing, which is just perfect for this time of year. So join us on Thursday for that. Thank you so much for coming today, Michelle, and sharing your mindset block and how you overcame it.

Michelle Kuklinski: 11:16

Thanks, donna, pleasure being here.

Donna: 11:19

Okay, guys, I will see you in the next one. Bye for now.