Money Map for Entrepreneurial Success

Video Transcript: Money Map for Entrepreneurial Success, a SpendLessTV.com Original video with Alexis Neely:

Hi, it's Alexis Neely and I'm here with you today as an exclusive with SpendLessTV to share with you my Six Step Money Map Process. And before I get started I need to let you know that my whole team thinks it's extremely funny that I'm recording video for SpendLessTV because they say that I don't know how to spend less. And you know what? It's true. I don't know how to spend less. And thanks to my money map I don't have to spend less.

See, that's why I created the money map. I was looking at making a transition from something that I was doing that was paying a lot of money to something I really really really wanted to do that was going to give my greatest gifts. But I was afraid that I couldn't' do this, that I couldn't make this transition without hurting my income. And when I looked at my lifestyle - and I had a 7-figure business, and that meant I had a 7-figure lifestyle, and I'm a mom, I have two kids, they're 6 and 10, and I support my X-husband, and I support my kids, and I have a lot of support in both my business and in my personal life - I said, "I can't reduce my income. But I really want to give my greatest gifts." And so I had to create the Money Map so I could know that I could do both. I could finally have the confidence and the clarity of knowing that I could give my service in the way that was really the way that I wanted to give it and yet still live the lifestyle that I wanted to live. So, if this is the year for you to do that, I want you to go through my Six Step Money Map System for yourself and have that peace of mind of knowing that you can experience financial freedom without having to worry, without having your business driven by financial fear. Because I also know that a lot of our business' are driven by financial fear.

My first business is was a law firm, I was a lawyer, I am a lawyer, I'm still am a lawyer I just don't practice anymore, was a business that was driven by financial fear. And as a result of this business being driven by financial fear, I ultimately sabotaged it; by selling it to someone who, within six months, stopped paying the bills and stuck me with a huge amount of debt. And I knew I didn't want that to happen with my second business. I very quickly was able to build my second business into a million-dollar business - once you get there once it's easy to get there again.. but I was stuck at this plateau, and I knew I wasn't giving my deepest gifts in the way that I really wanted to give them. So I created the Money Map, and now I'm sharing it with you.

So what is the Money Map? It is a six-step system that is going to allow you to have clarity of knowing exactly how much money you need to make, how your going to make that money, and allow you to make that money while giving your deepest gifts. Whether your deepest gifts are service, a talent, or even knowledge and information, the Money Map is for you.

So let's look at step one of the Money Map. Step one of the Money Map is for you to get really clear about who you really are and how you really want to serve. Now, I don't want you playing small here. I want you to be as crazy as you possible can. And think as big as you possibly can. And really go deep with who you really are. And I suspect that that's probably quite buried because a lot of us are stuck in this mindset of believing that if we really love something, we're not going to be able to make a lot of money doing it. And, that's just not true. The truth of the matter is - is that you're going to have the best results financially by being who you really are at your core. By building a business around your deepest gifts. But in order to do that you've got to let 'em out, you've got to know what they are. You've have to acknowledge it. And, I might even say admit it, because it is an admission process, a confession process.

So what I want you to is I want you to get out a book, a journal, and I want you to write. I want you to write about everything that you've never told anyone about what it is that you really want; how you really want to be. And I don't mean what you really want on the surface level, that's going to be step two, but how you really want to show up. How you really want to serve. And how you really want to give your greatest gifts. And really look at any of those "shoulds" that come up. Okay, if I lived my life based on "shoulds" I'd still be at a big law firm making a six-figure paycheck, wondering why I was so miserable and why I just couldn't fit in. But I don't live my life based on "shoulds" and as a result I left that law firm and I started my own law firm and now I run three businesses from my home where right now I'm looking over a beautiful lake, and I'll be here when my kids get home. And it was only because I was willing to really acknowledge what I really wanted, and that I'm not like other people, and that's okay. The more you really identify WHO YOU REALLY ARE the better things are going to be for you. So, that's step one: who are you and how you're going to serve?

Let's look at step two. Step two is that you are going to look at things a little more on the surface level. Okay? so what do I mean by that? Well, we're going to look at your lifestyle, because I don't want you to build a business that's not built around your lifestyle, because if you do, you're not going to be happy. And so I want you to look at what do you really want in the surface areas of your life. Okay? So, we just in step one looked at who you are really at your deepest core, and in step two we're going to look at your lifestyle: what do you really want? Where do you want to live? What kind of vehicle do you want to drive? Where do you want to go on vacation?

But don't want you just to focus on that surface level, I want you to go a little bit deeper: how do you want to serve your gifts? How much time do you want to spend working? How much time do you want to spend on a computer? How much time do you want to spend writing copy? How much time do you want to spend on the phone? How much time do you want to spend managing a team? And then, let's take it an even a deeper level than that: How do you want to give back in your community? How much to you want to be tithing to Spirit?

And what you're going to do is look at - I came up with 30 different categories - so you're going to come up with all the categories you possibly can that are focused on your lifestyle, both your personal lifestyle and your business lifestyle. And then you're going to write down what you want in each of those categories.

But here's where people go wrong: we focus only in one level. So let me explain what I mean: take one very easy thing like - what kind of house do you want? And immediately your mind goes to: I want a mansion by the ocean, or your mind immediately goes to: well, I could get buy with a little two-bedroom, one bath. Okay? Right there that's going to identify whether you are a naturally big thinker or a naturally survival thinker. You are either in survival mode looking at how little you can get buy with all the time, or you're thinking so big that there's a huge disconnect between where you are and where you want to go.

So we're going to build some nuance into this, so that you can really identify what it is that you want. In each of these categories I want you to look at: what could you get by with on a minimum level? Now, I don't in just mean survival mode, I man the minimum level and still be happy. Then, I want you to look at what is your preferred level? Okay? So now you're not just happy, but you're thrilled, okay, that's your preferred level. And then, I want you to look at no limits. If there were NO LIMITS what would you want in that category? You're going to look at very single category in these three ways, and identify and assign a dollar amount to each of those three levels.

Okay, so now look a the housing situation again:

So, in my minimum I could be happy housing situation: I guess I could live in a two bedroom apartment. When i divorced my husband and I moved out, I moved into a little two bedroom apartment; my rent was about $2,000 a month, so when you add in utilities and all the other things that came with renting that place let's say $2,500 a month. And I was happy. $2,500 a month.

Okay? Well, but what would be my preferred? Well my preferred would be let's say to rent a home. Okay? Let's say that to rent the home that I wanted that would be $3,800 a month. So that would be in my preferred category.

And what would my no limits be? My no limits would be $15,000 a month. I already priced it out, I already know the price, that's my no limits. Now you might say, "Well, I don't want to rent!" Well, okay, make it whatever yours is. I personally like renting right now, I think that rents are expensive compared to owing a home but if you want it to be owning your home, put that down as well, but don't forget to include all of the costs of owning that home, not just mortgage payments but your insurance and property taxes and everything else, and put that number down in your minimum, your preferred, and your no limits.

And then you're going to identify what is it that, which one of those am I experiencing and do I want right now? And then you're going to put that number down in the fourth column. And you're going to add all of that up in your "What am i experiencing right now" and in each of your categories you're going to pick and choose some from your minimum, some from your preferred, and some from your no limits, this is where you're making trade-offs, but now, you're making your trade-offs intentionally and consciously as opposed to just based on whatever happens, or however it shows up, or whatever it works. You're making these trade-offs based on intention with conscious thought about what it is you really want and where you really do want to make these trade-offs. Okay, that's step two. And at the end of step two you're going to have your number: This is the number that I (you) need to have in order to support the lifestyle that I (you) want to have. And this number's critical. And you're also going to know: this is how much time I'm willing to spend giving my gifts, giving my service, giving my knowledge. This how much time I want to spend marketing, doing the copywriting, or the telemarketing, or the tele-seminars, or the networking or however it is that you're going to do that; and this how much time I'm want to spend on the administrative part of running my business. You need to know those three numbers as well: time spend giving my gift, service, talent or knowledge; time spent marketing so that I have people that I can give that to; and time spent on the business doing the administrative things necessary to make the business keep going - managing a team, looking at your financials, getting your legal things in order, insurance, tax, all those sorts of things.

Now, in step three. And in step three you're going to look at: Who, what, how, how much, and why. Go through that again: who, what, how, how much, and why. And here we're talking about: who are you serving? What are you serving them? How are you serving them? How much are you going to charge to serve it? And why?

And let's start with who. You've gotta start with who because if you try to build your business for everyone, you're really building it for no one. What you want to do is you want to focus on who first. And make this who really specifically tied into step one. How do you want to be in your business? Hey, if you want to be able to show up at your business wearing jeans and a t-shirt everyday - I'm going to show you what I'm wearing here: Okay, I've got my jeans on, got my t-shirt, a lot of times I've got sweatpants on, I just put this on because I'm going to be recording this video for you - then you want to serve a who that's okay with that. You don't want to serve a who that expects you to show up in a suit. Obviously that's just one aspect. You want to really fill this out in your who. Who do you want to serve? Make it as narrow as it can possibly be. What I can I can tell you that my law firm became a million dollar law firm when I was willing to narrow my who. So now, I wasn't trying to serve anybody that eventually was going to need an estate plan or business pan, which is kind of the whole world, I was serving just families with children at home. And they really cared about their kids. And when I built my whole business around serving them my firm became a million-dollar firm. And it was scary, I can tell you that. It was hard for me to narrow. I was afraid. What if there's not enough of them? And other lawyers told me "Well, parents don't want to pay for estate planning." What I can tell you is that when I committed to it and I built my business around this market, they showed up in droves. Because I built my what around my who. And that's your next step.

What are you going to serve them? What does your who need? And how do they want it delivered? Do they want it delivered in person? Do they want it delivered remotely? Do they want it delivered on the phone? Do they want it delivered by webinar? How do they want it delivered? You can't know that until you know who.

And then ultimately, you're going to be focusing on how much. How much are you going to be charging? And, the one thing I can tell you is don't base it on your time. Don't make your how much based on an hourly dollar amount. Instead, what you want to do is package your what in new and innovative ways, and then price those packages in package offers. Okay, whether it's monthly, whether it's for a specific deliverable, or whether it it some other type of unique way of pricing, and I go into depth with this with my clients because there's lots of different ways you can price your services, but it has to be based on the who, the what, and the how. Okay so you can't do how much until you know that. And then you want to absolutely not have it be based on your time, but instead based on the outcome that you're delivering. And how are you delivering this outcome. And then you want to package it in such a way where you're providing tremendous value. And you're giving people various ways to access you. Okay? So the how isn't just here's the one way to work with me. You want to give people: Here's a way you can get started with me, and it's not very expensive and here you can just try me out a little bit. And now, if you want more access to me, and you want to get closer to me, here's the next level and here's how you can get more of me. And finally, to your highest level, you have to have a highest level, a way that people can really work with you one-on-one and get the very best of you, it's going to be the highest price-point. What I can assure you is that when you go though this process at step three, you are very likely going to raise your fees and really begin to understand the value that you provide. And it all has to be based on a very clear why. Why are you doing this? What is this all about for you? What is the deeper reason for you giving this gift to the people you're giving it to? Why? Okay? That's how you end step three.

And now we go onto step four. Once you know who, what, how, how much, and why.. you're ready to chart your Money Map. And this is super fun, although I have to tell you numbers scare me. In fact in the past, anytime I have to look at my numbers I get this urrrr feeling in my stomach and just really closed down and clamped down, in fact I went to law school because I didn't want to have to deal with numbers. What's funny is that I then became a tax lawyer and dealing with numbers all the time, but that's another story. Numbers don't have to be difficult to look at, as long as you have a framework to look at them in. Okay? And if you're like many entrepreneurs the way you look at your numbers is you open your bank account and see if you have money there, and that's how you're making your spending decisions. That is not the right way. And we've really seen that over the past couple of years, that people who have been looking at their numbers that way have found themselves in a lot of trouble. And I'll tell ya, the guy that I sold my law firm to, he didn't have a Money Map, and that's why he wasn't able to keep it going and ultimately ended up closing it down and leaving me with a whole bunch of debt because he could not look a this numbers; he didn't have a framework for looking at his numbers. And that's part of the reason why I created the Money Map as well, it's 'cause I didn't want to see that happen to any body else.

So, your Money Map is going to be an easy way for you to look at your numbers. Because now in step two you've created your number. You know your number. This is how much revenue I (you) need to generate to support my (your) lifestyle either as it is now or as I (you) want it to be based on my tradeoffs from minimum, preferred, no limits. Now you know your number. Now, you also know from step three how much and what you're delivering. And now in step four you're going to identify how much of each one of your packages you need to deliver on a monthly basis in order to make your number.

And now in step five, you're going to create your twelve-month sales and marketing calendar, so you know working backwards exactly what you have to do so that you are offering and delivering exactly the number of packages you need to each month to make your number from step four. See it all fits together; you can't skip any one of the steps, but they all build on each other, so that by the time that you get to step five you can easily see that: you've probably heard of the "sales funnel" right? Okay so I (you) need to sell ten of this $100 dollar thing, my entry level thing, so that two people will come down to my highest level thing at $5,000. And you can put that on your calendar and you can see "I need 10 at this level and two at this level," or "I need 100 at this level to get to 5 at this level." And once you know that, you can work backward. I'll give you an example from my own calendar: I said that every month I will have two spaces to work with private clients one-on-on in really going in depth on their Money Map and creating their business model based on their lifestyle. And if I know that, I only have space for two of those, and I look at my calendar and see that my next openings for that are in March, that means that I need to be talking about that in January and in February. I need to put that information in my e-zine, I need to be tweeting about it. I need to be maybe making some calls and talking to some people about it. But I can create my sales and marketing calendar based on that. The other thing that's great about that is that I can really support my lifestyle this way. So I can look at my calendar and say, "Oh, look, I'm going to be speaking at the Wealthy Though Leader event, Andrea Lee's event, in Vancouver, March 18th through the 20th. Great, that means I need to have child care lined up. I'm going to be out of town, I need to let my x-husband know that he's going need to be here with the kids. Or, I'm going to be speaking at my client, Max Simon's, event in February for entrepreneurs who have done a lot of personal development and are really ready to be enlightened entrepreneurs. Okay, so that means I'm going to be gone for a week in February and I need to have support here to do that." But it also tells me that I don't have to to be scrambling each month to know what I'm going to be doing on a sales and marketing basis; it's all planned out. Today I run three businesses and that means I have three separate teams, and I need to be able to tell my teams: here's what we're doing this month, here's what we're doing this month, and here's what we're doing this month. Because If they're working based on a last minute schedule, it makes my life totally insane. As a result of having this twelve-month sales and marketing calendar, I'm able to sleep at night. I'm not up at night with my head just spinning going, "Oh my God, thinking of all the things I have to do," because it's all right there. I don't have to worry about it. It's all written down. And it's out of my mind and all I have to focus on is what's on my calendar right now. Everything I do today is calendared out, and if it's not on my calendar it doesn't happen. But it that also gives me the peace of mind of knowing that I can sleep at night not worrying about: am I to dropping the ball? Am Am I forgetting to do something? Am I going to make the money I need to make? It's all charted out. I know that I am going to. And that's step five.

Now step six is: creating your resource matrix. Now your resource matrix is all of the people that you need in your business and your life to support you. And what I can tell you that when you have your resource matrix in place it is the key to knowing that you to have the support that you need. But you can't have your resource matrix until you have all the other steps done. Because until you know how your going to be delivering your service, and what your you're delivering, and when you're going to be marketing, and what you're going to be selling when, and what you're going to be charging - you don't know what you need, and for a lot of you, you don't know what you can afford. But once you have your Money Map created you do. You know exactly what you need; you know exactly how to make investment decisions; you know exactly what you can afford; and you can focus on giving your greatest gifts rather than being driven by financial fear.

So I want you to get ready and put in place this Money Map for your business and for your life. And I can tell you that when you do you're finally going to have peace of mind of knowing that you built a business around who you really are that is going to provide you with the financial resources that you and your family, not only need, but that you want. And it's going to be based on conscious, and intention, and not just luck, or things falling into place the way that they should, but really based on something that you created and something that you really designed based on who you are, how you serve and based on what the people that you serve really need. And when you do that you're going to be able to sleep at night. So create your Money Map. Do not skip any part of the process, and if you need any help at all, just let me know you can find me at twitter, I'm Alexis Neely, @alexisneely. Bye-bye.