Hey friend,

Today we’re talking about what to do when you hit an income plateau. I’ve brought together a group of our Money Bootcamp members from all over the world for a Roundtable discussion all about the mindset shifts and tweaks needed to uplevel your income and business. This is such a thought provoking and inspiring conversation about family, upbringing and overcoming money blocks. 

Meet some of the Money Bootcamp members:

Amoya Shante lives in Merida, Mexico. She’s a master NLP practitioner, hypnotherapist, and money mindset coach. 

“I started Bootcamp a little over a year ago.”

Gabriella Fotara is from the UK. She is a transformational alignment coach, healer, and spiritual advisor.

“I actually joined Bootcamp in 2020. I had just become self-employed full time, so it was both interesting and perfect timing.” 

Suzanne Dinter is a hypnotherapist.

“I'm British originally, but I've been living in Germany for more than half my life. I help people to clear the blocks of the sabotages on a deep subconscious level. I've been in Money Bootcamp since 2017. It's the best place on the internet.”

Debbie Sassen is originally from Los Angeles, but has lived in Israel for 33 years. She’s a business and money coach for Midlife Entrepreneurs. 

“I'm also former financial planner and investment banker. So I bring a lot of practical money skills! I think I've been in Money Bootcamp since 2016.”

Mattia Maurée lives in Philadelphia. 

“I just moved here. I grew up in Seattle in the US and I am a composer, a poet and a life coach for neurodivergent queers, helping them do whatever the hell they want. I joined a year ago, last year was my first sixth figure year ever. And it was definitely because of this.”

Mara Kucirek is based in Orlando, Florida in the US. 

“I've been on Team DDT, I think, two and a half years now.”

Mikala Boon lives in New Zealand and is a clinical psychologist. 

“I joined Money Bootcamp at the start of last year, January 2021.”

Kat Soper lives in Wellington, NZ and she owns an online training school, called The Helpful Academy. 

“I grew up in a really Christian home. My dad in particular had a real scarcity mindset and my mom had a really giving mindset. When I joined Bootcamp, I realized that I had a lot of generational money blocks to clear.”

Watch More Member Roundtables 

This is the third roundtable I’ve held recently. Watch the Australian roundtable where we talk mates rates and charging our true worth here. Catch the UK roundtable, all about pricing and imposter syndrome here.

Common Money Blocks and How to Break Through An Income Plateau

One of the blocks that we speak about a lot in Money Bootcamp is this concept that you have to work really hard to make money. This comes up at the very start of your business, but also when you hit an income plateau. 

The work hard concept comes from all around us; life, society, culture. Do you remember any of these growing up? Another day another dollar. You don't get something for nothing or Money doesn't grow on trees.

I grew up with a single mom and she took on cash cleaning jobs and waitressing. So for me, my role modeling was working hard for low paid, multiple jobs, where you hustle your butt off. 

The work hard thing shows up when you find it difficult to delegate. You might be doing everything yourself. You might be over-delivering with your clients. You have crappy boundaries. At the start of my business I got up at 4:30am to have international client calls, because I felt bad setting boundaries around my time. I used to show up every day in Money Bootcamp, 365 days a year, 24/7 until Mara came along.

How Do Your Family’s Money Values Affect Your Business and Success?

Mattia Maurée: “I grew up poor with musician parents and I think one of the main things that I heard about hard work was, I didn't even know that it was possible to not trade hours for money. I literally didn't know that that was possible. I'd never seen that model. They didn't know wealthy people. I didn't know anybody who didn't work hard. 

Where it's shown up for me is probably around boundaries with clients. I’m beginning to condense my clients into three days a week. I’m no longer working late evenings and weekends. 

My first paid in full coaching client, which was about a year ago, told me, ‘You should charge more’. I have more than doubled my prices since then.”

Debbie Sassen: “I’m struggling with delegating to my VA and not micromanaging her. She takes what I put on Facebook and puts it up on Instagram. I'm always there checking and not trusting her. This shows up from my childhood. My dad and my mom divorced. My dad worked for his father-in-law and was fired when they divorced. Then he became an entrepreneur. So I saw him hustle and work hard. Later, I worked on Wall Street as an investment banker. You couldn't just finish your work and go home. You had to be there in the office until eight pm. In my business, it’s a habitual pattern. I’m like a mama hen. I watch out for my clients and make sure that I'm always in contact. Not releasing the reins is coming back to bite me.

I’ve gotten way better. I don't work Fridays or Saturdays. I’m learning to let go and trust that my team is going to be okay. And that it doesn't have to be perfect; perfectionism is detrimental to growing a business.”

Mara Kucirek: “My parents come from farming families, although they’re in healthcare. My grandparents were farmers. There's this cycle of having to work super long days. They both worked really hard to be able to live in the city. I feel like I have to put in extra long hours to prove that I’m working hard and I deserve things.” 

Suzanne Dinter: “I come from a working class background in London. My nan was one of 11 children in the East End of London. She had a very big influence on me. I heard, ‘Money doesn't grow on trees. You’ve got to work hard for a living.’ There was always us (poor) and them (rich) mentality. Financially, my parents are middle class. My dad went to evening school and became an engineer. He worked really hard - full-time days and studying all night. But he still calls himself working class because that's his roots.

For the first two years of my working life, I commuted up to London for 12 hour says because that's all I knew. Then I got an opportunity to escape. I visited a friend in Liverpool and loved the life there so much that I chucked in my job in London. I decided to go to university, and studied in Germany for a semester and came here the day after my graduation ceremony.

I have been self-employed most of my working life. I taught business English, and then became a hypnotherapist. I joined Money Bootcamp and realized that there was another way of doing things. I was trading time for money, teaching English. I only have so many hours in the week, so my earnings are capped. At the moment, I don't have any passive income products, but I have transitioned from 50 euros a session to high end hypnotherapy packages. That has allowed me to reduce my working hours but have a lot more money. I’m on the cusp of giving more hours to my VA who works for me sporadically. I've moved forwards in leaps and bounds since I started my business and started Money Bootcamp; they were both birthed at the same time in March, 2017.”

Gabriella Fotara: “Growing up was a little complicated - my dad is very abusive and an alcoholic. Basically his dad created a restaurant from scratch, built it from the ground up. We were out in Greece for the first five years of my life. My mum would work from eight in the morning until four in the morning - there were no real breaks. She'd do it all in high heels. She would try and save in the summer and hide the money, because my dad would find it and spend it. We had a lot of struggle growing up there. When we came back to the UK, my mum was a single mum at that point, it's always kind of been paycheck to paycheck since.

The story was, ‘You work really hard and you get nothing, and you're kind of miserable.’ I went straight into work when I was legally allowed to in the UK, corner shop, minimum wage. I started my own business really young, but I had no confidence. 

That started to change in around 2019. I had an opportunity to go full-time self-employed in 2020. I trusted my intuition, I just knew it was time. I’m now working on a need to prove myself. That I'm good enough.”                                            

Amoya Shante: “I grew up in a single parent household. My mother was in the military. So I equated money with long hours away from your family for very little pay, and a job that you weren't really happy in. And there was also a lot of struggle, bankruptcy and benefits. That’s my family money story. We lived paycheck to paycheck, trading hours for money. It's shown up in my business as my inability to delegate. Over-delivering on low ticket offers. Keeping my prices low. I'm a money mindset coach now after doing tons of work. Joining Bootcamp gave me permission to invest in myself and release the need to overdeliver. It’s also helped me stop getting too caught up in my clients’ results, feeling as though it's my responsibility for my clients to have transformation.

I have always struggled with an inability to close the laptop down, schedule time off, because my mind goes back to the nine to five, or 40 plus hour, work week. 

For the first three years of business I’d only work with single moms, therefore really limiting my audience. There was a lot of guilt around charging in general, because I came from a single mom background. I was a single mom. It's wrong to charge for your gift, right? I wanted to help the world. To provide transformation and growth. I now know that it's important to charge. For one, it holds people accountable. There's an energy exchange that happens. 

I've reframed that now, it's an honor to invest in myself. And it makes me accountable. 

When I learned this, it was a game changer. I was able to actually help more people by charging higher prices, because then I had the energy to create free content. Right now I'm in the middle of a launch. Launches for me have always been these super stressful events. And this time I decided it will be easy. I don't have to work 50 million hours for a launch. I can go out to dinner. I can go dancing. I can even vacation right now because I've learned how to delegate, automate and really work on that mindset. Sometimes the best thing that you can do to make money is to rest, play and have fun.”

Mikala Boon: “As a psychologist, I got into my profession to help people. The public service model is a lot of work, a lot of stress, a lot of meetings, generally full-time sort of hours. The clients don't pay here in New Zealand, they see me for free, so commitment fluctuates as well.

The shift to working in private was really tough, first in terms of the jump in the hourly rate, feeling like I didn't deserve it. At first, I was over delivering, working way more hours than I would be paid for. And I still wasn't comfortable with the idea of people paying me directly, so I was working on contracts that meant that it wasn't the person seeing me that was paying for the work. 

Now I'm putting together my website and have started a direct ADHD service. So people have paid me directly, which is crazy and are really keen. It's taken a lot of hurdles to get here, but I'm really excited because it's less stressful. It'll be better for me and my family as well in terms of the work that I'll be doing.”

What Has Been Your Biggest Takeaway from Money Bootcamp? 

Amoya Shante: “A game changer is normalizing talking about money, about what we desire. Before Bootcamp I didn't have a community where I could share this. The act of giving myself permission to share my numbers, to share my wins, to have conversations about money, changed my bank account. Even if you don't do anything in Bootcamp but watch everyone share their wins, it will transform you because it starts to normalize money, desiring money, making money, charging whatever you want to charge and not feeling guilty about it.

I’ve been able to leave my idea of the single mom identity behind as well - struggle, unhappiness and loneliness. 

In the past I’ve experienced a lot of guilt around money. It shouldn't be easy to make money. It shouldn't be fun to make money. I had to really work through a lot of guilt around making things easier by delegating, by automating stuff, by having a tech person because I can't stand tech. 

Bootcamp has been really transformational for me - having a safe space. A safe space to share where you don't feel like you're going to be judged. And seeing other people who are already earning multi million dollars, and still having money blocks. It just normalizes everything.”                                   

Mikala Boon: “I think one of the big things that came up for me in Bootcamp is ‘I serve, I deserve’. It’s ok for me to do easier work or to get paid more money for the work that I do. It's ok for me to enjoy my work.”

Suzanne Dinter: “I'm getting more and more comfortable with standing out. Clients are coming to me, not through any particular known route. They're just popping up. I’m getting comfortable with being more visible.” 

The incremental upgrades in Bootcamp have been fantastic in all areas of my life. I've taken on an office outside of the home. Bootcamp is the only group that I've been in constantly for the whole of my entrepreneurial journey. I have many business besties. The whole community thing has been pivotal in my business journey. Bootcamp has opened my eyes to all these different things.

The whole energy and the vibe in the group is just so positive. We're so supportive of each other. What I love the most about Bootcamp is the community and just seeing what's possible.” 

Debbie Sassen: “I love being in a place where I can talk about money... it doesn't matter if you're in debt or if you're making multiple seven figures, the conversation is normal. 

When I travel now from Israel to Los Angeles, I fly first class. Because it's a long flight, I always travel business or first because I want to be comfortable. The rising tide lifts all ships. 

Being able to talk about money and make money and hire out and realize where we're sabotaging ourselves is so helpful for us as business owners.”

Gabriella Fotara: “The tapping (EFT) in Bootcamp has been a really big thing for me, because it gives me a pattern interrupt. Tracking my money has been a game changer. 

Being in a space where people talk about money and their blocks and their stories is so refreshing for me. A space where people, especially in spiritual positions, are having 100K months, earning millions of dollars. There's a scarcity mindset within much of the spiritual community. Here people are healers and making amazing money.”                                                         

Mattia Maurée: “One of the things I've gotten through Bootcamp is around visibility. I'm trans and work with a lot of trans people and a lot of queer people and I also have a physical disability. I'm autistic and have ADHD as well. I don't think I've seen anyone quite like me in very many positions of power and wealth. It's just not the norm. Being able to be visible and hopefully be visible for my communities and show them that it's possible. Being able to always give back to my community is really meaningful. There is nothing wrong with being successful. 

Kat Soper: “My husband and I started saving for the first time as a result of Bootcamp. We got completely out of debt. It had a really, really big impact in our life. I've been able to earn twice as much working half as hard. I have a full-time assistant and some contractors that work for me on a regular basis now. It's made a huge difference having staff. And not making do.

The Kiwi money mindset is so cheap. We've got a number eight wire mentality - anything can be fixed with a piece of number eight wire or gaffer tape.

It’s Normal to Have Money Blocks and I Can Help You

Well, I knew we were going to talk about money history today but that conversation went in some unexpected directions. Take some time to watch the whole discussion because talking about visibility and birth order was fascinating.

Maybe you’ve realized that you have some money blocks as well. And that is really normal. We all do. I have to work on my money blocks all the time. So if you want this year to be amazing for you, you have to look at your pockets of resistance. You have to look at some of those areas where you're holding yourself back; that's exactly how I can help you in Money Bootcamp. 

You can find out more about Money Bootcamp here and read 150+ real reviews of Money Bootcamp here.