Have you got this one? 

“You have to work really hard to make money.”

Ouch… it stings, but part of you believes that, right? 

This money block is probably the most common, and it’s super-sneaky because hard work and busyness are culturally acceptable and, in some cases, admired and encouraged. 

It can help you create great success for a while, but the working ‘hard’ part becomes self‑fulfilling. 

Where does this block come from and why is it so common?

Well, there’s less physical work required to run a business than ever before. I don’t mean to sound all old-fashioned, but it was way harder when I started my business than it is now. 

There were no online payment systems, making a website was either crazy-expensive or incredibly complicated, and there was hardly any automation software. 

It was the dark ages! (I’m kinda joking.) 

The fact that we now have all these relatively cheap and easy systems can bring up weird feelings because the money we can earn by using them isn’t always commensurate with the amount of physical labor involved.

Ease goes against an established rule in our society: an honest day’s work yields an honest day’s pay.

Add the internet to the mix and, suddenly, making money becomes even less onerous. You could sell an e-book to someone in China while you’re sleeping. 

You could have someone in Sydney pay for a consultation with you (and book it on your calendar) without any back-and-forth emails. 

Or you could have a piece of your artwork printed onto a phone case and shipped to Ohio without being physically involved at all! So many businesses had to pivot during the pandemic, and the tools are better than ever.

What a world we live in! And it’s only going to get easier. 

But the downside is that all this ease and flow can bring up feelings of guilt for some people. It’s as if it doesn’t count if we don’t work really hard for it. 

Why? Well, we may have been told things like this from a very young age

• 'Money doesn’t grow on trees.’

• ‘You don’t get something for nothing.’
• ‘Another day, another dollar.

Our parents might have worked long hours for their money (unlike us) or performed hard physical labor (instead of just sitting in front of a computer). 

It can feel unfair to earn money without trying hard – as if we’re doing something terrible or disrespecting our elders. 

So we sabotage ourselves by procrastinating, or we paddle upstream and make everything harder than it needs to be. 

We want to prove that we’ve earned our money through struggle and hard work, even though that’s no longer necessary. Chillpreneurship feels lazy.

Of course, I’m not saying entrepreneurship is easy. You still have to get over your resistance, fear, and procrastination. But there’s nothing you can’t figure out on the internet. 

Most entrepreneurs aren’t suffering from a lack of ‘how to’: they just overcomplicate business and become too paralyzed to take action.

What could you do with your extra energy and resources if things weren’t hard? 

It’s your time and you’re ready for the next step.

xx Denise

P.S. This is an excerpt from my book Chill and Prosper and the chapter “Mindset blocks that will derail your business success”, if you’ve got this money block or think your relationship with money could be getting in the way of you growing your business, grab a paperback, kindle or audio version here. 

P.P.S. This ‘Work Hard” block is so common because it’s often inherited. Our parents and upbringing have a dramatic effect on our money mindset, boundaries and spending habits. 

In Money Bootcamp we work on Generational Money Blocks - the blocks you’ve inherited from previous generations and experiences that are impacting your relationship with money.  If you’d like my support to look closer at this and clear your blocks, come and join us in Bootcamp.