Dateline: South Miami, October 2001.
I got up from my big desk in the Florida room, from where I could see the thunbergia dripping down off the pergola. Clusters of pale mauve blossoms hung from the arbor like colorful icicles. But I didn’t see them that day. I walked mindlessly into the living room, and then stopped in my tracks, trying to remember why I had left my desk and headed into the house in the first place. I couldn’t remember. And I had been doing that a lot lately …
I went back to my desk, and realized I was just trying to get away from what looked like the inevitable. I couldn’t see how to bridge the financial gap this time … how I’d pull another rabbit out of another hat. (Magician that I was …)
The feeling was so familiar. How many times had I finally run a P&L—a profit and loss on a completed project for a client—and realized my net profit was less than I expected? I knew my clients were thrilled with the results, but … for some reason … once again I had involved people in the project not because they were the most qualified, but because they were in financial trouble. And, after taking care of them, there wasn’t enough left to put anything aside to tide me over until I could get the next project. Despite what looked like a success from the outside, I was running on empty. And I was exhausted from all the damage control.
I was allowing things in my own business that I would never have permitted my turnaround clients to do. Somehow “Superwoman Sharon” would make it work, after taking care of everyone else …
Somehow I was always last on the list, instead of first.
So when the airplanes hit the towers in New York, the Pentagon in D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania … and all business ground to a halt for a couple of months … some of my customers in a new experimental business I was developing for the Colombian Government went belly up. I had already placed all my year-end orders and paid deposits, but I wouldn’t be seeing any payments.
And what did I have to fall back on? Despite all the money I had made over the years, I had saved nothing.
I had nothing set aside to cover the loss of expected income. The house of cards tumbled down around my ears.
So where’s the lesson?
Since that God-awful time, which resulted in my losing my house and my business, I have come to realize that money has been shrouded in myth and mystery for far too long.
After years of research (and seeing my theories proven by how I turned around my business, my finances, and my life), I firmly believe that money has three aspects:
- an emotional one that includes all the childhood messaging that affects how we deal with money;
- a physical one that demands that we get honest with our money by facing the numbers daily and putting them on paper so we can no longer hide behind ignorance, and
- a spiritual one that defines what we want out of life in the long haul so we have the desire and the discipline to do what’s needed to become financially free.
I’ve also come to understand that all three aspects have to be addressed in order for someone to thrive financially. People with two aspects under control can do well, but they don’t thrive. And those people who seem to have “The Golden Touch?” They’re all comfortable with all three aspects. No exceptions.
My challenge for you
You’ve probably never given this much thought. But let me ask you a few questions:
- Are you driven and do you work hard at your business, even reaching a healthy level of success, yet have little set aside for your future?
- Do you find yourself making money decisions that turn out to be detrimental to your well-being, even though you know better?
- Do you hide from the numbers in your business, always too busy to reconcile things until you’re forced to at tax time, when the year’s already over?
- Do you keep plodding forward, working unreal hours because you feel you should, without knowing what you’re truly working towards?
If you’ve answered “yes” to any of those questions, I challenge you to go to this page and schedule a 15-minute free strategy session with me. You’ll complete a 2-3 minute checklist before our session, and together we’ll determine in which of the three aspects you’re hung up. And then, it’s up to you. You’ll know where your challenge lies, so you can go work on it on your own.
Or you can ask me to help you.
That’s entirely up to you.
(But if you’re over 50, I sure know which option I’d choose …)
xxxxxxx
Sharon O’Day lost everything at age 53: her home, her business, everything. But how could that be? She’s an expert in global finance and marketing with an MBA from the Wharton School. She has worked with governments, corporations, and individuals … yes, she was the secret ‘weapon,’ if you will, behind many individuals in high places. But still, she did! Since then, Sharon has interviewed countless women and done extensive research to understand how that could have happened, especially with her strong knowledge of numbers and finance.
The surprising answers will be shared in her upcoming book “Money After Menopause.” Today her mission is to show as many women as possible how to become financially free for the long term. She has developed a step-by-step plan to get past all the obstacles that keep women broke and scared … and from reaching the financial peace of mind they so deserve.