Budgeting

You know from personal experience that the title of this article is absolutely, 100% true. You may not want to believe it, but your experience tells you otherwise. Think about it. What is the purpose of a budget? To save money. But ask yourself this: Why would you need to save your money, if you are creating abundance in your life?

When you focus on prosperity, then that is your reality. When you focus on lack, then that is your reality. You cannot focus on both prosperity and lack at the same time. The same way you cannot be sad and happy at the same time, you cannot experience abundance and scarcity at the same time.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you want to save money? Are you saving for a big purchase, or perhaps for an unexpected emergency? A "rainy day" mentality cannot coexist with a prosperity mentality. One cancels the other out.

So, if you choose to focus your efforts on saving a penny here, a dollar there, then you will. You absolutely will save a penny and a dollar. But what could you have done with the same amount of energy focused on creating wealth instead? Instead of focusing on saving money you already have, you could focus on making more money.

When your goal is to save, you always end up with less money than when you started. When your goal is to make money, you always end up with more money than when you started.

Why You Just Can't Stick to a Budget

Do you know why so many people can't seem to stick to a budget? It is because the mere fact that they are focusing on ways to spend less causes them to earn less. In order to do a budget, you first have to write down how much money you have coming in. Do you really want to tell the Universe that this number, whatever it is, is the amount of money you are willing to work with?

A budget assumes there is a finite amount of funds coming in, which in actuality, is lack thinking. It assumes there a set amount with which you must conduct your business, support your family, and indulge your whims every once in a while.

With a budget, you set spending caps for each expense category, based on the total amount of revenue you have coming in. You look at each expense carefully to see where you can cut, slash, and eliminate spending altogether. In fact, this is the opposite of what you should be doing if you want to grow your business and increase your personal wealth.

As stated above, lack thinking causes people to earn less. Not only is your energy focused on saving a dime, but the areas of your business that need the most capital are most likely not getting it. How much do you spend on targeted marketing? How much do you spend on increasing your knowledge of your market? How much do you spend on improving customer service? Again, when you focus on ways to spend less, you earn less.

When you earn less, you quickly blow your budget, because you no longer have the income you planned for. This is why it is impossible for most people to actually stick to a budget.

Going Broke on a Budget

Too many financial "gurus" preach budgeting. In fact, lessons in how to budget are a huge part of most financial information products. The countless eBooks and articles written about how to budget properly all keep you focused on being broke.

If you are constantly trying to stick to your budget, then you are constantly in a lack consciousness mindset. When you view your business as not having enough to pay expenses, so much so that you need to cut expenses, you are the captain of a ship that is sure to go down.

The negative effects of being "budget-minded" is more than a concept, it has a direct affect on your ability to keep your existing customers, and attract new ones. When you choose the cheapest, most economical way of doing business, you reduce the perceived value of your products or services.

Everyone wants to feel that they are getting a good value for their money. When you "cheap out" your customers will feel it. Very quickly you will lose customers, and eventually, you will lose your business.

Lack consciousness also creates a pervasive feeling of desperation, which can also be felt by your customers. Who wants to give their hard earned cash to a business that appears to desperately need money, and is cutting corners left and right?

When you give more value to your customers than they give in payment to you, your business will grow exponentially. Customers feel excited and special when they know they are getting a great deal for their money. The surest way to keep your customers is to consistently provide them with more quality than they expect, and you can't do that if you are worried about saving a nickel.

Let's say you have four phone lines, and in your effort to stay on budget, you cut two of them. Now, in exchange for saving $60-$80 per month, you have frustrated customers who can't get through to you, and potential new customers who will move on to your competitors at the first sound of your recorded voice mail message.

No one, not even your customers, would begrudge you cutting unnecessary costs, or looking for a good value in your own vendors. But you can make those decisions on a per-cost basis. When it comes time to pay the bills, or commit to a new monthly expense, determine at that time if it will have a benefit to your customers or not.

Trade in Your Lack Mindset for a Prosperity Mindset

If by now you have not been convinced to abandon your budget, consider the fact that your lack thinking pinches off the flow of money to you, and to everyone else. We are all connected. When you are in prosperity consciousness, you create more wealth for yourself, and for all of us. Think of it as doing your part for society.

How do you trade in your lack mindset for a prosperity mindset? Start by shifting your focus from saving to giving. The energy of giving to others, whether it is of your pocketbook, your time, or your heart, attracts more giving. Not only will you attract giving back to yourself, but your giving will also cause a chain reaction that attracts more giving to everyone.

Apply the act of giving to your business, and watch the money start to flood in. Give to your customers; don't shortchange them. Make sure you offer the best products on the market, the best customer service, and the best environment for them to conduct business with you.

Give your customers the best of you, by constantly improving your knowledge and expertise, so that they may benefit from it. If you read one book pertaining to your niche market per month, you will be one of the top experts in your field. That is how you create abundance and value for your customers.

Focus your attention on how to give your customers the most value, and they will happily give you the price you set. You can only cut costs so much before there is nothing left, but your earning potential is limitless.

Of course it is true that some business owners lose track of their expenses, and may find themselves in a hole so big, they just can't dig their way out. A prosperity mindset does not mean that you disregard your expenses entirely. The goal here is not to avoid your bottom line, but to increase it. You can't do that if you blindly write checks and ignore your bank balance.

All successful business owners know how much is going out and what it's for - they just don't worry about how much it costs. Instead, they focus on how much value it will give their customers, and how much income it will generate. If an expense will not deliver value or the potential for increased revenue, by all means cut it.

Budgets work if you are looking to stay down, stay impoverished, and stay in the struggle. Budgets work if you want to lose business, lose customers, and work your way down until you have to close up shop. Budgets work if you take pride in holding on to your money, rather than making it grow.

Budgets don't work if your goal is to tap into the flow of abundance, expand your business, or create unlimited wealth. Budgets don't work if you have a vision for your life you want to manifest, or a dream you want to realize. Budgets don't work for the best of the best, the millionaires, or the success stories - and they don't work for you.