Holistic Wealth
A common misconception is that financial wealth equals corruption or that money is the root of all evil. Financial wealth only corrupts people with weak constitutions, and a far better way to look at wealth is as the amplification of who you are at your core. When you think of wealth and its relation to creatives, there is disparity. “Working for the man” can be seen as a failure. Over time it became common to see making significant money from your work as selling out or that the more wealth you acquire, the less authentic you are.
Creatives are natural problem solvers. Many can understand the human condition and use their understanding to create social change. It’s no wonder creatives are consistently presented with negative perceptions of wealth. Creatives can use wealth to its highest potential and make a massive change. Change is threatening.
Growing up, we were all presented with negative perceptions of wealth. From tales of Scrooge to Robinhood, we learned that wealth was a bad thing. As adults, this narrative hasn’t changed. You see sensationalized news stories of greed every day. I’m not saying there isn’t significant misuse of wealth in the world. I’m saying those shown the most negative perceptions of wealth are the ones who could make the most difference if they had wealth. Once you recognize how financial wealth can be a powerful tool for positive change, you can work on redefining your relationship to wealth and take your power back!
By working for the government for the past five years, investing in personal development workshops, and attending a private university, wealthy people have surrounded me for a large portion of my life. Only a handful were pure evil… I’m kidding. I learned it’s a little too simple to categorize all wealthy people as terrible. I’ve met so many hardworking and community-focused individuals who strive for change. From being surrounded by the “well-to-do,” I’ve learned a few things about the wealth mindset that have helped me immensely. A few of the most important things I learned are:
1. Being aware of your language around money
2. Handling money with a respectful attitude
3. Self-responsibility with finances.
If you have an unhealthy relationship with financial wealth, you will communicate that relationship in your words. It can be an excellent exercise to make a few swaps in common phrases you may say day-to-day. For example, when you say the phrase money doesn’t grow on trees, or if you say I’m broke, say; instead, cash is out there, I just don’t have it now. Another swap would be to say instead of I can’t afford it/it’s too expensive, ask yourself, how could I afford this or say I am choosing to save right now. These simple swaps can focus your mind to a more hopeful and solution-oriented frame.
For every excuse you have surrounding money, multiple people have beat those odds or worked through your limitations. You can make excuses or make money, but you can’t do both simultaneously. You have a responsibility to manage your finances. If you choose to remain unaware of your financial state, you let the money have power over you instead of controlling your cash. Taking small steps to save for the future or to learn about investing can help you feel more confident with your finances. Seeking out people who have been through similar situations is also a great resource to find inspiration.
For a long time, I had a negative perception of wealth. I found myself in many situations that made me feel less than or like an outsider. I would speak with my peers, and they would talk about their summers abroad while the most exotic place I had visited was Paris, Texas. I held tight to this “less than” viewpoint for most of my schooling.
One day my relationship with wealth changed for the better. I was in my mentor’s office, discussing next semester’s classes, and I described myself as poor. My mentor stopped me dead in my tracks and, with a stern voice, said she never wanted to hear me call myself poor again. She went on to say that I was intelligent, talented, kind, had loving friends and family, and my health. She called me incredibly wealthy. I felt so embarrassed that I even jokingly took any of that for granted. That conversation changed my life and taught me that being financially challenged is a temporary situation but being poor is a state of mind. From that conversation, I started viewing financial wealth as only one pillar of holistic wealth.
Let’s dive deeper into the concept of holistic wealth. You could have all of the money in the world but be unhealthy and bedridden. You could have the money to travel anywhere you wanted but no one to share the joy of those experiences. All this to say, money isn’t everything. While you are working on your relationship to financial wealth, it can be helpful to focus on the areas in your life where you already have other types of wealth. Gratitude not only brings more good into your life by shifting your focus and awareness, but it’s also a lot more fun of a state to be in than resentment for what you see as lack.
Let’s discuss a few actionable steps for creatives to bring more financial wealth into their lives. We will start with a story I recently read about Picasso. This story helped me see my value as a creative more clearly.
One day, a fan handed a napkin to Picasso and said, “could you sketch something for me? I’ll pay you for it. Name your price.”
In response, Picasso pulled out a charcoal pencil from his pocket and sketched an image.
The man reached out to collect the napkin, but Picasso kept it and said, “You owe me $100,000”.
The man exclaimed, “That took you no more than 30 seconds to draw!”
Picasso crumpled up the napkin, stuffed it into his pocket, and said, “You are wrong. It took me 40 years.”
What Picasso was talking about was charging for your expertise. I see so many creatives receive far too little for the value they provide. An incredible chance to increase your financial wealth would be to restructure your income from one based on an hourly rate to one based on the value provided. If you have cultivated your skills through education and experience, you will produce work at a much faster rate. If you are charging hourly, this expertise can cause you to make less money. If you have years of experience in your creative medium, you should be making more than a student rate. Unless you are expanding into mediums outside of your usual wheelhouse, you absolutely shouldn’t be producing work for exposure. It is beneficial to understand the importance of your work. Knowing what value your product or service gives to your clients will not only help you quantify the value of the work you do but help you communicate that value effectively.
Another way creatives can find financial wealth is through marketing their expertise. There are only so many hours in a day, and you can only work one on one with so many clients or produce so many physical products that it puts a cap on your income. Instead of limiting yourself to your salary ceiling, you could create a resource like a book or online course for people to learn your medium. Through the use of the internet, you can reach a whole world of customers. If you put in the work at the beginning to provide something of great value, the class or book later becomes a source of passive income.
A great example of expanding your income past the average ceiling is the story of the popular Youtube channel Yoga with Adriene. If Adriene capped herself at what the usual yoga instructor made and took the same actions as everyone else, she would only make a salary at or below that ceiling. Adriene saw an opportunity to teach yoga online before online learning became such a big industry. Due to her action, she now totes millions of subscribers with paid course offerings and an exclusive membership website. Whatever your skillset, thinking outside the boundaries of your profession is a way to increase impact and consequently wealth.
I hope this article helped reframe your relationship to financial wealth, and you gained a few tips to take back your economic power. I think if we focus on balancing our holistic wealth, we can become the most empowered versions of ourselves.
