This is an intimate discussion with master of business and fun Richard Branson. 

We’ll meet at the office. We’ll ask you questions. We’ll learn, laugh and dream. We’ll explore the options and identify needs and wants. We’ll collaborate. You will become the master of your universe using our web-based planning tools. Together we’ll develop a flexible, evolving financial plan and help you to execute that plan. We’ll meet quarterly to exchange hugs and review and update your portfolio. Happy, you’ll relax and breathe more deeply.

I know a minister who does a money sermon. He starts by burning a $20 bill. The reaction is bigger than flag burning. People come up out of their seats to stop him from burning $20. Yet, don’t we waste the stuff all the time? A similar story told in a teleclass: a group was out in the woods hiking and got lost. The needed to build a fire and had no dry kindling yet they would notburn the money they had. They opted to stay cold.

Intriguing isn’t it? Is burning money taboo?

It’s easy to do; we do it all the time. We buy a trinket, a cheap blouse, a gizmo for the car, a new appliance with all the bells and whistles when the other one is just fine. We spend money and pay credit card interest for stuff we didn’t need in the first place. I’ve even had to create a new line item on my budget worksheet for the clients who spend $50 to $200 per month on overdraft charges! Now that’s a waste of money and it happens because of unconscious behaviors.

This cycle of sabotage is so slippery that it’s not until there is a budget item for these charges that it slowly sinks in: wasted money.

What about the times we disrespect money?  It starts at a young age for many.

Recently we spent the weekend at our mountain cabin with my son Hunter and his friend Gavin. Gavin’s father had given him $20 and it became clear to me that this money was burning a hole in his pocket. There was simply no understanding or incentive to not spend it. He bought candy for himself and my son, and later in the day, after Hunter had spent an hour helping me clean off our roof, Gavin rewarded him by getting him more candy. He stuffed crumpled bills in his pocket, which made it difficult to account for what he had. We taught him how to fold the money, and discussed why it’s important to treat money with respect. I felt sad because his parents aren’t wealthy and it was evident he has little appreciation for saving.

How have you wasted, lost or disrespected money?  Here’s my list to get you started:

• Bought food I didn’t like
• Had things stolen out of my car in Mexico, didn’t secure the remaining contents and suffered a second break-in
• Loaned money to a friend and never saw it again
• Did a favor for my brother which he never reimbursed me for, and I never asked
• Enrolled in a class, decided not to take it and didn’t ask for a refund
• Paid credit card interest and late fees.
• Bought books I’ve never read
• Bought shoes and clothes that were too small and never bothered to return them
• Paid for products and services on the web without properly checking them out
• Gave thousands to an architect who designed a building I couldn’t afford to build
• Got taken advantage of while traveling
• Invested in a get-rich-quick scam
• Bought a cabin we hardly ever use

The good news? Changing the unconscious habits that allow money to slip through our hands starts with simple awareness.

Special thanks to artist Jan Blount.  Jan is a collage artist, coach, spiritual creative and photographer.  To learn more visit her website at www.gratitudeandcompany.com.

© 2011 Luna Jaffe

One day while standing in the checkout line at Target I overheard the following conversation of a young couple:

He said, “Why do we need to spend so much on your nieces who live so far away when you never see them anyway? We’re broke.”

She said, “But I have to. Don’t you remember I told you when we met how important they are to me?”

He said, “Yes, but you don’t have a job.”

She said, “So?  Life doesn’t stop because I don’t have a job. I still have to send presents to my family. What would they think if one Christmas I just didn’t send a thing? I can’t do that.”

Underneath each of our statements is a story, a story we tell ourselves about the world. It’s ourstory, not what our spouse, child or parent says to us, that determines our reaction. One of the kindest and most helpful things we can do for ourselves in our relationship with money is to ask, “What is the story I’m telling myself about…?”

Let’s replay the dialogue above and play around with the stories they might be telling themselves.

Continue reading here: Wild Money Blog

An increasing number of us are earning some part of our income from self employment, contract work and part time jobs with varying hours and pay.

The good news is that there is an explosion of creative ways to make money.  The bad news is that it’s difficult to manage if you don’t have a system… and frankly most of us that are creative and brave enough to strike out on our own aren’t the type to use spreadsheets and analytics.

What do you do, especially when just starting out?  I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned after running 3 businesses (Lunasilks, my retail wearable art company, Dreamtime Designs, my wholesale “accessories for the new age” company, and my private psychotherapy practice), and within the last year striking out on my own from a major investment firm to open my own S-Corp (Lunaria Financial, Ltd) and a sole proprietorship, Luna Jaffe Studios.  Let’s just say practice makes you better!  I hope to save you from the mistakes I made, and help you to be successful financially so you can do what you love to do.

Click here for the 10 Tips

If you want a meaningful life full of rich connections, this book can help. If you want to have more self-confidence and self-esteem, this book can help.

Over the weekend I picked up Lisa Sonora Beam’s book The Creative Entrepreneur and stopped in my tracks when I saw the chapter entitled “Soul Proprietor”.  What a great reframe!  It shifts the concept from Sole; meaning only, exclusive and alone, to Soul; meaning spirit, heart or essence.

Your business, then, becomes a source of connection rather than a prison of isolation.  The trick is to find a balance between soul- the essence of what you bring to the world and proprietor- the reality that you own a business.

Here are some tips for bringing the proprietor part of the equation front and center:

1. Know Your Balances: Check your bank and credit card statements daily or weekly (use Mint.com), update your check register and follow up on anything you don’t recognize or agree with (like fees)

• Benefit– You know where you are, and will make more conscious decisions about spending and saving.

2. Save a percent of every penny earned, FOR YOURSELF.  If you make your deposits or have a banking day once a week this is easy– simply transfer a percentage to a savings account.  See if you can do 10%….even if you end up using it down the road, at least you are creating a healthy practice of saving.  Remember also to save for taxes.

• Benefit– You are building discipline, and valuing yourself.  When you need to pay for a training, a trip or give yourself a bonus, you’ll have the money to do so.

3. Keep Track! Write on every receipt and on your credit card and bank statements– note what you purchased if not completely obvious.  The IRS loves notes, paper trails and supporting documentation.  Going to visit a client and want to write it off?  Attach info about the client to the receipts for the visit– their address, what you talked about, how they paid you (if they did).  File these together and the IRS should have no question that you were doing business.

• Benefit– If you get audited you can sit in the corner and meditate rather than wringing your hands and sweating profusely. Oh, and you’ll avoid fines and penalties, and feel good that you handled it so well.

4.Don’t use the excuse that “it’s a write off” for spending money you don’t have.  It’s only a deduction if you have income! You don’t need Write Offs you need “Right On’s”!

• Benefit-- You will get more honest about what you can afford to spend, and hopefully start turning a profit.

5. Delegate your bookkeeping. Truly, this is so valuable, especially at the beginning of a business.  A bookkeeper can set things up in a flash, saving you time and frustration… but most importantly, she’ll do it the right way, so that you don’t have to pay to have it redone later.

• Benefit– There are many: you’ll stay on top of things because you’ll have to get things to the bookkeeper monthly; you’ll be able to focus on doing what you love to do; it will be done correctly and you’ll actually have a profit and loss statement- which, if you read it, can help you to evaluate what’s working in your business and what’s not.

6. Protect your intellectual property. This means that if you come up with a great name for your business or strategy, trademark it, and if you are blogging, writing articles or producing training materials they need to be copyrighted.  Counsel-to-Creativity is my favorite resource for this!

• Benefit– You are being professional by doing this, and are requiring that people take you seriously.  Should someone try to use or steal your idea or copy you’ll have legal recourse.  Besides, it’s cool to have TM after a name or idea you conceived of!

Tips for bringing the Soul part of the equation into focus:

1. Create community that supports your vision. Surrounding yourself with people that say Yes to your ideas is not only important, but it’s healthy! This can be online or face to face.  Trust yourself to reach out to like-minded soul proprietors to share lunch, mentoring and give support.

• Benefit—Fertilizer!  Feeling connected to others will fertilize the soil of your dreams, while grounding you, lovingly, in reality

2.  Put your essence into your product or service. Another way to say this is “Let your freak flag fly”.  The old model of business, where everyone one wore the same uniform (a business suit) and did things in a prescribed way is fading fast.  Some of the most brilliant (and richest) people in the world conduct business in jeans and have barely cut their wisdom teeth… who knew?  Dare to pour your unique, quirky, beautiful self into all you do.

• Benefit—You will feel at peace.  When we line up who we are with what we do amazing things happen!

3.  Hire a coach or business consultant to help you plan, build strategy and ensure that the “Soul” is not being left behind or the “Proprietor” is neglected or worse, completely abandoned.  My rule of thumb when hiring such a person is that I want to work with someone I admire, respect and who is at least 5 steps ahead of me.  For example, when I hired my writing coach, I looked for someone who was 1) published, 2) experienced in helping new authors, 3) well connected and 4) a great communicator.  Jeffrey Davis is all this and more, and I’m leaping forward under his tutelage.  I might have been able to do it on my own, but this way I feel supported, love the guidance and have both accountability and timelines to keep me on track.

• Benefit— Clarity of purpose. You benefit from the insight and experiences of your coach, and from simply hearing yourself talk through issues as they arise.

I would love your stories and comments about your life as a Soul Proprietor.

 Luna

© 2011 Luna Jaffe

Money, a powerful factor in family dynamics, is often a difficult subject for families to address. Godfrey aims to help parents send their children into the world as financially savvy adults by identifying 10 specific skills that can be mastered by children ages 5 through 18. These include saving, keeping track of money, spending wisely, living on a budget, investing, handling credit responsibly, and using money to help others. 

It’s easy to get mad or depressed about the way money works in your life, but consider another option, one that ultimately puts you in charge of your finances. If you took the perspective that money and your reactions to it were your most honored teacher, would you have a different experience? I think of the stories of famous rabbis, gurus and medicine women who have ministered to the financially troubled for millennia. What is their gift? They listen deeply. And often in that space of being heard by someone you trust, the fog begins to lift and you begin to see the reason for your grasping