If you have ever felt sick to your stomach after hitting “buy” on something for your business, you are not alone.
I have been there more times than I can count. And if we are being honest, I am the self-proclaimed cheapskate in my business partnership with Laurie. Spending money does not come naturally to me. It never has.
But here is what I have learned over the years. The guilt you feel when you spend money on your business is not always telling you the truth.
Today I want to walk you through why spending money feels so hard, especially for women, and how to move past that guilt so you can invest in your business with purpose instead of fear.
Why Spending Money Feels So Personal
When I first started my business, every single dollar felt personal. It felt valuable in a way that was almost paralyzing.
I did not grow up around entrepreneurs. My dad was a doctor. Nobody in my life showed me that when you start a new business, it is really normal to not only invest in it, but to have expenses. That is a normal, expected thing. I had never seen that.
So when I started spending money on my own business, it hit up against a lot of childhood values. You know the ones. “You don’t spend more than you have.” And from a budget standpoint, that is really helpful and important.
But there was a deeper problem. I did not have a framework for business spending being different from personal spending. I did not understand that investing in a business is not the same as splurging on something for myself.
And I think this is especially hard for women.
Laurie put it so well when she talked about her kids. When they wanted to play soccer, she would figure it out. When they needed braces, she would figure it out. She did not feel guilty about spending money on her kids. She still doesn’t.
But spending money on her own business? That is a struggle.
Why is that?
Because we have been taught to put ourselves last. We will sacrifice for everyone else, but when it comes to investing in the thing God has called us to build, we hesitate. We question. We feel guilty.
And that guilt keeps us stuck.
The Scarcity Mindset Trap
I want to be really honest about something. There is a difference between not having the money and being afraid to spend the money you do have.
If the money is not in your bank account, that is a real situation. We completely recognize that this whole conversation is relative to your season and your budget and what you have available.
But a lot of us are dealing with something deeper. It is called scarcity mindset.
Scarcity mindset tells you there will never be enough. It tells you to hold on tight to every dollar because you might need it later. It tells you that spending money on your business is risky and irresponsible, even when the numbers say otherwise.
I have lived in that place. And I can tell you it does not lead to growth. It leads to staying small.
What is true for me now in what I feel comfortable spending money on was not true for me in the past. It took me a lot of convincing to buy my first 99-cent product. I am not exaggerating. Laurie laughs about it now, but it was true.
That first dollar felt enormous. And then I spent it. And nothing bad happened.
In fact, something good happened. I started learning. I started growing. I started realizing that spending money on my business was not a betrayal of good stewardship. It was part of it.
What Guilt Is Really Telling You
Guilt is a signal. But it is not always an accurate one.
Sometimes guilt is telling you that you are doing something wrong. But sometimes guilt is just fear wearing a disguise.
When Laurie spends money, she says, “I am nervous and terrified every time I spend money, but I look long-term.”
That is the difference between guilt and wisdom. Guilt looks backward. Wisdom looks forward.
If you are feeling guilty about a purchase, step back and ask yourself one simple question: Did I make this decision from fear or from purpose?
That question alone will tell you a lot.
Because guilt often shows up when we step outside our comfort zone. It shows up when we do something new. It shows up when we take a risk.
And those are not always bad things.
Permission To Invest In What God Has Called You To Build
We want to give you permission to spend with purpose.
We do not want you to feel panic. We do not want you to feel fearful. We do not want you to feel wasteful, like my scarcity mindset, all the things that go through my mind.
We want you to give yourself permission to invest in this business that you are building.
Here is what helped me make that shift:
Start small. You do not have to make a huge investment your first time out. Start with something small. Prove to yourself that you can spend money and survive it.
Look at the long game. Ask yourself what your business is capable of longer-term. That is when we stop feeling like beginners, and we start acting like CEOs of our own time and our energy and our money.
Remember why you started. God did not call you to build something with your hands tied behind your back. He called you to be faithful. And sometimes faithfulness looks like investing in the tools and training you need to grow.
You Can Do This
If you are sitting there right now with your cursor hovering over a purchase button and your stomach in knots, I want you to breathe.
You are not being wasteful. You are being faithful.
And that is something you never have to feel guilty about.
