Welcome to “The Best Thing I’ve Learned About Money” audio blog series. This is where you’ll hear from fellow creative entrepreneurs and mentors all about one specific topic: MONEY!

Today we are so excited to introduce you to our featured guest, Bonnie Bakhtiari from b is for bonnie design and the founder of the Illume Retreat!

Hi sweet friends, I’m Bonnie Bakhtiari, a brand designer and strategist for creative entrepreneurs just like you.

Through custom design and intentional strategy I empower my clients to craft heartfelt intentional brands to truly serve as a reflection of their life’s work.

Through education, speaking, my very own podcast, and the Illume Retreat, I’m hugely honored to pour into my clients through so many different ways over the past seven years to really equip them to build brands and businesses they are proud of.

And today, I’m so excited to be sharing with you the best thing I’ve learned about money over the past seven years as an entrepreneur.

The biggest truth I’ve realized with money is you can do less, in order to earn more.

Now if I’m being honest, this is a concept that baby boss lady me would have been blown away to realize. When I was first starting my business, I really did buy into this mentality that in order to earn more, I had to do more.

I had to have more offerings, more clients, more, more, more.

And the result was exhaustion, overwork, and overwhelm.

Now, thankfully, since then I’ve learned that in order to reshape my relationship with money and utilize it as a tool to hit my goals and serve others well, there are some simple steps I can take in order to lean into this idea of doing less and still maximizing profit.

Knowing my numbers empowered me to scale back in the amount of work I was taking on and knowing my need allowed me to understand how I needed to be pricing my services and offerings in order to still hit those big beautiful goals.

And the best part is that money has actually enabled me to create more margin in my life AND in my business.

This beautiful idea of doing less while still earning more creates this atmosphere where you are able to lean into your most profitable and most fulfilling offerings in order to do the work you love, serve the people you love serving, all while still hitting your financial goals and providing for your family.

To me, that’s empowering. That helps me understand that money can be a tool and that helps me reshape my relationship with something I used to struggle with if I’m being honest.

So if you find yourself in a season where you’re still buying into this idea that doing more equals more profit, then I think we need to pump the brakes on that for a second.

We need to understand doing more does not automatically equal more profit.

In order to really start to apply this idea of doing less while earning more, I have three simple steps for you.

1)

KNOW YOUR NEED

If you’re able to tap into the financial need you and your family have, you’ll be better able and better equipped to identify what you need to be making and taking home from your offerings and services.

2)

STREAMLINE YOUR OFFERINGS

If you can streamline your offerings to maximize your profits, then you can really step into this season where you’re able to take on fewer clients or products at a higher price point.

But something I want to encourage you with here—in order to really lean into this idea of doing less while still earning more—is that we need to focus on our most profitable offerings and also our most purposeful offerings.

Think of the work you do that fills you up, fires up your heart, and really brings a deep sense of fulfillment along the way.

That’s the kind of offering and product where I believe you can maximize profit while still experiencing this beautiful and fulfilling amount of purpose within the work you’re doing. And you will be proud to put it out in the world as a result.

3)

BREAK THE SCARCITY MINDSET

Scarcity tells us that we always have to be doing more in order to experience and achieve more. But what that does is it actually traps us in this endless cycle of unintentional hustle and eventually leads us to break down and burn out.

And that’s not what I want for you.

If we can step out of that scarcity mindset that tells us that in order to do more, have more, or be more, we have to constantly hustle. And instead, lean into this truth that there is abundance if we’re simply open to it. And with abundance, we can lean into our best most heartfelt offerings and still experience the kind of financial gains all while providing for those we love.

So friend, I hope this encourages you today and I hope it empowers you to know how you can create margin within your life by doing your best work without compromising your profit along the way.

YOUR TURN!

Thank you so much for tuning in to this week’s “the best thing I’ve learned about money” series.

In the comments below, tell us if you relate with this scarcity mentality?! And if you’re up for it, we would love to hear the best thing you’ve learned about money, too!