Have you ever had someone tell you that they don’t need money? Or have you had this thought yourself? As weird as this may sound to some, they’re not alone in having these thoughts. It turns out that many people have a love-hate relationship with money.

Many creatives believe that making too much money would transform them into a sell-out. For example, I once spoke with a guy who shared this belief. So, without even realizing it, he made decisions that kept him from making money. He thought that money would somehow force him to change his lifestyle. He might be right in his own ways – there are as many points of view as the number of people on Earth – but he’s far from the truth.

Money lets you make different decisions. It gives you a freedom in which you can explore a variety of options. Money will let you do whatever is meaningful for you.

Having more money doesn’t mean that you have to wear certain clothes or drive expensive cars. It means that you can indulge in whatever you are passionate about and think of the future. Despite what creative people tend to think, it will not make you ‘evil’.

To make more money, you have to have the right mindset. It all starts with your beliefs. Wrong beliefs can drag you down. Meanwhile, the right beliefs can propel you in ways you’ve never even thought possible.

Let’s discuss the three critical mindsets that you need to have to run a successful business.

1. PEOPLE PAY ME FOR THE VALUE THAT I CREATE.

“Most people are deeply scripted in what I call the Scarcity Mentality. They see life as having only so much, as though there were only one pie out there. And if someone were to get a big piece of the pie, it would mean less for everyone else.” – Stephen Covey, Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

You can’t earn more unless you know your value. Your time is precious, and if you intend on making a dollar, you have to show that you are a valuable asset to your clients. So, it’s important to understand why people pay you. For example, if you’re a web designer. Do they pay you to build a beautiful website, or do they pay you to bring them more business via a website? Those two may take the same amount of time to complete, but they have completely different values.

I want you to close your eyes, think back to the last time you purchased a cold drink. Let’s say it was a coke, why did you buy it? In most cases, it was because you were thirsty. The value of quenching your thirst was much higher than the monetary value. Did you lose anything in this transaction? Well, no. It was merely an exchange. You gave your money, and you got rid of a problem–your thirst. Both you and the seller got something out of this transaction.

The same applies to when you are selling your services. If you think that clients are doing you a favor by working with you, and that you don’t deserve their money, you are in for disaster. Instead, focus on the value that you create. Understand that for some clients you won’t be able to create massive value, and it’s best to turn down these jobs.

For me, my main business is to provide development services for designers. When I started my business, I had the wrong mindset. It’s only much later than I came to realise that I was actually adding massive value to their businesses. They no longer had to struggle with code, and they could count on someone reliable to take care of that for them. With that realisation, I went from being a struggling freelancer to a profitable business owner.

Being well-paid will feed your creativity. It will help you grow your business, which takes us to the second money mindset.

2. THE MORE MONEY YOU MAKE, THE MORE VALUE YOU CAN CREATE.

Why is it so often the case that the rich get richer? Or that 5% of the top freelancers earn 50% of all the revenue? It comes down to one key point, and it has to do with value again.

The more value you create for your clients, the more valuable you become. As the value of your services goes up, you get to make more high-value connections. Your ideas and opinions become more respected.

Now, the big question is: how do you become more valuable? One of the simplest ways is by making more money.

Let’s see an example: given the same price, what’s more valuable to a business? A designer who takes two days for a piece of artwork or one who takes a couple hours. The answer might seem odd for many designers but bear with me for a second.

It’s the one who takes the least amount of time to deliver a high-quality artwork. As a business owner, when I want an artwork, I want it as soon as possible. For me, it’s an item on my to-do list, and I’d rather cross it out ASAP. I don’t care that your computer takes ten minutes to load an old version of Photoshop. I don’t care that you took several hours to look for free stock photos. I only care about the results.

An ambitious designer will invest in high-performance hardware. He will have subscriptions to high-quality stock photos sites. This designer can even delegate the first pass to finding a photo to an assistant. He will also invest in courses on how to optimize his design process. Finally, he will have premium tools and systems in place so he can focus on what’s most valuable. Usually, that’s his design skills.

In the two days that the first designer used to create one piece of artwork, the second created several, for various clients, adding value to each business. He is able to earn much more in the same period. In fact, he can even price his service much higher and still be more valuable.

Having an assistant, purchasing premium courses, buying powerful hardware or software costs a lot of money. Yet, they are investments and, if done right, will almost always bring in much more money than their cost.

The more value you create for your clients, the more valuable you become.CLICK TO TWEET

3. MONEY IS THE ONLY REAL METRIC FOR ACHIEVEMENT.

In the world of freelancing and self-employment, we usually get confused with a ton of metrics. The number of website visitors, leads, followers on Twitter, connections on LinkedIn, number of Facebook likes, shares, etc. While these metrics are good to know, they are not an indicator of your success. You can have someone that has 10,000 likes on a Facebook post but still be broke.

The amount of money that your business has generated, that’s a true metric to consider. Personally, I believe that it’s the only real metric for success. When you get paid for what you produce, it means that people around you believe you are capable and have done something great. Something so great that your client happily gave up their hard-earned money to you. Plus, they are telling others to do the same.

Your service added so much value to their business that it is worth much more than the money they invested.

WITH THE RIGHT MONEY MINDSET, YOU’LL HAVE A SMOOTH ROAD TO SUCCESS

The way to success is pretty clear, but you will not see a straight line towards the top unless you put your mind to it. You must free yourself of all negative concepts about money. It’s simple: you are a good person, and money will allow you to do more good.

You already provide valuable services to your clients. Investing time and money in your business will only further improve your services. You must make more money to provide more valuable services in the future.

This is the way to earning a fortune and making it all count. Always remember: you will only get richer if you have something valuable to offer. You will get to a point where your service will be in high-demand, no matter what price you ask for it. However, first you must begin the journey.

We want to hear from your own business experiences. Where do you find yourself in this journey towards success?

Did you start your business with the right money mindset? Did you feel guilty when you wanted more money for the services you provided? What do you think about money in your own business?