2020 Review: Mind Money Balance by the Numbers
At the end of 2019, my first full year taking Mind Money Balance online, I ended with a business roundup. It feels important to do another round up this year. Many of us are struggling to see the good that happened this year, though there were glimmers of hope. Stephanie Gardner-Wright, a Grow a Profitable Practice From the Inside Out alum, shared recently on Instagram that this year "blew the lid off the polite veneer of society."
For this, I'm grateful. It feels like I'm no longer tip-toeing around others, wondering if they know about systemic racism, economic inequalities, and how our society is built on white supremacy and harmful hustle-more capitalistic ideologies. (Wait, Lindsay, I thought you were going to talk about hope?)
I'm hopeful that we can no longer pretend that things are fine and that we collectively can move toward healing and co-creating something more equitable.
Before we get into the numbers, let me remind you that as an overworking Virgo, I do get shit done. That doesn't mean I'm glorifying overworking (in fact, in my summary, I'll share with you my plans for 2021).
4: AKA April, When I Fully Left a Group Therapy Practice
In January, I reviewed my business numbers and realized about 30% of my therapy clients we're exclusively online. I loved the group practice I was a part of (shout-out to Grove Emotional Health Collaborative for creating such a lovely space). Still, it no longer made financial sense to stay there as more and more of my clients found me by way of the internet and were across the state of Michigan. I decided to say goodbye to my group practice and move everything to teletherapy. I was marking March 31st as my last day as a group therapy practice provider. Of course, when I put in my notice in January, I couldn't have known that much of the world would also be pivoting to teletherapy.
700: Zoom Meetings
This is a conservative estimate based on 20/week from mid-March until now. While Zoom fatigue is very real, I'm incredibly appreciative for the technology available to us to continue our connections with others. It allowed me to continue provided (and receiving) therapy. I loved being able to see my client's in their home environments. Hearing children in the background, seeing their pets dash across the screen, taking in the realities of their world. And it was mutual! There were times my pup made an on-screen appearance, times I had to run to the front door, and times when I had to rearrange my desk to get the sun out of my eyes. Teletherapy humanized my clients and me in a way that simply isn't possible in an office environment.
8: Days Off
I spent five of them wildly sick (it wasn't COVID--I was tested and had very different symptoms, including a strange full-body rash), which a friend gently reminded me was likely stress-induced. I partially went into business for myself, so I could take time off that I wanted and needed, enjoy life, have restoration, and not have to get permission from someone else that I was allowed time off. And in a year where the world collectively needed time off, I took the least amount of them resting. My strange sickness, my body oversleeping more than it ever has (I literally can't recall the number of times I slept through my alarm this year), the constant heavy fatigue this year brought on, all serve as glaring warning signs that I need to slow down and rest (more on that to come, promise).
1: Book I Published This Year
The Financial Anxiety Solution was published by Ulysses Press and is distributed by Simon & Schuster at the end of February. I had several book launch parties and signings lined up. I had one in-person book event before the pandemic, and subsequent shutdowns arrived. I want to get better in 2021 about sharing my book with the world. So here it is: if you haven't yet purchased a copy of my book, The Financial Anxiety Solution, I encourage you to buy from your community bookstore. Because it's traditionally published, they can order it and get it to you. This is a beautiful act to keep your dollars circulating in your community and a great way to ensure our local bookstores continue to stand.
19: Coaching Clients Served
I added coaching services via two group-coaching programs and power sessions. "Grow a Profitable Practice From the Inside Out" and "Boundless" were my two group coaching offers that I dreamt up in 2020.
The later, "Boundless," was tailored to couples struggling with getting on the same page about money but didn't necessarily need therapy or already had a therapist. In many of my couples therapy sessions, I found myself repeating the same things from couple to couple, citing similar research and books. Rather than serving couples in a 2:1 setting, I wanted to open it up to couples so I could reach people A) outside of Michigan and B) help them to see they aren't alone. So much of our relationship with money is taboo, and breaking some of that stigma about money in relationships is paramount.
"Grow a Profitable Practice From the Inside Out" was born in the summer of 2020 when my inbox and D.M.s filled with questions from other private practice therapists with questions like, "How do you create your content?" "When did you know it was time to raise your fees?" "How are you charging for therapy when there is so much inaccessibility in our field?" Similar to the other group coaching program, I wanted to answer these questions in a container where we could learn from one another. This coaching program was founded after the racial revolution started in the Spring of 2020, and I wanted to contribute to dismantling the structures I could. This meant shaping the program to be community-based instead of a top-down teaching approach that so many of us have been taught to follow. A group coaching program meant that, yes, I led much of the discussion, but I didn't position myself to have more knowledge than any of the other members in the group. This structure lent itself to more generosity, more community, and more collaboration.
43: Podcasts I Was A Guest On
I'll go into this more on my solo podcast show that airs on January 4th, but this was a task that I structured and streamlined to fit into my weekly workflow. For this roundup, I'd like to focus on the gratitude I have for each of these hosts. For sharing their audiences with me, for being generous in their questions, and for the moments before and after we hit "record," where we were able to connect as humans. These sweet moments provided much-needed sustenance in a year of so much disconnection.
39: Episodes Published on the Mind Money Balance Podcast
I recorded and published 39 almost weekly Mind Money Balance podcast episodes, starting in March of 2020. When I started the podcast, it was geared toward people in romantic relationships and how they can include money in their relationship in a balanced way. Over time, I decided to branch out my podcast and had several therapists on the show. Those episodes were so popular (and fun for me to play host!) that I opted to have the entirety of season two dedicated to therapists and money. I imagine future seasons to cover other intersectionalities and how they intersect with money, things like spirituality and money, race and money, etc. At the time of this post, there have been 6,108 podcast downloads.
5,637: Instagram Followers
Prior to September 2020, I had a mostly love-love relationship with Instagram. I adored the platform for its ability to connect me with others who shared similar values and interests. With the algorithm shift that happened mid-August (around the time Reels rolled out for much of Instagram's users in the United States), it no longer felt like a fun and easy way to connect with others, it started to feel like I was swimming against a current of constant noisy content. I struggled more than I have on the platform to connect with my followers and connect with the people and creators I followed. I know many users have complained about the algorithm's prioritizations, and I'd been through many algorithm shifts during my two years on the platform, but this was the most noticeable. Combine that with the shutdown of hashtags before and after the U.S. Presidential election, and it took a lot of self-soothing for me to not chastise myself for not creating biting content.
All that to say thank you to those of you who have found and connected with me there. While my relationship with Instagram has shifted (I foresee more time on Stories, less time on Posts in 2021), I'm still profoundly thankful for all of the rich connections I've made on the platform.
1,184: Email Subscribers
I gained over 700 email subscribers this year. While quite a few came from my financial archetypes quiz (about 250), the combination of the rest of them came following speaking engagements. With the aforementioned algorithm shifts on Instagram, I have never been more grateful to have a way to stay connected that with good old-fashioned email.
14: Books Read
Someone asked how many business books I read in 2020. The answer? 0. I had a come-to-myself moment late spring/early summer where I realized so much of the business noise I'd bought into was trickle-down information from online marketers who preach from a patriarchal, white supremacy lens. Yes, even those who a BIPOC, queer, and other marginalized folks doesn't mean they are "safe" from having adopted into the hustle-grind-burnout culture that permeates the online coaching space. I wrote a piece on the dark underbelly of online coaching that launches January 2021 on The Modern Go-Getter, whose tagline is "redefining toxic 'hustle culture'... because, f*ck it." Make sure you follow them on Instagram when the piece drops.
54: Sourdough Loaves Baked
It took me nine tries to get even an edible one. It is a Herculean task for me to slow down and practice patience. I've always been a baker but have trended toward quick-wins: brownies, cookies, cakes, and the like. Sourdough was intriguing to me because I had to harvest the yeast. I didn't want to buy a starter, and once I committed to baking it, I knew I was in trouble. It became a "problem" to solve at first. I tried to rush things, I figured a starter that didn't have all the telltale signs of being ready would be fine--my cookies usually were ok even if I messed up an ingredient or two. But after the first few tries of creating beautifully brown frisbees, I was committed to following ONE recipe and tweaking accordingly.
It turns out that to bake a beautiful sourdough, tools matter. Things like:
Using a kitchen scale to measure grams instead of by volume.
Taking the dough's temperature as it bulked.
Getting a Dutch oven that would mimic a commercial kitchen's heat all proved to be important parts of getting the bread to turn out.
And the sheer joy of taking the lid off of that first loaf that turned out was exactly what I needed in 2020. Proof that with time, patience, nurturing, and learning, some things could still be ok.
What I'm taking into 2021
This is what I'm taking with me into 2021 as a small business owner and financial therapist: permission to take things slowly, to make small tweaks, to ensure I have the right tools to do my job. While I'm certain this will challenge me, it won't be as gargantuan a task as it might have been a year or two ago. The words that continue to come to me when I sit down to make business goals for the year are ease, simplicity, and alignment. I'll be challenging myself to check in before I say "yes" to anything else: does it feel easy? Can I do it more simply? Is it in 110% alignment with my values as a person and Mind Money Balance's values? If the answer to any of that question is "no," then it's going to be a "no" for me. I invite you to come up with your own questions to ensure that everything that comes your way in 2021 is fully aligned with your needs, personally and professionally.
Signing off with love, gratitude, and a whole hell of a lot of slow down,
Lindsay
P.S. If you want some help saying goodbye to any money stories of 2020, I’m hosting the final Full Moon Money Shame Release Party of 2020 tonight! 12.29 5 pm EST, for women/femmes, not recorded/replayed and definitely NOT a sales pitch. Pay what you can $37-57.