The whole idea of ‘money blocks’ might strike you as a bit too ‘woo’. Isn’t it just a convenient excuse to say that what’s stopping us from making more money is our subconscious beliefs?
And, to be fair, I think there’s a danger of making the whole thing far too simplistic. You can’t just think your way into having a successful business.
You need to have a clear idea of who you can help and how, an offer that people actually want to buy, and a business model that makes financial sense. You need to be able to communicate why potential clients should choose you, and take consistent action to get your business in front of the right people.
And of course, there are very real external factors that affect what we can earn, particularly in an industry like ELT, where low pay has been normalised for decades.
But having worked with hundreds of freelance language professionals, I’ve also become increasingly convinced that our beliefs about money can have a much bigger impact on our businesses than we realise.
Why your money mindset may be part of the problem
When I work with ELT freelancers, I often find that a significant part of what’s holding them back is connected to their mindset.
Sometimes it’s about confidence, or a tendency to people please, or worrying too much about what other people might think. But very often, money is somewhere in the mix.
Someone might tell me that nobody would ever pay more than a certain amount for English lessons. Or that their clients simply can’t afford higher prices. Or that it would be greedy to charge more for something they genuinely enjoy doing.
Now, some of these things might be true in particular circumstances. But I’m always interested in where these beliefs come from, and whether they’ve actually been tested.
Because our beliefs influence what we do, often without us even noticing.
If you’re convinced that nobody will pay more than £30 an hour for English lessons, you’re unlikely to experiment with a different pricing structure or develop an offer that could command a higher price.
If you think selling is pushy or unpleasant, you may find yourself avoiding conversations about your services, or making such tentative offers that potential clients don’t even realise you’re inviting them to work with you.
And if you believe that making money has to involve working incredibly hard, you may keep filling your diary with more teaching hours rather than exploring ways to earn more from the work you’re already doing.
Then, when you don’t earn as much as you’d like, it can feel as though you’ve proved yourself right.
Where do these beliefs come from?
I came across an interesting exercise suggested by Denise Duffield-Thomas, which involves writing about your memories associated with money, starting with your earliest memories and paying particular attention to those with strong emotions attached.
I decided to give it a go, and I found it surprisingly enlightening.
For example, I realised just how deeply ingrained my belief was that making money has to involve really hard work. I was brought up by a single mum who sometimes worked two jobs, and I grew up seeing how much effort went into simply keeping everything going.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with valuing hard work. But if you unconsciously associate earning money with struggling and exhausting yourself, it can be quite difficult to imagine doing things differently.
The other thing that came up was an enormous well of anger and resentment about some of the jobs I’ve had in ELT.
I already knew that I’d been exploited at times. What I hadn’t fully appreciated was just how much I’d absorbed the message, sometimes subtly and sometimes quite explicitly, that I shouldn’t expect more. That I wasn’t worth more. That I should be grateful to have a job at all.
I wonder if that rings any bells for you?
I think there’s a horribly pervasive message in education that caring about money somehow makes you less committed to your students. That if you’re a good, caring teacher, you should be prepared to work long hours for relatively little reward.
And if you want to earn more, perhaps you’re being a bit selfish or greedy.
It’s quite a clever system when you think about it. Convince people that wanting to be paid properly is somehow morally questionable, and you don’t have to work nearly so hard to persuade them to accept poor pay!
Taking those beliefs into your own business
One of the great opportunities that comes with running your own business is that you get to make decisions about what you charge, who you work with and how you structure your services.
You’re no longer entirely dependent on a language school, publisher or online platform deciding what your work is worth.
But that freedom isn’t necessarily much use if you’re still carrying around all the same assumptions about money.
I’ve seen freelance teachers who have years of experience, advanced qualifications and specialist expertise, but still feel terribly uncomfortable charging what they need to earn to make their businesses sustainable.
They worry that people will think they’re getting above themselves, or that they’re somehow taking advantage of their clients.
And sometimes they end up recreating exactly the kind of working conditions they went freelance to escape.
They’re still working too many hours, still undercharging and still feeling exhausted. The only difference is that they’re now their own employer.
Of course, there are practical reasons why a freelance business might not be earning enough. Perhaps the offer isn’t quite right, the marketing isn’t reaching potential buyers, or the clients being targeted genuinely can’t afford the service.
But it’s worth considering whether some of the decisions you’re making are being influenced by beliefs you’ve never really stopped to question.
Have a go at decluttering your own money blocks
If any of this sounds familiar, I’d suggest giving the money memories exercise a try.
Find yourself a notebook and start writing about your experiences of money, going back as far as you can remember.
What did you hear adults saying about money when you were growing up? Was there enough of it? Did people argue about it? Were you encouraged to save, or made to feel guilty about spending? What did you learn about people who had a lot of money?
Think about your experiences of earning money too, especially those that brought up strong feelings such as shame, fear, anger or resentment.
You may start to notice certain messages coming up repeatedly. Perhaps money has always felt scarce, or you’ve learned that asking for more is somehow inappropriate. Perhaps you feel you have to work ridiculously hard to deserve what you earn.
I’m certainly not suggesting that one journalling exercise will magically remove those beliefs. Some of them have been reinforced over decades, and becoming aware of them doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll disappear.
But once you can recognise them, you have an opportunity to question them.
And perhaps the next time you catch yourself thinking that nobody would ever pay that much for your services, you’ll stop and ask whether you actually know that to be true.
You might decide to look more closely at what potential clients value, experiment with a different offer or finally put your prices up.
Which, of course, brings us back to the practical business decisions I mentioned at the beginning.
Your money mindset isn’t the whole story. But if it’s stopping you from making decisions that could help your business become more profitable, it’s certainly worth paying attention to.
Want to earn more from your freelance language teaching business?
If you’re starting to question how much you charge, how you earn or some of the assumptions you’ve been making about money, I’ve brought together a collection of videos and articles that might help.
In my Earn More Resource Centre, you’ll find practical advice on pricing, money mindset and different ways to build a more profitable freelance language business.
Explore my Earn More resources
