We live in an interesting society. We’re encouraged to strive to achieve our dreams, but when we do, we’re not encouraged to openly want money.

It’s kind of a taboo subject when it comes to family and friends and not something that we can normally chat about.

So why is it?

Why can’t we say that we want to earn money?

Why are we encouraged to talk about the noble reasons we want to improve our careers or build a better business rather than the dollars we want to make?

It can be both.

Don’t get me wrong. I strongly believe in bettering the lives of others. I’ve been raised in a home that has always had volunteering at its heart through the Lions Club. And I continue to volunteer my time to different organisations and building their visibility via marketing through to hands-on volunteering to help build a home in Nepal and more.

I love that part of my life, and I love that I can apply my marketing skills to help others.

But at the same time, I need to set boundaries, speak my truth, and say that I want money, too.

I have a family and a life that we are building together. So I am going to stand up and say that to build the future that we have planned, we need money. And that’s ok.

Turn the talk around.

If you’re moving up in your career or expanding your business, you might be moving toward a key goal for your life, and that includes your finances.

Maybe it’s time we look at building your financial future as a positive. My take is that if you are working hard and are trying to carve out a better future, an element of this has to include money.

It’s ok to acknowledge that. It’s ok to set your sights on a better financial future, and that doesn’t make you greedy — it means you want to work hard to achieve your dreams.

It’s ok to put it out there! Setting your benchmark and creating your life path is a great goal and it’s ok to celebrate that. We can all learn alot from Rod Tidwell right?

SHOW ME THE MONEY! Know your worth and own it.

Things can change.

As you progress through your life, your capacity for earning or wanting to earn can change. You might need to outsource some work in order to focus on specific projects, or you may need to step back from your work to be more present for your family.

It’s important to understand that your income can fluctuate to reflect your life path; but in the bigger picture, you can look at these fluctuations as necessary in order to be successful and ultimately profitable.

You can make a life, not a living.

There are differences in each of us that help you to work out your path. From my own experience, I wanted to carve out a life and not a living when it came to my marketing career.

I wanted my career to be included in the big picture for our lives, one that would work around our family and our future plans – not the other way around.

Plus for my own peace of mind, I needed my career to be challenging and one that I could continually learn and grow in.

When we began a family, it was expected that my career would be put on hold while I stepped back from work to care for our children.

But this really didn’t sit well with me.

Not because I didn’t want to be there for our children, it was quite the opposite. It was that I wanted a great relationship with our kids and the ability to maintain a career that would work around them and their needs, including kindy-gym and school activities.

But there is something else that I wanted to maintain. Not only did I want great clients and projects to work on, I didn’t want to sacrifice my income to raise our children.

This could be perceived as selfish to some, but it was and is quite the opposite. By keeping my career and my motivation, I was able to be a better mum to our kids and maintain a lifestyle that we all benefited from. For us, it was win-win.

Let’s be honest, we don’t just work for the love of it. It comes back to making a living.

And it’s not only ok, it’s fantastic to build a financially secure future!