What comes after basic tracking of money and value? Is there more? My answer is Yes – there is always more! Why do I call this a Wealth Tracker instead of just an Income Tracker? Because as an entrepreneur and a woman you want to monitor your overall financial health, not just the dollars and value coming in.
I like to say what you measure gets managed and amplified. Get your own free copy of the Wealth Meets Woo Wealth Tracker.
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End of Month Review
The last part of the tracker is your End of Month Review. This will let you see a snapshot of your current Net Worth, Total Assets, Total Debt and Cash on Hand. If you didn’t read part 1 – How and Why check it out now.
Now before you click away because that is just too much for you to deal with. Finish reading, hear my story and see if you’re at least willing to give it a try.
This section may bring up some resistance initially. Especially if you are not used to looking at these figures, have a lot of debt or have some strong feelings around money such as guilt or shame. I would highly encourage you to lean into the fear and do it anyway. You are strong enough. You deserve to know the truth about where you are right now. Only when you know where you’re starting can you plan where you want to go.
The other thing this section is really wonderful for is looking back as you make progress. Imagine the satisfaction you’ll feel on the day when your net worth is positive. Or on the day when you eliminate your last debt. It’s not something you can easily recreate so do yourself a favor and complete this section every month, even if it is uncomfortable.
Also, give yourself some grace. If you have debt or a negative net worth be gentle in the way you frame it. You can only start where you are now. Wealth creation doesn’t happen overnight. You are taking steps to form new habits and new relationships with money. What you are putting down in your review section is based on old habits, old information and old relationships. Give it time and be forgiving while you change them.
How It’s Changed My Life
In 2018 my husband and I filed for bankruptcy. The last thing I wanted to do was to track my income or even look at my bank accounts. I had been an entrepreneur since 2012 and the primary earner since 2016. I was also the person in our family who managed the finances. I felt like a failure. This was actually the second time we had filed for bankruptcy but I was determined it would absolutely be the last.
I started looking for ways out of the hole of despair I was in. The first thing I accepted was that if things were going to be different, I would have to be different. I let go of the story that “someone” else would take care of it. Then I started thinking about the stories my family had around money growing up. I knew my single-parent Mom was a wonderful lady but not a great role model financially. I found mentors and people who I could look up to and who would share knowledge of how they were having the type of financial life I wanted.
The next thing I tried was doing an inventory of what I had made since starting my business in 2012. I was shocked to find out that I had been generating $100,000+ in revenue starting in 2016 and every year after. I really thought we were broke (hence the bankruptcy) because I wasn’t earning enough.
When I found the basic income tracker that really resonated with me. If I didn’t even know for 2 years that I was making $100k in my business, what else was I missing? I had accounting software for my business but had never looked at my finances in this manner. The simple habit of tracking every dime that came in was the catalyst that turned us around from bankruptcy to buying our dream home within 2 years.
It helped me increase my income, a lot. It helped me be more deliberate with my spending. Don’t get me wrong, there was a LOT of personal growth along the way too. But tracking my income was the basis for all the massive growth. It showed me I could adopt a habit that was in my own best interest and keep up with it. As I saw my income grow, my confidence in myself as an entrepreneur grew as well.
When I added the Net Worth tracking piece it was like adding rocket fuel to the fire. I doubled my business revenue in one year. I was now making multiple 6-figures. In the middle of a pandemic. I didn’t add any new services or products. I didn’t even have a bunch of new clients. The ONLY thing different was that I was conscious, aware and tracking everything.
I can’t guarantee you’ll have the same results but can you name one time where you were worse off having more information? Has knowledge ever been a bad thing for you in the past?
Good luck and happy tracking. Drop me a comment or an email to let me know how it’s going for you. I personally read every email and comment that comes in. help@wealthmeetswoo.com
PS The Wealth Tracker is an expansion of an idea I first got from Denise Duffield-Thomas. She is an amazing money mindset coach. If you haven’t read her book Get Rich Lucky Bitch, seen her Money Bootcamp course or her Chill & Prosper Podcast you should definitely check her out.
