The Most Unexpected Thing I've Learned About Making More Money
I've spent 2026 looking for the missing piece.
At the beginning of this year, I made a decision: I was going to figure out the income side of my life.
I've spent years helping people improve their finances. Budgets, debt payoff plans, savings goals, investing, cash flow systems...that work comes naturally to me. Much of it is practical. We can identify the problem, create a plan, and take action.
But when it came to growing my own income, I felt like there was a missing piece. Surely there had to be a formula. A better strategy. A better funnel. More marketing. More hustle.
So I made it my mission to figure it out in 2026.
What I found surprised me.
The biggest thing standing between me and greater abundance wasn't a lack of knowledge, effort, or strategy. It was the unconscious patterns that had been running my life without me even realizing it.
This work looks very different from traditional financial coaching.
It's slowing down and noticing.
Noticing what I'm doing. Noticing what I'm feeling. Noticing why I'm feeling upset, burned out, frustrated, or stuck.
It's catching self-sabotage in real time. It's uncovering limiting beliefs that have quietly shaped my decisions for decades. It's asking, "Where did I learn that?" and then going one layer deeper.
What I've discovered this year has felt like an Easter egg hunt.
One by one, I've uncovered old operating systems, stories, and meanings that I created long ago. Many of them made perfect sense at the time. Some helped me survive. Some even helped me succeed.
But many of them are no longer serving me.
The beautiful thing is that once these patterns become conscious, I get a choice. I can understand where they came from. I can thank them for what they were trying to do. And I can choose something new.
As I've gone deeper into this work, I've noticed something interesting. The same patterns I uncover in myself are often showing up in the people around me. My clients. My friends. My family.
The details are different, but the process is remarkably similar.
Which is why I'm going to start sharing more of these discoveries with you.
Not because I have all the answers.
But because each insight has helped me see myself more clearly, and my hope is that some of them will help you do the same.
Before I go, I'd like to leave you with a simple exercise.
Complete this sentence:
If I didn't feel guilty, I would...
Write down your answer.
Then complete it again.
And again.
Five times total.
Don't overthink it. Just write whatever comes up.
You may be surprised by what you discover.
We'll explore this question together in the next email.
Until then, stay curious.
Disclaimer: I am an educator, not your personal financial advisor. Please make sure to do your own research before moving forward with any actions discussed in this blog post.
Know that all investments involve some form of risk and there is no guarantee that you will be successful in making, saving, or investing money; nor is there any guarantee that you won't experience any loss when investing. Always remember to make smart decisions and do your own research!