The most frequent issue I hear when people are about talking their desires is that of affordability:

• ‘I can’t afford it.’
• ‘It must be nice to get fees like that.’
• ‘I’m interested in the work, but I can’t afford it.’
• ‘They must not want people to sign up at that rate.’
• ‘I value your work, but I’m going to work with someone who costs less.’

This kind of dialoguing happens all the time, on sidewalks and in cafes, online and in conversations with clients. It’s insidious, because it’s cloaked as a judgment about the value of someone else’s work. But as an entrepreneur, it’s only yours if you choose to take it on. And it says more about where your potential client is in alignment with his or her self-worth than with your shared values.

Breaking the word into “afford” and “ability,” the discerning reader begins to see what I mean. If one affords energy or attention to an idea, it gives it power. An action affords a possibility. Ability is a can-do kind of word. Affordability is meant, in its positive sense, to place energy or attention on the possibility afforded an individual. It’s the ability to afford (put forward) a “yes.” Unfortunately, too many people use the concept of affordability to shut themselves down and say “no” to an opportunity before they have the chance to say “yes.” So really, it’s not about the money at all.

I recall the first conversation I had with one of my mentors, Elizabeth Purvis, the creator of Goddess Business School. She asked me an important question that gave me a paradigm shift:

“If it wasn’t a matter of money, is the opportunity something you would say yes to?”

The thing is, one’s “Afford Ability” is about sourcing what you need to be able to say “yes” to the right opportunities that come along. The opportunities which reflect the life experiences you value at your core. Therefore, when you use “affordability” as a crutch to deny yourself what you really want to create in the world, it says a whole lot more about you than about the person making the offer.

Your Moneta Maneuver:

The next time you hear yourself saying “I can’t afford it” in any of its forms, take a moment and jot down your feelings and see if you can figure out where those thoughts are coming from? What old, outmoded belief are you hanging onto that needs to be weeded from the garden of your life? From where did you harvest that belief? Keep writing until you’ve got it all down.

Then be very, very brave, and choose to let it go.

Abundantly yours, Sherri