Beware Excuses

Written by Barbara Huson

Here’s an interesting exercise. Notice how often you set a goal or express a desire and immediately start finding reasons why it can’t happen.

I see it all the time. A new client walks in, declares her desire—”I really want to make more money,”—and then comes the ”but…”

I have little kids
I’m scared
I never went to college
I don’t have time
I’m too old
I’m too young

Beware excuses!

Are You Really Playing Full Out? It Matters…A lot!

Written by Barbara Huson

Which game are you playing? It’s an important question I learned from interviewing successful women.

They taught me that, in the world of work, you are either playing The Underearning Game or The High Earning Game. There’s a big difference between the two.

The Underearning Game is called Not To Lose. The goal is to stay safe, look good, and be comfortable. There’s only one rule—avoid anything that feels uncomfortable or scary.

The High Earning game is called To Win. The goal is to go as far as you can with all that you got, and when you fall down, you get back up and keep going. The only rule here—play Full Out.

Problem is, sometimes it’s hard to tell which game you’re actually playing. There are times when I swear I’m giving my all. Then later it hits me—I was fooling myself. I really wasn’t playing a true Full Out.

The Secrets to Wealth Building…Revealed At Last!

Written by Barbara Huson

“What are the secrets to being wealthy?” she asked, a tinge of desperation in her voice. “I feel like rich people know these secrets that I never learned.”

She was right. There are Secrets to Creating Wealth. And I understood her frustration. I struggled with this same question for years, never getting a satisfactory answer.

It took me forever to figure those secrets out. And when I did, my financial proficiency (not to mention my self-confidence) skyrocketed.

The truth is, very few people actually understand how to become a Wealth Builder. Everyone, however, knows how to be a Consumer.

The Hidden Danger of Higher Earnings

Written by Barbara Huson

I noticed a disturbing theme in my conversations with successful women. I call it the Illusion of Affluence. Whopping wages can be deceptive and dangerous.

I see it repeatedly: High earners spending too much, saving too little, or plowing all profits back into their business. Their ample earnings gives them the appearance, but not the security, of affluence.

Even if they can easily make a bundle whenever they want, high earners are as vulnerable to hard times and sudden change as anyone else.

Absolutely, women making big money are to be applauded. But the real measure of success isn’t what comes to you…it’s what stays with you (i.e. your net worth—the sum total of what you own minus the sum total of what you owe).

I Really Truly Want To…But I’m So Damn Scared!

Written by Barbara Huson

You’re ready. It’s time to open your own business, ask for a promotion or set stronger boundaries. You truly want to take the next step.

But you can’t. Fear, like a colossal boulder, stands in your way.

Of course you’re afraid. Fear is a normal, inevitable, reaction any time you leave the comfort of the familiar and venture into the unknown.

The goal, here, is not to eliminate fear. Because you can’t. The goal is to act in spite of it. I love how writer Ray Bradbury put it.

“Just jump off the cliff and build your wings on the way down,” he said, adding, “If you’re too cautious, you’ll miss life.”

There’s no way around it. If you want success, there’s only one path: feel the fear, endure the discomfort, observe the resistance, and go for it anyway.

But hear this! You don’t have to do it alone. The best antidote to fear, for us women, is surrounding yourself with a supportive community.

As high earner Karen Page once told me: “Success is a social activity. You can’t do it alone. You just can’t.” Amen to that!!

It’s precisely why I created my virtual community—The Wealth Connection—for financially aspiring women.

If you’re looking for a safe, welcoming place to talk openly, intimately, deeply about money, receive personal coaching from me, and encouragement, support & inspiration from the others, you can learn more HERE.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how a supportive community (of lack of one) has impacted you. Leave me a comment below.

Joint vs Separate Accounts

Written by Barbara Huson

If you’re married, or about to be, I have a question for you. Do you have money in your own name?

Even if you’re blissfully in love with each other, even if (s)he’s filthy rich or a financial genius, it’s critical to have your own economic identity–a bank account and credit card in your own name.

In part, it’s a matter of self-protection. If anything happens to your Prince(ss) Charming, you could be in big trouble.

Oh, the horror stories I’ve heard from women who couldn’t get credit or had all kinds of legal problems after losing a spouse through death or divorce because everything was listed under their spouse’s name.

Success Insists: “Toughen Up…But Not Like A Man!”

Written by Barbara Huson

We women, by nature, tend to be pleasers. We want everyone to be happy with us. Believe me, successful women are no different. Almost all the high earners I’ve interviewed confessed to a “little girl inside me who wants to be liked.”

Yet these women were continually required to make difficult, even painful, decisions that often had negative consequences for other people. The secret to their success: they had to toughen up.

‘Toughening up’ does not mean we have to harden our hearts, numb our senses, or act like men. The women I interviewed taught me four techniques for becoming strong, effective leaders without compromising their feminine nature.

Is Busyness Your Drug of Choice?

Written by Barbara Huson

Are you achieving the kind of success along with the quality of life you truly desire? If the answer is no, you may be addicted to busyness, a condition that’s epidemic among women.

We tend to stuff every cranny of our life with so much activity that we’ve lost touch with what’s really essential as opposed to what’s actually irrelevant.

But ask us to say no to a task, and we start to panic. As if our world would shatter if we slowed down. The truth is, we’ve lost sight of what’s honestly important and truly necessary.

I didn’t realize busyness was my drug of choice until the pandemic when my life slowed down significantly. I’m the first to admit—busyness is a bitch to give up.

Have the Headlines Got You Spooked?

Written by Barbara Huson

Let me introduce you to Huson’s Law of a Lousy Economy. It goes like this: no matter how tough times are, there’ll always be people who are prospering. Why not you?

I discovered this law after I wrote Secrets of Six-Figure Women, at the height of the dot com boom. But when the bubble finally burst, I called each woman back to see how they were faring

Even as the economy was tanking, many of their careers were thriving. They were finding new jobs, negotiating raises, winning promotions, doubling (even tripling) their client base, making more money than ever before.

“Just because it’s a down time,” said a woman whose coaching business was up 40 percent, “You don’t have to go down with it. There’s lots of opportunity. You’ve just got to find it.”

Inflation: A Reason to Worry….Or A Call to Action?

Written by Barbara Huson

Even the wealthiest worry about money. Their biggest fear: Inflation.

Inflation is, indeed, a ravenous creature that devours our cash like a caterpillar on a leaf—slowly, methodically, little bits at a time.

For years, however, inflation has stayed quite low. But that’s rapidly changing. Inflation has hit its highest rate in more than 40 years. And it’s expected to keep escalating.

Is it time to start worrying? Heavens NO! The worst response to climbing costs (or most anything else for that matter) is to go into fear, which tends to have a paralyzing effect.

Instead, look at rising inflation as a resounding call to action…no matter how much or how little money you have.

Life Lessons

Beware Excuses

Are You Really Playing Full Out? It Matters…A lot!

The Secrets to Wealth Building…Revealed At Last!

The Hidden Danger of Higher Earnings

I Really Truly Want To…But I’m So Damn Scared!

Joint vs Separate Accounts

Success Insists: “Toughen Up…But Not Like A Man!”

Is Busyness Your Drug of Choice?

Have the Headlines Got You Spooked?

Inflation: A Reason to Worry….Or A Call to Action?

Meet Barbara Huson

Recent Blog Posts