Turning Financial Ambitions into Impactful Generosity
Listen to Turning Financial Ambitions into Impactful Generosity
Today is going to be such a fun episode. I am here to speak directly to women who are looking for permission to want more financially. Now, I know that that can cause people to feel uncomfortable, especially those of us who follow Jesus. Those of us in the church, we'd like to talk about how money can be the root of all evil. You have to be really careful with money. I'm aware of all of those arguments, but I am just here today to share with you my perspective on wanting more financially. And this is a perspective that is really rooted in years of lack, years of abundance, years of in-between and wrestling with living paycheck to paycheck, wrestling with do I want to invest and save money? Wrestling with a budget, and then wrestling with being in a place where we experience being debt-free and being financially independent.
(01:06):
And now I have a business. I have thankfully a lot of experience limited of course compared to many other people, but certainly have some unique experience with money and giving myself permission to want more of it. So I want to start first by explaining that I, yes, have a business. I am debt-free. Our family is essentially financially independent. It depends on what our investments look like and how we're spending our time. But by and large, I still chose to start a business. If you've listened to one of my previous episodes, episode three, the Retirement Mindset, go give that a listen after this episode. That's really where I camp out, and that is that I always want to contribute, but I'm also contributing in a way through Dana Buyer's coaching that I earn money. I've made that decision because my business is not a nonprofit, but it is a ministry.
(02:10):
I'm using my strengths, my gifts, my ministry experience to serve people through coaching, through the products and resources that I offer. And then I want to share with you what my business specifically provides. So when I bring in money throughout the year, I practice the tithe. So I tithe 10% of my business earnings. I give 10% or more to our family's private foundation. I pay of course for the software and the expenses of running my business, and then I pay for coaching. Sometimes people are interested when they hear me say that, but I personally would not hire a coach who does not get coached because that would mean that she is not learning, growing, and developing in her own life. So I invest money back into coaching, and I'm not sure if you're familiar with coaching prices. A lot of other coaches are significantly more expensive than I am.
(03:05):
So that takes a good chunk of my annual earnings to be able to invest into myself so that I can come back and lead and coach my clients really well. So I'm driven to continue to earn more because I am passionate about giving back. And I just want to share this because I think people get uncomfortable saying they care about generosity. It can seem like we're patting ourselves on the back. It can seem like we're looking for accolades. That's certainly not my intent here, but I will leave it up to being misunderstood for the ability to share with you that if you want to be generous, then I want to give you permission to want more financially. Right now, my husband and I lead, as I said, a private family foundation. It's not very big compared to a lot of other ones, but it is our heart.
(03:59):
This was a dream that was born in our minds years and years ago when we were missionaries and people were contributing to our vision to help us put food on the table so that we could focus on ministry overseas. We recognize there are so many amazing ministries out there with high capacity, high potential, who just need a little bit of funding. They've got gifted people at the helm. And so for us to be able to come alongside some different initiatives, some in the United States, many overseas, for us to come alongside those individuals, to coach them, to pray for them, to love on them, and to offer financial support, that is the win for us. So the foundation has a certain amount of money in it. We invest that money. We give a certain amount every year, but eventually, depending on how long we live, that money could run out.
(04:48):
I want Dana by coaching to continue to contribute to that foundation account so that we are able to give generously maybe even beyond the years that we live. So I want to share with you a little bit more about why I gave myself permission to want more financially, and that is because I believe I'm capable of more that I don't yet even understand If I step into things in faith, God's going to give me more opportunities. And I also believe he'll connect me to people who want to contribute to my business so that I can contribute elsewhere. For me personally, in 2022, I had just one of my favorite moments in Dana Buyer's coaching so far, and that was when I came up to the end of the year. I had been tidying of course every month, and I was giving away parts of earnings to a few organizations. But when I came up to the end of the year, I really felt compelled to give financially to an organization that was specifically empowering women. And as God would have it, the amount of money I had left to give was exactly enough to send
(05:57):
22 women to a leadership academy in Kenya. Even now as I share that with you, it's very emotional for me because I'm just really thankful that I understand my value enough to employ it, but not too much that I'm trying to absorb all that it brings to me. So when I say that to you, I think you probably understand when I talk to women about this, they feel uncomfortable because they're afraid that if they say they want more financially, people are going to think they're just out spending it on. I don't know what anything that they might think is frivolous. I don't think that's the case with you. I think there are some very specific reasons God puts a desire in our hearts to pursue more financially. One of the simplest, most basic reasons is to advocate for ourselves. I know some of you listening are single and your paycheck provides everything for you and maybe even your kids and your pets and the areas that you want to be generous.
(07:05):
And a side note here I want to share with you is I've had the opportunity in a few different organizations to work in leadership where I was either in HR or where I was an executive team, or I was personally hiring staff in all my years of hiring people or being involved in the hiring process. I can only remember one time, one time that a woman came back to renegotiate the salary that had been offered to her. Not only did she ask to renegotiate, but she was successful in renegotiating that. And I want to share that example with you because it kind of breaks my heart, but I hope it lights a fire under you to understand your value, understand your worth, and know that because you are looking for more financially, because you want to be more generous, you want to be more engaged in what God is doing around you, you have complete permission to advocate for yourself and the earnings that you have.
(08:02):
Another reason, of course, that people want more is, as I mentioned earlier, to give charitably, but to be very specific about where they want to give charitably what they want to give to. I mentioned to you, I was so moved by the opportunity to give charitably from my business of coaching women so that women in Kenya could go to a leadership academy for a few days. That is very special to me. It really hits the mark, and I got to be completely honest with you, that was at the end of my first full year of business, and that was a stressful year. It was very fun, and I learned a lot, but there was also a lot of stress. So all of the hours of the certification that I had gone through, the many hours of coaching I had gone through culminated to that point of getting to give generously and no paycheck could have given me as much joy as getting to give that money away.
(08:56):
And another reason that people feel like they want more financially is because they're trying to fund reasonable expenses. Now, reasonable is the key word here, right? That's left up to judgment. But I won't judge you and I don't think you'll judge me. And here's why. Our families need different things in different seasons. There was a time back in 2012 when I took a job where I did not negotiate the salary of course, but I was so thankful for it because after taxes, that salary paid just enough for my children to attend a school that was very near to my office that provided me the flexibility to be available to them should they need anything during the day, while I was working full-time, because it was a season where my husband was traveling for his job and he was gone generally Monday to Friday most weeks.
(09:50):
So that paycheck provided for my kids to be in a school near my job, and it supported my family in a significant way because we had a reasonable expense of needing the kids to be close to me since my husband wasn't available. So I want you to think about the reasons why you might be wanting more financially, and the rub often happens for those of us in the church when someone points out to us one Timothy six versus six through 10, which is essentially talking about godliness with contentment is great gain. That money can be a source of evil. And of course that's true. But I want you to really think about your intent here. Would you remain content where you are? Because I can tell you friend in the seasons whether I've had plenty or maybe not enough, it seemed the difference between those two scenarios was my capacity to be content with God, with what God provided me.
(10:54):
And it doesn't just mean I accepted things the way they were, but to really look at the circumstances that face value, to completely understand my financial picture, to relax amidst some of the anxiety I experienced and to trust God, getting myself authentically in that mindset allowed me to step back and say, okay, God, if I still have this desire to want more financially, help me understand why. Is there a place that this could go that would intentionally inspire me to seek to earn more or to find a way to improve our financial picture? Is there something that you're wanting to do in my life or in my family's life that would motivate me to seek more? If not, I can be completely content where I'm at. This is not about a number. This is about a heart posture. So you can ask yourself, why am I eager for money? And am I really just eager to say that I have
(11:52):
More to increase my net worth? Or you can ask yourself, am I eager for what money as a tool can do? Money is a tool in and of itself. It's neutral. It's our thoughts about it and the way we use it that makes it seem scary, bad, right or wrong, depending upon whatever your perspective is. So ask yourself, am I eager just to have more money or am I eager for what money as a tool can do for others in my family, in God's kingdom, in the global church, in my local church? This is your opportunity to do a gut check. If you're wanting more financially, this is your permission to really sit down and talk to God about this. He knows it's on your mind. God is going to help you steward what you currently have, and he's going to help you steward an increasing amount of money if you keep your focus on him.
(12:52):
The promise is not that you will have more. The promise is that you will be able to do abundantly more with what you have when your focus stays on God and the reminder that all that you have is his. You are committed to stewarding it. You can trust yourself and you can especially trust him. I'm reminded of something that I read that Dave Ramsey said years ago, and he talks about how when people get more money, it just makes them more of who they are. Think about that. Who are you? How are you spending your money today? If you were to suddenly have more money, you would just be behaving more in the way that you are. So my challenge to you is to start behaving today in a way that you know is great stewardship of all that God has given you in trust that he's given you more than enough, but also in preparation so that if a time comes when he does provide you more financially, you are already behaving with the habits that would lead you to be an incredible steward of all that he's brought your way. All right, friends, so glad I got to share this perspective with you today. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Send me an email at dana@danabuyerscoaching.com.
