Money is …

Let’s talk about money. Money influences a lot of our actions, especially as entrepreneurs. We ask ourselves: What’s the right pricing? What’s the most profitable product to sell? etc. Beyond business, our relationship to money can make us happy or miserable. Do you consider yourself rich or poor? Do you feel you’ve got enough money?

First, let’s define money.
Money is… [insert what comes to your mind].

Is money scarce, abundant, freedom, power, energy, opportunities, independence, success, all of it, or nothing?

Everyone has a different definition.
No matter what they believe money is, they are right.
Money becomes whatever we project on it. Our world view proves us right.

“The way we choose to see the world creates the world we see.” - Barry Neil Kaufmann

However, our definition of money can limit us, especially when we are faced with the threat of less money, eg when we quit our job or lose a client.

Let’s assume we see money as freedom.
When we have money we have freedom [replace by whatever money is for you].
On the flip side this means: when we don’t have money, we don’t have freedom [replace by whatever money is for you].

However this is not true.
Freedom is a state of mind, not dependent on outside circumstances such as an amount of money. As the billionaire and investor George Soros says: “Freedom is to have (slightly worse) alternatives.”

So what is money? I like Peter Koenigs definition: “Money allows us to get goods and services.” This view goes beyond coins and credit cards and includes exchange transactions and alternative currencies, such as the Swiss WIR.

What is money for YOU? Where might that definition limit you?

This text and my thinking has been inspired by Peter Koenig who researched about our relationship to money for over 40 years and wrote the famous mind-blowing book “30 lies about money”.
Thanks to the Happy Startup School for your money workshop, Sandra-Stella Triebl and Nicole Stadler for introducing me to the work of Peter Koenig.