Transforming money beliefs with Nicole Kepic

Nicole’s Bio

Nicole is a copywriter from the Toronto, Canada area who has been writing for nearly 20 years. She serves coaches and other online business owners – helping them showcase their expertise, attract their ideal clients, and sell out their offers with personality-packed copy.

When she’s not on her laptop, she’s usually spending time with family, devouring a suspense novel, or rewatching an old episode of The Office.

Transcript

What is Money Mindset? Today, I chat to copywriter, Nicole Kepic, who has been through my course, Million Dollar Money Management, about the power of shifting your beliefs around money. Because when you believe that anything is possible and take aligned action, that is when the results that you desire start to flow. Doors to my course, Million Dollar Money Management, are now or open. This course is for you if you want to create the mindset of a million dollar business owner, even if you aren’t even close yet.

Inside this program, you’ll learn how to manage your money well and how to magnetize more. If you’d like to join this live round of the program, you can do so by clicking in the link for the show notes for today’s episode. I’d love to welcome you in and help you manage your money like a million dollar business owner.

Hello and welcome to The Clare Wood Podcast, where myself and incredible guests share about money mindset, financial successes, and how to manage your money in a fun and practical way to create wealth and abundance in both your business and your life. I’m your host, Clare Wood. I’m a business coach and a money mentor. I strongly believe that money has the power to positively change the world. I can’t wait to help you transform your mindset around money, create a love of numbers, and build the business of your dreams so you can live a life financial freedom, giving, and global impact.

CLARE:

A big warm welcome to the podcast, Nicole. I’m so excited to talk all about money to you. But before we get into that, do you mind quickly sharing who you are and what you do?

NICOLE:

Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Clare. I am a copywriter from Toronto, Canada area. I’ve been copywriting for almost 20 years, which is pretty crazy. Pretty much just right out of university, I started copywriting and marketing departments and more recently for design studio. I was working one-on-one with designers. I was a senior copywriter there just writing a whole bunch of things for national brands, international brands, print, digital events, campaigns, you name it. And about 10 years ago, this is where the plot kind of twists, I started my own freelance business on the side. So I was writing for my own copywriting clients and I was doing the side hustle for about 10 years. I had my nine to five, I was doing my freelance thing, and it was working well. But then more recently, it just kind of hit me like finally, why am I not taking this full-time? That’s around the time when I met you actually, because I connected with you on Instagram. And then last fall when I really had the game plan of, okay, I’m going to leave my nine to five, that’s when I took your course. It was the perfect timing me to go from that freelancer mindset to the CEO mindset, and now I’m all in my business.

CLARE:

How awesome! I love that story. And yes, like Nicole touched on, she is a graduate from the first round of my new course that is out now called Million Dollar Money Management. And the name sounds a little bit intimidating, doesn’t it? I might actually start by asking you that. When you first heard about my course, was there any part of it that you thought, “Whoa, building a million dollar business? I’m just wanting to go full-time into my business.”

NICOLE:

Yeah, I guess there was a bit of that. I had been following you for enough time to realize that you always put your mindset first. So you concentrate on what you want your future to be first, get your mindset right, and then the results will come later. So I thought, okay, I might not be a millionaire now, but I want to get those habits of mindset in place. I just figured it was the perfect time with the big change that was happening in my career.

CLARE:

Yeah, how exciting. Let’s dive into that a bit more. What does money mindset mean to you?

What does money mindset mean to Nicole

NICOLE:

Well, honestly, it means letting go of a lot of beliefs that I’ve had over the years. And the funny thing is like I always consider myself a positive person. I think I get that from my mm. She was always like, “Oh, everything’s going to be okay. The world’s a beautiful place,” and I’m kind of like that too. My husband’s always making fun of me. He’s kind of a grump, so he’s like the opposite. I’ve always been a positive thinker. But in terms of money, I realized that I’ve had these beliefs since childhood and they’ve carried over into my adult life too. The biggest one is probably thinking about my parents being such hard workers, but they didn’t make a lot of money, and there were four of us kids. When I started doing my freelance business and now doing it full-time, I think, okay. I don’t charge by the hour, but I think I’m certainly making more than what my parents did. And it just kind of was like, oh, I felt a bit shameful about it, and I don’t really want to talk to my parents about this. They work so hard. How come they didn’t get to this point? But now I’ve realized that, first of all, they would be proud of me. They want the best for me, and it’s okay to talk about those things. Different times, different places. That was just one of the beliefs that I kind of turned around.

CLARE:

It’s crazy, isn’t it? I resonate so closely with what you said there, because I think of myself as a pretty positive person. And it was only when I started exploring what money mindset is that I realized how many negative thoughts that I have about money. People often come to me and they say, “I’ve got a great money mindset.” And I’m like, Amazing!” And I’m like, “Let’s put your prices up,” and they’re like, “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Slow down.” It’s funny how these stories do play out life, even when we are a really positive person. But we can have learned negative things about money over the years. And to me, that’s what the money mindset work is, right? It’s starting to identify, “Well, hang on. That’s not a truth. That’s a story,” and then coming up with a way to work through it.

You saw my course, Million Dollar Money Management, and you signed up, which was fantastic. It was so wonderful to have you in the first round of the program. When you first invested in the course, did any sort of fears come up when you were sort of looking and going, “Oh my goodness, I’m handing over money for something. Is this going to work?” What happened in that space?

Nicole’s fears about signing up for the course

NICOLE:

That’s a yes. And not because I haven’t invested before, I actually am very pro investing, almost to the point of sometimes I invest too much, but now I think I’m at a healthy rate. But I do remember when your course came around, of course, I was interested right away because you were offering it. But the funny thing is, I do remember waiting until the very last minute to sign up. I mean, I’m sure that’s normal for a lot of people, but for me, I’m a planner. I do things early. That was not normal for me. But for some reason, I was waiting and waiting.

I saw all your posts. I think I went to your sales page and read every word like 10,000 times, so I knew I was interested. But for some reason I was holding out and I think it was just the deep down I was afraid. Well, what if I don’t make this money back? I don’t know why I was thinking that way. And finally, it clicked like, of course, you’re going to make this money back. Just get rid of that fear. Once I got rid of the fear, I signed up for the course. I was totally in and so glad that I invested that money.

I’m not sure where that fear came from. But once I turned it around, I was like, obviously I’m going to make this money back, so let’s just look forward after that.

CLARE:

Oh, I love that. This is something that I’ve learned to acknowledge over the years too, is that fear doesn’t go away. I still get scared when I go to invest in a course or working with a coach or getting my website done or any big investment in my business. It’s just normal to feel that fear. I really believe that it comes from wanting to stay safe. Money is our… It’s our safety. It’s our security. And if we part with it and it’s not the right decision, that could be a bad thing. I think that our primal brain is saying, “Stay safe. Stay in the cave. Don’t spend the money. Because at least if you keep doing what you’ve done, at least you know that you’re safe.” Whereas when you step forward, who knows what could happen? You might lose that money. You might not get the transformation that you were chasing. It is a totally normal feeling. I’m so glad that you chose to invest. It was so wonderful having you in the program and seeing your smiling from across the globe.

I’d love for you to maybe share some of your mindset learnings with the listeners and anyone that sort of isn’t really convinced that money mindset is a thing or that they need to spend some time doing this work. If there’s anything that you learned through the course that you’d like to share or any other mindset tips that you’ve got.

How Nicole changed her mindset to ‘selling is easy’

NICOLE:

Yeah, absolutely. Another big one for me would be the turnaround that selling can be easy. I think part of me, especially as an introvert, I always thought, “Oh, it’s hard. Of course, people who are more extroverted and have more personality, of course, they’re going to have an easier time of selling.” And for me, I thought, “Well, it’s going to be harder for me because I’m quieter. I’m shyer. I’m an introvert.” But I’ve since realized, okay, introverts, they have value too. We have a lot of value, and we’re just as good at selling if we want to be. And I’ve also learned that it can be easy too. From a practical sense, I think for me, what’s changed is that sales calls used to really freak me out. But now, because I have to do so much more of them because of COVID, I’ve gotten used to them, but I also look at them differently from a mindset standpoint. I look at them more of like a conversation. And then I just treat it like an everyday conversation. Of course, I want to work with these people, but there isn’t that pressure, that scarcity mindset of, “Oh my gosh, what if I don’t get the sale? What if they choose not to work with me?” I just go in thinking, yes, I would love their business. But if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. And it’s crazy because like I said, I recently left my nine to five, went all in with my business, and that happened just before Christmas. We’re talking like two months ago. Even though I should have been nervous, I had this feeling like, okay, it’s all going to be okay. And I’m not kidding. In January and in February, I’ve had more discovery calls than I ever have before, more inquiries than ever. And I attribute part of that to the fact that you helped me shape my mindset from scarcity to more abundance thinking, not putting so much pressure on myself and realizing that the sales will come, the clients will come, everything’s going to be fine.

CLARE:

Yeah, amazing and congratulations.

NICOLE:

Thank you.

CLARE:

What a massive achievement, so quickly into stepping into your own business. And I definitely think that’s one big takeaway that I’d recommend for everyone is that when you are having conversations, don’t go into them from a space of, “I’ve got to get this person to buy from me.” As soon as you let go of that fear and say, to your point, it’s just a conversation. If they’re the right fit, then they’re going to come in and work with me. And if they’re not, then that’s totally cool too. It’s crazy how actually that energy does tend to attract more clients, right?

NICOLE:

Yeah. I mean, it must… Because if you think of the flip side, if you’re coming across super desperate, probably like somebody who’s trying to get a partner, right? You’re just desperate for their business or their attention, right? It’s not going to work out well. So I think you just have to go into it with more calmness and not so much pressure, like you said.

CLARE:

I love that you’ve thrown in a dating analogy.

NICOLE:

Yeah, don’t be that girl.

CLARE:

It’s one of my favorite things to talk about, because I spent so long in the dating game. I used to see the people who, “I just want to get married.” I’d be like, “Oh my gosh, let go of that energy.”

NICOLE:

Yes, absolutely.

CLARE:

Amazing. What have been some other little mindset learnings that you’ve got in the space of money that you’d like to share?

Nicole’s mindset learnings from the course

NICOLE:

Let’s see. Well, I guess in a sense of money and selling and overall business, one would be age, right? I joined Instagram for my business a year and a half ago, and I was like, oh my gosh, everybody here is like 21. I am not 21. I just had this limiting belief that I’m too late. I’m too late to grow my business. I’m too late to make it a success like these other young entrepreneurs. Maybe I should just stay in the nine to five. But again, that was something that I had to reframe in my mind that it’s never too late and there’s always room to grow. That was just another one of the things I learned.

CLARE:

Yes and right. If you don’t start now, then when? You’re not going to get younger anytime. And I have to say as well, Nicole and I can actually see each other and video here, she does not look the age that she is. You look fantastic for your age, so I’m sure people wouldn’t even think of you as being older.

NICOLE:

Thank you.

CLARE:

So that’s a great, great takeaway. It’s never too late. And I didn’t start my business until I was 35 either, so I was later in life. And yes, of course, in an ideal world, hindsight, I probably would have started it earlier. But at the same time, everything happens for a reason. And I definitely feel that the experience that I had up to that point in time, there was obviously the lessons and learnings and everything kind of fell together at the right time. Better late than never. That’s such a great takeaway.

NICOLE:

Yes, I absolutely agree. I mean, part of me was thinking, oh my gosh, you waited a decade to do this. You’re side hustling for 10 years. Why so long? But then, like you said, I had all those experiences along the way. I wouldn’t change them. I grew so much. But then at the same time too, I was like, okay, but I also don’t want to wait another 10 years, so let’s do this now.

CLARE:

One last thing on the mindset front. As someone who has literally just started their business, do you think it’s possible for you to build a business that makes a million dollars a year in sales?

NICOLE:

Obviously I’m going to answer yes to that and I do believe it. But the funny thing is I was just speaking with my son, he’s 14 years old, and I was telling him about this podcast. And I was talking to him about you and your business. And then I mentioned the word millionaire and all that and he asked the same question. I said, “Yes, Nolan, that will happen.” And then he said, “Well, what about a billionaire?” And I said, “Okay. Let’s just start with millionaire for now.”

CLARE:

That’s it. And it’s so funny how when you hear something that kind of seems so crazy and unachievable, then when it happens… I love that your son, he’s got a great money mindset. He’s already like, “Don’t stop at a million, mom.” I’ve definitely seen this when someone first gets started in business and they’re like, “If I can make $5,000 a month, I’m going to be so, so, so happy.” And then they get to 5,000 and they’re like, “I wonder if I could make 10. Surely I could never earn six figures a year in my business.”

And then they get there. I’m surrounded by people that are making a million dollars a year in business and it’s become so normal to me now. And even though my business isn’t quite there yet, I know that it’s coming for me, because it’s just become yeah. And then the next target becomes multimillion. And I imagine it actually terrifies me to say the word billion, but it is possible. It is totally possible. And that’s what money mindset is, is it’s unlocking that possibility. Thank you so much for sharing, and your son sounds amazing.

NICOLE:

Thanks.

CLARE:

I love his mindset.

NICOLE:

I think he secretly just wants to get rich being a YouTube star or something.

CLARE:

Do you know what? It doesn’t really matter, does it? If you do something you love and get paid for it, why not? One of the other things that we spoke about in the course was obviously a lot about money mindset and you’ve shared some of your amazing learnings, but the other thing that we dive into is money management. And the reason is, is because I find that a lot of coaches and whatnot talk about the sales side of business and scaling and all of the sexy side of business, but don’t actually touch on the fact that when you’re running a business, you also have expenses. You’ve got investments. You’ve got team and whatever else it is that you choose to invest in. I really believe that there needs to be a very delicate balance between mindset and between money management. I’d love to understand from you having been through the course, what does money management mean to you now?

What money management means to Nicole now, post-course

NICOLE:

Yes, that’s a good point because what I liked about the course was that it did incorporate both. There was that mindset piece, but then also the practical tips too and the implementation and the action. I really needed both. For me, it was honestly just being more aware of my finances, first of all, because I don’t want to sound like a broken here, but when I was doing the nine to five with my side hustle, I kind of treated my side hustle as like, oh, this is just extra trip money and extra cash.

I was also spending it kind of casually too, because it was just kind of gravy. It was like extra money. I don’t know, I would just buy things I probably didn’t need, and I wasn’t really keeping track of it. It was just very much like the freelancer mentality. But now that I’m full-time in my business, the tips from your course have really helped. Because first of all, I’m checking my bank account more often. I’m more aware of what’s in my bank account. I’m making wiser decisions with my money too, because I’m not just… I’m investing where it makes sense, where it’s practical, where I know I’ll get a return, but I’m not just throwing my money away. Let’s see what else. Overall just being more aware and really stepping into that CEO role more, being more aware of my money and spending it better.

CLARE:

Yeah, amazing. It’s so funny, isn’t it, that we don’t learn the skills about money management, both in business and from a personal perspective, at school. We learn all this about history and geography and they don’t teach us these life skills. And it’s definitely something that I love to encourage business owners to do is it’s like learn to love your money, learn to be comfortable with it, learn how to understand those reports that you’re reading, and, to your point, invest but do it in a mindful and considered way. And it is such a delicate balance between the manifestation, the positive side and saying, “Everything’s going to work out okay,” and really kind of going, “I really need to be conscious of my incomings, my outgoings, and learning how to navigate through.” Was there anything else that you learned in that space around money management that you did want to share around tracking?

NICOLE:

Well, I will say nothing in specific, but I will say that I’m not really a numbers person. I don’t want to give myself a label, but I love writing and creative things. I never would have labeled myself a numbers person, but I found this course really easy. Approachable is not the right word, but it felt easy to me. It wasn’t overwhelming. It wasn’t like, “Oh my gosh! It’s going to be spreadsheets 24/7, and I’m not going to be able to understand it.” It was very easy for me to take in the information to implement it.

NICOLE:

I wasn’t overwhelmed by it, but yet it was important enough that it actually made a change in my life too.

CLARE:

Oh, amazing. I’m so glad that you experienced that, because that’s one of the things that I really like to do is take the scary accounting world and try to make it a little bit easier and more accessible, because it doesn’t need to be scary or overwhelming. Well, I have loved diving into chatting about money with you, Nicole. But before we wrap up for today, I’d love maybe if you could share a little bit more about how you could serve the listeners.

If they’ve loved your vibe, if they’d like to learn more about working with you, what’s the best way for them to connect with you, and who are your dream clients as well?

NICOLE:

Oh, great questions. Well, they can go to my website, nicolekepic.com. It’s my first and last name. On Instagram, I’m at @nkcopywriting. And yeah, in terms of who I serve, I have loved writing for female business owners like myself, like yourself. Lately it’s been coaches and photographers and interior designers, web designers, basically just other female entrepreneurs, ambitious women like ourselves, who maybe they just struggled to communicate their offers more, so I help write website content, email sequences, and sales pages.

CLARE:

Awesome. I like to get super specific about this, because I love that you’ve got this niche that you work in and that you really make the transformation for those particular industries and others as well, I’m sure, but that that’s particularly the areas that you like to focus in on. So look, Nicole, thank you so much for joining me today. I have loved, loved, loved chatting to you, and I’m sure our paths will cross again soon. And if you like Nicole’s vibe, she’s welcome to attend the next round of the course as well. She might be coming along for some of the course in the next round. Thank you so much for joining today, and I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day.

NICOLE:

Thank you, Clare.

CLARE:

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode. And if you would like me to help you build a million dollar money mindset so that you can start scaling your business towards the million dollar mark, you can join me in my course Million Dollar Money Management. And the doors are open now. You can join by clicking in the link in the show notes for today’s episode. Thanks so much for listening. If you loved this episode, please share it with your audience, and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @clare_wood_coach.

And also make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Have an abundant week and I look forward to talking to you again next week.