Episode #631: Struggle With Spending

Summary

Abundant Practice Podcast: Episode #631 – Struggle With Spending

Release Date: March 22, 2025
Host: Allison Puryear

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Introduction

In Episode #631 of the Abundant Practice Podcast, host Allison Puryear delves into a common yet challenging issue faced by many therapists and private practitioners: struggling with spending. The episode addresses how financial habits can impact both personal well-being and the growth of a private practice. Through insightful discussions and practical strategies, Allison guides listeners toward cultivating a healthier relationship with money that aligns with their professional and personal values.

Listener's Concern: Overspending and Its Emotional Impact

Allison begins by presenting a listener's question:

"I'm bad with money. I spend too much. It makes me feel like a bad business owner and a bad adult. I've heard you talk some about spending on Instagram. Can you say more?"
— Listener [00:35]

This concern highlights the emotional toll that financial mismanagement can take, affecting self-perception and professional confidence.

Mindset Matters: Scarcity vs. Abundance

Allison emphasizes the importance of mindset in shaping spending behaviors. She distinguishes between scarcity-based thriftiness and abundance-based thriftiness:

• Scarcity-Based Thriftiness: Rooted in fear and anxiety, leading to restrictive financial behaviors that can result in rebound spending. Allison draws a parallel to eating disorder behaviors, where constant restriction may lead to bingeing (similar to spending when stressed).

• Abundance-Based Thriftiness: Characterized by intentional and thoughtful spending that aligns with one's priorities and values. Allison admires individuals who maintain peace about their spending without succumbing to consumerism, exemplifying "abundance-based thriftiness" (02:10).

"Scarcity-based thriftiness might feel really noble and responsible, but it's often fear-driven. In contrast, abundance-based thriftiness is intentional and thoughtful."
— Allison Puryear [02:10]

Aligning Spending with Values and Business Goals

A critical component of overcoming spending struggles is ensuring that expenditures reflect one's personal values and business objectives. Allison encourages listeners to:

1. Identify Priorities: Reflect on what matters most in both personal life and business.
2. Evaluate Spending Patterns: Assess whether current spending habits support or hinder these priorities.

"Is your spending aligned with your values and your business goals? If you're not sure, don't worry. We're going to break it down together."
— Allison Puryear [03:05]

Practical Strategies for Intentional Spending

Allison offers actionable steps to foster intentional spending:

1. Invest in Your Practice: Prioritize expenditures that directly contribute to business growth, such as consulting programs, marketing courses, or tools that enhance efficiency.

2. Short-Term vs. Long-Term Spending: Encourage delaying purchases that offer immediate gratification but do not support long-term goals. Implementing a 24-hour wait period before making non-essential purchases can significantly reduce impulsive spending.

"Sometimes there's no extra money to invest and that's okay. But when you do have resources, think about where they're going to make the biggest impact."
— Allison Puryear [04:30]

3. Single Change Focus: Make one intentional change at a time to avoid overwhelming restrictions that can lead to a restrictive-binge cycle.

"Make just one intentional change. Whether it's setting aside money to invest in your practice or cutting out an unnecessary expense, your money is a tool."
— Allison Puryear [06:10]

Overcoming Challenges: Prioritizing and Maintaining Boundaries

Allison addresses the difficulty of balancing generosity with boundaries. She differentiates between:

• Scarcity-Based Generosity: Often results in poor boundaries or martyrdom, where giving is driven by fear or obligation.

• Abundance-Based Generosity: Involves responsible and intentional giving, accompanied by healthy boundaries to prevent financial strain.

"Scarcity-based generosity often leads to poor boundaries or martyrdom. Whereas abundance-based generosity is responsible and intentional."
— Allison Puryear [03:45]

Conclusion: Empowerment Through Aligned Spending

By aligning spending with personal and professional values, therapists can foster both personal peace and business growth. Allison concludes by urging listeners to take proactive steps:

• Reflect on Priorities: Continuously assess and realign spending habits with evolving goals.
• Utilize Available Resources: Access free worksheets and financial resources to support intentional spending.

"By aligning your spending with your values and with your goals, you are not only going to grow your practice but also feel a lot more at peace and empowered by your decisions."
— Allison Puryear [06:50]

Call to Action

Listeners are encouraged to:

• Access Free Resources: Visit abundancepracticebuilding.com for a free private practice checklist, worksheets, and more.
• Join the Abundance Party: For those seeking deeper support in building their practice, Allison invites them to join her membership program, the Abundance Party, which offers step-by-step guidance to enhance income and achieve greater freedom.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• "Scarcity-based thriftiness might feel really noble and responsible, but it's often fear-driven. In contrast, abundance-based thriftiness is intentional and thoughtful."
  — Allison Puryear [02:10]

• "Is your spending aligned with your values and your business goals? If you're not sure, don't worry. We're going to break it down together."
  — Allison Puryear [03:05]

• "Sometimes there's no extra money to invest and that's okay. But when you do have resources, think about where they're going to make the biggest impact."
  — Allison Puryear [04:30]

• "Scarcity-based generosity often leads to poor boundaries or martyrdom. Whereas abundance-based generosity is responsible and intentional."
  — Allison Puryear [03:45]

• "Make just one intentional change. Whether it's setting aside money to invest in your practice or cutting out an unnecessary expense, your money is a tool."
  — Allison Puryear [06:10]

• "By aligning your spending with your values and with your goals, you are not only going to grow your practice but also feel a lot more at peace and empowered by your decisions."
  — Allison Puryear [06:50]

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Additional Resources

• Free Worksheets and Checklists: Available at abundancepracticebuilding.com.
• Membership Program – Abundance Party: Step-by-step guidance to build a thriving private practice. Visit abundanceparty.com for more information.
• Contact for Support: Email [e-mail] for further assistance.

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Empower your private practice by transforming your relationship with money. Align your spending with your deepest values and watch both your personal and professional life flourish.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign welcome to Ask Allison.

[B]

Y'all ask the questions about having a fun and thriving practice and I answer them. We have a worksheet for you today so you can bring this answer into your life. You can Access [e-mail] links where you'll.

[A]

Also be able to ask any questions.

[B]

You have for Ask Allison. If you want more support, we've got some free trainings in there too. If you can't get enough Ask Allison, check out our YouTube channel for our entire Ask Allison library.

[A]

Welcome back to Ask Allison. Here's today's question. I'm bad with money. I spend too much. It makes me feel like a bad business owner and a bad adult. I've heard you talk some about spending on Instagram. Can you say more? I love talking about money and appropriate management of it. Which appropriate we'll get into that sounds like a judgy word, but I don't mean it like that. So before we get into it, I want to thank Therapy Notes for sponsoring Ask Allison. I've talked about them for years. You probably know their features by heart just like I do. But here's what really sets them apart. First, they genuinely care about your experience. It is not just about troubleshooting a problem. They actively implement user suggested features like Therapy search, secure messaging, clinical outcome tracking, real time insurance checks, and a smooth super bill process. Everyone at TherapyNotes believes in the product and wants you to love it too. Plus, they're independently owned, which means no venture capital and no pressure to prioritize investors over customers. This independence allows them to keep prices fair, to focus on innovation, and to prioritize customer experience. With over 100,000 therapists already on board, they've proven that you don't have to compromise success for quality. If you're ready to see for yourself, try therapy notes for two months free with the code abundanttherapynotes.com okay, is your spending aligned with your values and your business goals? That's my question for you. If you're not sure, don't worry. We're going to like break it down together. But by the end of this, you'll have a clearer idea of how to make sure that your spending is more intentional so that it helps you build the life and the practice that you want. So let's start with mindset. Spending can come from a place of scarcity or a place of abundance. Scarcity based thriftiness might feel really like noble and responsible, maybe even very adult, but it's often fear driven and there's a rebound effect where as soon as you get some money, it's immediately gone because you haven't spent on anything you wanted to. It makes me think about my work as an eating disorder therapist and how for most of us, if we restrict all day long, we are likely to binge in the evening. On the flip side, abundance based thriftiness is intentional. It's thoughtful. It's about choosing to spend or not spend in a way that aligns with your priorities. And I always think about my friend Allison with abundant thriftiness. I'm not talking about myself, but she has used the same travel mug for 20 years. She doesn't get sucked into consumerism. She has peace about it with spending. That I really admire. And I have tried to model more of the same is true for generosity. There is scarcity based generosity, which often leads to poor boundaries or martyrdom. Whereas abundance based generosity is responsible. It's intentional. It comes with a lot of healthy boundaries. So the key to moving from scarcity to abundance is values and intentionality. So I want you to take a moment to reflect. What are your priorities in life and business? Maybe even write them down. Not if you're driving, but come back to this. What are your priorities in life and business? And ask yourself if your spending reflects those priorities. So, for example, if your goal is to grow your practice, does your money show that? Or does it show a pattern of avoidance spending, like retail therapy or ordering takeout when you're feeling stuck? There's nothing wrong with treating yourself occasionally. But if it's not moving you closer to your goals, and that is making you more stressed out, which keeps you in this cycle of spending, then it might be time to renegotiate your habits. Investing in your business is one of the best ways to grow it. That doesn't mean you need to spend wildly. Sometimes there's no extra money to invest and that's okay. But when you do have resources, think about where they're going to make the biggest impact. So, for instance, could a consulting program or a marketing course help you attract more clients? Are there tools or systems that would make your practice more efficient? I know it's really tempting to say I can't afford it, but I want you to be honest with yourself. Is it truly about affordability or is it about priorities? If you could make it work and it filled your practice, would you be turning an investment of like $400 into hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years? I want us to think short term versus long term spending. Sometimes we hold onto money or we spend it on things that feel good in the short term, but we don't serve our long term goals. So if you take some time to pause before clicking Buy Buy thinking about your business and your life goals, you probably wouldn't buy that sweater just because it's on sale. You'd put that money towards the things that you've already decided are your priority. That pause is invaluable and I have probably saved so many thousands of dollars with that alone. I will put things in my cart and I will leave them there for at least 24 hours and if I'm still thinking about it the next day I come back to is this a priority? But I have so many abandoned carts in so many places because I just completely forgot about it by the next day. It was not an actual priority and I was this close to having spent money on it. Here is your challenge if you choose to accept it. First, I want you to look at your bank account and I want you to compare it to your list of priorities. So really take a look at it and figure out, okay, I'm feeding my family, I'm paying for rent. You know, categorize what priority is each of those communicating? I want you to ask yourself, where can I adjust my spending to better align my goals? And I want you to make just one intentional change. Because if you do a bunch of changes, you're going to be in that restrict binge cycle, right? So just one intentional change. Whether it's setting aside money to invest in your practice or cutting out an unnecessary expense, your money is a tool and how you use it can either propel you forward or it can keep you stuck. By aligning your spending with your values and with your goals, you are not only going to grow your practice, but also feel a lot more at peace and empowered by your decisions. If you want to dig deeper into this, I've got a free resource with a list of my favorite therapist financial resources. You can DM me the word sheets to get that and all of our other previous free worksheets. If you want some help building your practice, we do talk about money a fair amount in the Abundance Party, I want you to DM me the word party and I will send you the link to the Abundance Party and a coupon which you won't actually need because you can't afford it. It's very affordable, but it takes you through step by step how to build a sustainable practice and I want you to think about whether that's something that you need or not to get where you want to go in your practice. All right. I hope you'll have a really great day and I will talk with you soon.

[B]

If you're ready for a much easier practice, Therapy Notes is the way to go. Go to therapynotes.com and use the promo code abundant for two months free. I hope that helped. If you have questions for Ask Allison or you want to get your hands on the worksheet for this episode, go to abundancepracticebuilding.com Links.

[A]

If you're listening, you.

[B]

Prob need some support building your practice. If you're a super newbie, grab our free checklist using the link in the show Notes. I'd love for you to follow rate and review, but I really want you to share this episode with a therapist friend. Let's help all our colleagues build what they want.