What's Love Got to do With It?

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I remember working in a tax office.

Business owners would bring in a set of books, a mess, presenting less than helpful information. Chaotic in its incompleteness. Not used to manage the business. A means to an end, which is a tax return required by someone other than self, often shrouded in stress, burden, and resentment.

These numbers didn’t comfort the business owner. They caused confusion and hopelessness. Surprises illuminated after the work had been done to “clean up the books.”

Questions arose like:

I made how much?

I owe how much?

If I made that much, where did all the cash go?

Where is the love in that?

I sat at my desk, an empathetic accountant, feeling all of this. I knew there had to be a better way, and I set off to start my own business where I could help business owners truly have good information.

I remember thinking of the name Love Your Numbers Now. The vibration of love mixed with numbers felt so much better to me. What would happen if we added in love? What would love do?

How do we love our numbers? Let me count the ways…

We could view them as allies rather than enemies.

We could give them time and attention.

We could create systems to care for them.

We could prioritize them instead of putting them at the bottom of the list.

We could be grateful for the product or service every time we pay a bill and be happy that we have money to pay for it.

And if we are short of cash, what can we be grateful for? There is always something.

We could thank our customers every time we receive a payment, silently to ourselves or expressed to them directly.

We could get to know our numbers.

We could stop judging them and get curious about them instead.

We could view them as data, removing emotions of judgment and shame.

We could be kind and talk sweetly to ourselves.

Our numbers tell a story. What do they have to say? Imagine spending time with them. Take them on a date. Like going for a walk with your child and asking them how their life is going? I really want to know.

Who says working with your numbers has to feel bad?

How can you make it feel better?

Comfort, slippers, music, and a cup of tea.

It feels good to take care of all things financial and have that solid foundation under our feet. And it takes time. It’s a relationship that gives more than it takes.

Our numbers are a physical manifestation of every financial decision we make, and if you don’t love your numbers, it might mean you are withholding love from yourself. Denying yourself the stability that loving your numbers gives you.

You deserve more.

You deserve love.

We all do.

In love,

Carol