You can’t fund your goals, dreams, and ambitions with to-do lists. It takes cash flow to get to the resources you need. But have you ever really thought about how much of it?

Exactly how many dollars would you need right now to reach all of your biggest goals?

Exactly how many until you would feel comfortable retiring?

How many until you are out of debt?

How many until your bills for this month are paid?

From the short-term to the life-term, money matters. And while we may spend countless hours fantasizing about it, stressing over it, or working for it, it’s sadly uncommon to spent time building a clear picture of where you’re at financially and where you want to go without tying it to a number that popped out of thin air.

What happens far more often is an uneducated guess about what number will make us feel happy or safe. 

Usually it’s an even number with no basis in reality:

$10,000? Sure!

$100,000? Now you’re talking! $1,000,000?

Sounds nice and even!

$1,000,000,000? I can’t wait!. Here’s a better question than “how much”…

Why that much?

What would any of these numbers get you that you can’t have now? Is it more time? More financial freedom? More travel? 

Most of us may already have some of those opportunities within our reach- but have been told that you can’t go out there and do awesome things without reaching some set number that proves your success. This mentality is what sells people on the idea that they’ll have to wait until they’re 65 to travel, play outdoors, get quality leisure time, or “deserve” fun. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like very little life left! We’ll leave this kind of thinking behind for others who are happier behind their desks than outside of the cubicle.

On the other side, some of us may look at any of those same numbers above and feel an immediate sense of dejection, fear, or discomfort. After all, if we see the people around us living in debt, check-to-check, or in constant fear and worry, it may be scarier to break the blueprint and be financially independent than to stay stuck in comfort and safety. 

The thought goes, better to live a life you know than to build one you’ve never seen in person. Some people spend their lives recreating the poor financial habits of their parents, co-workers, and friends without ever realizing they have the potential to be the exception to the rule. 

Both of these mindsets are deeply troubling when it comes to building our financial life.

The fears, unknowns, and denials that show up around money are really understandable- because money brings up a lot of strong feelings. For many of us it’s associated with stress, a lack of resources, and a lot of fear and frustration.  For others it may be tied to compulsive spending, “retail therapy” and other short-term habits about as useful as tying your shoelaces together before a race.  

I’d like you to consider how your financial mindset can get you to make compulsive, reactive, and dangerously bad financial decisions that have nothing to do with how much money you’re making—and everything to do with how you feel about money in the first place. Don’t believe me? 

I bet you know someone in your life who works extremely hard at the club. They’re always closing deals, doing rooms, and walking out with fat stacks of cash. They also seem to be spending it faster than they can get it at every turn. Their third month at the club, they bought a really nice car…with a really big interest rate. They have every new purse, shoe, makeup product, and hairstyle out there. And they’ll talk big about “glowing up,” “retiring,” and “moving on to the next thing,” but recoil at the idea of budgeting, planning for the future, or even keeping money in a bank account instead of under the mattress. They haven’t paid taxes since they started dancing, and have no appreciating assets to speak of[1].   But they will, one day.  For now, they’re just wondering where the next month of rent is going to come from.     

I bet you also know someone who works extremely hard at the club…on everything but making more money. They may work the longest hours, show up before everyone else….and still walk out in the negative. While other dancers are upselling rooms and dances, they’re busy getting customers to back away from buying. They’ll sit at the bar all night with the same regulars that only buy drinks, in fear of approaching new or unfamiliar customers. They’ll undercharge for dances, rooms, and their time—and recoil at the idea that they should up their pricing. They’ll wait in the corner for that magical night where a customer will scoop them up and give them everything they need (hint: it never seems to show up), but refuse to ask quality customers for money, refuse to audition at clubs with better prospects, and refuse to start a side-hustle to supplement their income or to work a 9-5 that would give them consistency and better opportunities because they like the “freedom” of dancing. 

These examples may sound like you, or like someone that you know.  In my experience, we all have a bit of both in us. Many of us didn’t grow up with great financial role models, or with strong financial planning skills. We’re not taught about or expected to understand and manage our own money responsibly- so we end up believing that we’re not good enough, smart enough, or educated enough to make smart financial decisions.

So when the opportunity shows up to financially grow through stripping we may literally let it slide through our fingers.

If those same dancers short on rent were handed a million dollars by a customer today, you would likely see that cash disappear the same way the rest of their money goes now.  On unnecessary spending, out of their pocket on the first distraction that showed up. They’d have a great time spending it, and show up to square one again in a few months or a few years. They don’t know how to value their money now, so they wouldn’t value it then.

Because at the end of the day, they’re avoiding, denying, or overspending money not because of the numbers coming in—but because of the false beliefs about money that they carry around day in and day out. 

If those same dancers underselling and underproducing met a customer who wanted to give them a million dollars, they’d likely sit at the bar and have drinks with that customer for free. They wouldn’t ask for big numbers, push for closes, or even feel comfortable approaching the new opportunity. They don’t know how to value their time now, so they wouldn’t know how to value it then.

Because at the end of the day, they’re avoiding, denying, or overspending money not because of the numbers coming in—but because of the false beliefs about money that they carry around day in and day out. 

You are either in control of your mindset around money, or your mindset around money is controlling you. In the next few challenges you’ll spend time exploring what you believe around money- and how you can change your perspective to fuel your long-term vision of the future- and change your day-to-day decisions now. 

And one more thing about getting to it now….

I can always make more later is NOT a financial plan!

For some dancers this one sentence could define their financial strategy from start to finish. It seems to have some truth to it...right?

After all, we can show up to the club later on and just make more cash…

 Until we can’t. I’ll be the bad guy and give you the honest truth about this industry: it will not stay the same as it is now. This doesn’t mean there won’t be money here for you later on, but that how you earn it and how happy you’ll be working has the potential to change MASSIVELY.

If you’ve ever “burnt out” you know exactly what I mean. The desire to go into work goes down and your earnings take a massive dive. Your customer interactions start going sour. Like, really sour. Your bills and expenses don’t stop coming in though. The credit card bills go up, the spending doesn’t stop, and you find yourself deeper in the hole than when you started dancing in the first place.

Another scenario: maybe you’re full of motivation and burning out doesn’t seem possible—you’re in the clear, right? Wrong. We work in an industry with no benefits, no health insurance, and no jobs for dancers in crutches. Life changes in an instant. A broken ankle, an accident, an unplanned for pregnancy, or a family crisis can all stop you from showing up to the club to make money when you may need it the most. 

On top of that, you may be a contractor, but you’re not a freelancer. Clubs are where we meet customers, and clubs are also the gatekeepers of the industry. That’s just a fancy way of saying:

You have a job until clubs decide they no longer want to hire you.

Your age, size, fitness level, outfits, and stage skills all factor into where and how easily you get hired. These traits change over time- and get exponentially harder to upkeep as time goes by. Assuming the only thing that changes in your life is the passage of time, just staying in the same shape as your 19-year-old self two decades later can become a whole side-job of its own. Even then, many clubs are explicitly unwilling to hire entertainers based on age alone. You may dance until your retirement age—but even as a top earner you will still need plenty of time and practice in managing your finances inside and outside of the club to get yourself set up for life. 

Stop procrastinating.

You need to make a money plan—and the more it worries, scares, or annoys you to do it now, the more it means you need to get started right away.

It may be hard to change your habits when things are going your way. But imagine how much harder it will be to change your money habits if there’s ever an emergency, an unexpected injury, or an unplanned for retirement. You don’t know what the economy will be doing in a month, a year, or a decade. You do not know what your mental, physical, and emotional health will be like. What your support system will look like, or how happy your knees will be to move around in Pleasers all night long. Stop forcing your future self into work and time commitments that you’re not willing to make now- and start planning for your future success instead.

[1] Appreciating assets are purchases that can go up in value over time, and are used as investment tools. Common examples are: rental properties, stocks, bonds, and businesses.