Lajoie - From zero to zen: secret keys to nurturing your numbers and finding financial flow

Being a business owner is tough. Throw in financial management and eyes glass over. Who knew bookkeeping could be such a daunting obstacle? Thankfully, Liz Lajoies new book, From Zero to Zen , walks the small business owner gently through the money side of their business. The book is supportive, practical, and a gift to the many hardworking women making a difference every day!

Michael F. Kay, CFP

Author of The Feel Rich Project

www.financial-lifefocus.com

Liz Lajoie breaks down small business finance into easy, manageable bites for anyone who finds numbers intimidating. Youll learn exactly what you need to be doing (and what you dont have to worry about) when it comes to managing your finances so you can run and grow your business like a pro.

Jenny Shih

Business Coach and Consultant

www.jennyshih.com

In From Zero to Zen , author Liz Lajoie artfully combines financial wisdom with spiritual insight. Its a must-read book that helps heart-based entrepreneurs feel great about knowing their business numbers and finances. She takes something that is often scary and turns it into an act of service. Thank you, Liz!

Tami Stackelhouse

Founder, International Fibromyalgia Coaching Institute

www.ifcinstitute.com

Liz is a master at her craft, and From Zero to Zen is the perfect distillation of her mastery into an easy to understand, easy to implement plan for those of us who cringe thinking about our finances. This book makes the daunting task of building (or even scarier, repairing) your financial foundation feel like its not only doable, but like it could be enjoyable. I never thought that was possible before Liz and her book came into my life. Thank you, Liz, for opening my eyes to the Zen hidden within my numbers!

Amy Birks

The Strategy Ninja

www.amybirks.com

Secret Keys to Nurturing Your Numbers and Finding Financial Flow

LIZ LAJOIE

NEW YORK

LONDONNASHVILLEMELBOURNEVANCOUVER

From Zero to Zen

Secret Keys to Nurturing Your Numbers and Finding Financial Flow

2018 Liz Lajoie

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in New York, New York, by Morgan James Publishing in partnership with Difference Press. Morgan James is a trademark of Morgan James, LLC.

www.MorganJamesPublishing.com

The Morgan James Speakers Group can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event visit The Morgan James Speakers Group at www.TheMorganJamesSpeakersGroup.com.

ISBN 9781683507048 paperback

ISBN 9781683507055 eBook

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017912140

Cover Design by:

Rachel Lopez

www.r2cdesign.com

Interior Design by:

Chris Treccani

www.3dogcreative.net

In an effort to support local communities, raise awareness and funds, Morgan James Publishing donates a percentage of all book sales for the life of each book to Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg.

Get involved today! Visit
www.MorganJamesBuilds.com

For my fantastic and frugal husband, Scott,
who taught me a new definition of wealth.

Financial success becomes a transformational journey, a personal healing, a sacred initiation, empowering you to become all youre meant to be and to do what youre put on this planet to do.

Barbara Stanny

I have a confession to make. I hate doing laundry. We all have those household chores that stare us in the face every week, or month, or year, that we just dont want to do. Clean the bathroom? Im all over it. Do the dishes? Im there with a smile on my face. Doing laundry, however, feels like crossing the Alps long and tortuous. I watch it piling up and I start feeling agitated and irritated, until I cant stand looking at it anymore so I slam the closet door shut. Eventually, when this huge weight of should wears me down, I face the mountain of dirty clothes and wash the darn things.

You know how it feels when you have a task like that hanging over your head? Maybe its not laundry. Maybe its scrubbing the bathtub or changing the sheets. Usually the task itself isnt particularly hard; it only seems that way because weve got a mental block about it.

You may feel the same way about managing your money. For a lot of people (women in particular), taking care of our bookkeeping is the last thing we want to do. Well find anything and everything else to do before we crack into our finances. Like tackling my enormous heap of dirty laundry, doing financial work can make us annoyed, cranky, and downright uncomfortable. Thats normal when facing a task that doesnt sing to you. Theres no right or wrong about it: many of us simply hate dealing with our money.

Heres something else I know, though. Clean clothes make me feel comfortable and let me present myself to my best advantage. Im a shower-every-day kind of girl and putting on dirty clothes over a clean body feels icky. When Im wearing clean clothing, I feel more confident, whether Im dressing for a power meeting or lounging around the house. I feel more like myself. So, while I know that I hate doing my laundry, I love having clean clothes to wear. Thats why I dont let my washing pile up anymore because I know if I do it Ill feel better in the long run. In reality, doing the laundry doesnt take that much time and, once I actually get started, its a snap. Do I still feel that crushing I dont wanna! in the minutes before I start collecting my clothes and getting out the detergent? Absolutely. But I power through because I can see the soft white sheets and feel the ready to take on the world tactile reaction I have to a newly laundered shirt. The outcome makes the drudgery worthwhile.

Having clean books in your business works the same way. And it can be as simple as learning to do laundry. I promise. If youve mastered doing laundry, you can master this task, with much greater potential for results and reward. How? By acknowledging your discomfort around money, setting up good systems that are actually easy to manage, and looking at your numbers regularly so you always know where you stand. The peace of mind youll gain is a wonderful gift to yourself and honors your hard work.

For so many of us, taking care of our business is centered around getting clients, serving clients, and doing good in the world. Managing our business is secondary. Perhaps you dont even think of yourself as a businesswoman. Maybe the word business brings up images of men in suits and sterile, white offices places you do not want to spend your time. I totally get wanting to shy away from that vision of your work. Having spent years there, I can tell you its not my vision for my business, either. You should definitely build your business in ways that brings you joy. You want to get up excited to dive into it in the morning, and feel content from having done a good days work when you go to sleep. The beauty of being your own boss whether youre a coach, a creative professional, a marketing whiz, or a crack virtual assistant is that you get to choose how things are done and where you go with your business. This is a wonderful, exciting process, and I hope its one you enjoy.