Investing in Your Future & Staying Inspired: The Story of My $250,000 Pink Shirt
Woohoo! It’s my birthday week. And I am so excited to announce that we are having a birthday sale on my upcoming Master Your Money event. Are you ready to start investing in yourself?
Now, I want to start with a story from back in the day…
When I first started my business, I lived in a 250-square-foot studio apartment on the corner of 14th Street and Eighth Avenue with my now-husband, Jai.
We were both starting our companies at the same time. And in order for us to be able to invest in our dreams, we had to take all of our money and put it into our respective businesses.
He had just finished producing his first feature-length film and was about to put it out to the marketplace and to the festival circuit.
I had just started building Revenue Breakthrough, and I had hired my first business coach. Now, that year, I invested $40,000 to work with this coach.
I didn’t have any of that money. I put the deposit on three different credit cards and I alternately prayed, cried, and hoped, depending on the moment. The fear was pretty strong, but I trusted myself.
I knew that I had to do something. I had to give 110% effort to my business because it was very clear to me that it was my mission – that it was the thing I was supposed to be doing here on this planet.
And most importantly, I didn’t want to find my 86-year-old self sitting in a rocking chair, looking back at my life, and wondering, Did I really try? Did I really give it my all?
I knew that, even if it ended horribly, even if hiring the coach turned out to be a bad idea, even if I lost all my money, even if I tried and it didn’t work, I would be able to look at myself in the mirror and say exactly that – I tried. And I learned from that effort. That was really important to me.
Now, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t stuffing cupcakes in my mouth out of fear. Every other day, I wondered if I had made the right decision. Every other night, I complained to Jai that I didn’t know if this was going to work. But I just kept going.
Anyway..Soon after, I did my first intensive day with my coach. She gave me amazing advice and information, and I really resonated with her. It really felt like I was moving forward.
Two weeks after that day, I walked into a store and saw this amazing pink wrap-around shirt that I really wanted to get. It was the perfect shade of pink and the perfect silhouette – but it was $189! Way too much money to spend on a shirt back then.
I didn’t buy it that day. I went home and I called one of my colleagues to vent about how hard it was to start my business. I told him that, even though I’d gotten two clients, I was still worried about making the right decisions. And I told him about the pink shirt.
He said, “Monica, that’s going to be your $250,000 pink shirt.” And I said, “What do you mean?”
He said, “I think you should go buy the shirt. That shirt represents who you’re becoming, the person you’re stepping into. And even though it’s really expensive right now, there will come a time when spending $189 on a shirt is easy. Buying it now symbolizes the coming of that day.”
So I did. I went back out and bought the shirt.
I still have it today. I still think of it as my $250,000 shirt. And I still remember how, when I bought it and I put it on, I started to see myself in a different light.
Now, mind you, it’s not like I went out and bought a whole new wardrobe. We were still living in a 250-square-foot studio apartment. We lived above a grocery store, so there were mice problems and roach problems.
None of it was easy – but every time I put on that $250,000 pink shirt, I remembered where I was going.
It’s not easy to start a business. It’s not easy to grow one. And the kinds of investments that you make in yourself, as you grow a business, often lead to sacrifices in other areas of your life.
People talk all the time about hiring a business coach and what it’s done for them, or hiring their first team member and what it’s done for them, or paying for business services and what that’s done for them.
But they rarely talk about the fact that when you buy those things, you often have to let other things go.
For the first three years of my business, I didn’t take any nice vacations because all of my money was going towards paying my business coach, going to masterminds with her, and learning everything I could.
But when I look back now, I realize that every investment that I made in myself and in my business during those first couple of years created a whole mountain of knowledge and wisdom that I’ve used to build my company and maintain it as a seven-figure-plus company for the past nine years.
It wasn’t easy at first, but it was worth it.
And with that, my first invitation for you this week is to ask yourself – what is your pink shirt?
What is the object in your life that’s reminding you that you are stepping up? That you’re making change in the world? That you are leveling up both your business and your lifestyle?
And if you don’t have one, get one. Because we humans are very visual beings – and we need daily inspiration to remind us that the sacrifices we’re making now are going to mean big things for us in the future.
My second invitation to you is to ask yourself where and how you are investing in yourself to provide for a better future both for yourself and for your loved ones. If you aren’t quite sure, now might be the time to examine how you’re making that investment.
And number three (indulge me, it’s my birthday week!): if you’re looking for a place to start investing in yourself – to learn how to strategically grow your business and to bring to life your dreams and goals – I invite you to take advantage of our birthday sale and join us at the Master Your Money event.
It’s only $95 through April 12 if you use the promo code birthdaysale (all one word!).
Because what I want for you is not only for you to buy your pink shirt – but to reach the day where you walk into that store and buy your pink shirt without having to consult a friend about it.
It won’t be easy at first, but it’ll be worth it.
