Ep #66: Start 2025 Powerfully by Choosing Your Money Word of the Year

Welcome to the special encore edition of one of my most popular episodes ever, all on the Money Word of the Year. If you're listening in real time, we are in the middle of the holiday season, and you may have missed the original airing of this episode a few weeks ago. But this is such a favorite impactful episode. We're airing it again here today. So if you're a new listener, you won't miss it. And if you're a loyal long term listener, then you'll love hearing again because you're gonna hear it even more deeply this time around. It also includes a really amazing handout you can download for free, of course, part guide, part checklist, part journal. This download will help you discover and make the most of your money word of the year.

You'll find a link for it in the show notes. Alright. So even if you've heard this episode before, I really encourage you to listen again and enjoy picking up new insights because you're in a different place in your evolution with money today than you were before, even a few weeks ago. And if you've not heard this episode yet, then you're in for a treat. Enjoy.

Welcome to The Money Coach School Podcast. To really excel at coaching women, you have to be skilled, confident, and even fearless at money coaching. If you're passionate about women holding genuine money power and love supporting women entrepreneurs, then this is the show for you. Now, here's your host, money feminist Kendall SummerHawk.

Hello, beautiful coaches. So here we are. If you're listening to this in real time, we are just a couple of weeks away from the end of 2024. I can't help it. I'm going to gush for a moment and here's why. I truly absolutely love this time of year, and I find myself getting so excited about planning and listing all of the things I want to do and achieve and create all the things. I'm kind of geeky that way.

But then what happens is I start feeling overwhelmed with all the things. Maybe you can relate. I think it's the beauty and the gift together of being a highly creative person and of being so switched on to the work I love doing in the world, which is everything coaching, teaching coaching, answering your questions about coaching, coaching my students inside of my certification trainings.

If you're at all like me and you love possibility, you love opportunity, you love personal growth, you love thinking about what's possible, then you're probably also like me in that you can easily get overwhelmed with all of that.

So I mentioned in episode 62 how to close out 2024 strong. I mentioned there that I'm a little obsessed with buying planners and then not using them. In that episode, I talked about how I typically buy one or two or even three planners and then never use them. They're beautiful, but there they are unopened, neatly lined up in my bookshelf, looking very pretty and totally unused.

By the way, I definitely recommend catching that episode because in it, I show you a simple two-step process for closing out all of those unmet goals from the past year so that you can start this coming year strong. I'll link to that in the show notes so that you definitely can catch that. All right, so back to goals and possibilities and overwhelm.

What I used to do was buy a new planner to somehow magically bend time and make it where my wealth of ideas could all be accomplished. As if that was the answer, right? Because it wasn't. That's not what happened. Every planner, of course, wants you to first write down your goals, which is awesome, except what if you're like me and you have like bazillion goals? Writing them down just triggers feeling anxious for me because then I'm faced with a ton of exhausting decision making, figuring out which goals matter most. Oh my God, I can't take it. 

One of the emotions I dislike the most is feeling that anxiety that comes from having to choose from too many options. Because I am so mindful of protecting my energy and coming from the highest, best feeling emotions that I can, I said screw this. What I did instead is create a very simple way of channeling all of my thoughts and ideas through a coaching tool that is my version of word of the year.

Only it's not just word of the year, it's Money Word of the Year because who doesn't love a word of the year tool, right? So when I say my version, what I did is I took the basic word of the year concept, and I focused it on money and I kept it simple. I created a few key rules in using it, and I live with my Money Word of the Year all year, not just for a couple of short weeks during this end of year season.

The results have been amazing. Hello, focus. Hello, pride in what I accomplished. Hello, peace and calm because I prioritize the things that matter most to me, which is why I'm bringing you my Money Word of the Year tool to you today. I even have a checklist for you, which you can download. I'll link to that in the show notes, and it's kind of part guide, part coaching tool, part journal. I think you're going to absolutely love it.

So a lot of people look at word of the year as a fun new year's game. I don't do that. I use it as a primary power lever to elevate myself, elevate myself as a coach, as the CEO of my business leading from a place of soul sourced confidence and power within, as a high income seven figure woman, and as a freedom first business.

When you start using my Money Word of the Year, it can number one, give you clarity and direction about your coaching business so that you're not wasting time and spinning your wheels. Number two, it can support you in making significantly more money in your coaching business. Number three, it can help you make every decision in your business easier and faster. Love that. Number four, it can help you cut out the mental chatter so that you're not distracted or doubting what you're doing.

So in today's episode, I want to show you what your Money Word of the Year is and what it's not. Then I'm going to share with you five secrets to using your Money Word of the Year as your primary decision making tool that is both strategic and soul sourced. Plus I have a few juicy tips and coaching on how to choose your Money Word of the Year.

So are you ready? Be sure to download that checklist I have for you. It's really like a mini coaching journal on Money Word of the Year. Again, the link for it is in the show notes. All right, let's start with what your Money Word of the Year is.

Number one, Money Word of the Year is choosing a word that is tapping into, into, into, let me start that again. We're not going to edit that out, but it's choosing a word that is tapping into intention and is soul sourced. That's tougher to say than you think. Your Money Word of the Year contains energy and images and meaning for you. Plus it elevates you into who you're meant to become. This is how you become that high income earning coach for women. This is how you elevate your standards, elevate your life and get clarity on how you can achieve all of the gorgeous results that are possible for you as a coach.

All right, number two, Money Word of the Year is a practice that creates results for you by helping you release obstacles and nonproductive habits and spot opportunities and create soul sourced success. Your word is meant to teach you about you.

Number three, your Money Word of the Year becomes your energetic standard for everything you do or don't do inside of your coaching business. It pulls you forward. It opens opportunity. It eliminates confusion. It gets rid of fear of missing out, and it certainly gets rid of overwhelm.

Now let's look at what your Money Word of the Year is not. It's not something you choose and then forget about. It's not something that you just grab like a word or worse, try to control the word. I remember one year trying to come up with what my brain thought would be the, quote unquote, right word, that perfect word, that word that would magically make everything in my life and business fall into place without any effort. Yeah, that did not work. I was all up in my head and not listening to what my intuition was telling me. Once I've just relaxed, took a breath and exhaled, the word came like that.

Your Money Word of the Year will be perfect for you because it is for you. It's not the word that is all that specifically significant, to be honest with you. It's your interpretation of it and how you use it that really matters the most. Your Money Word of the Year is not words of the year. In other words, more than one. Having more than one splits your intention.

Now, even if you're a multi-passionate entrepreneur with lots of interest, it's one Money Word of the Year that will serve you in all the ways that you want to grow in this coming year. You want to trust the power of one.

Finally, your Money Word of the Year does not have to be a word that initially sounds like it has anything to do with money. It's a word that you're going to apply to money and watch how it catapults you into new ways of thinking and taking action with money. But it doesn't have to be necessarily a word like finance or abundance or anything like that. It doesn't have to be that. It doesn't have to sound like it initially has anything to do with money. It will have something to do with money, I promise you, as you go through the time and the process of using it.

So to help you choose your Money Word of the Year, here's a coaching question for you. Which word comes to you first? Really simple, right? The tip I want to give you is that your Money Word of the Year does not always have to be a verb. It could be a self-concept word like leader or communicator. It could be a word like independence or accumulating. It could be a word like sales or empire. It could be a word like goals or elevate. It could be any word. So what word comes to you first?

Then you want to just start playing with it by answering these coaching questions. The question is if you choose this word as your Money Word of the Year, what do you have to let go of? So let me give you an example. This past year, my Money Word of the Year was the word focus.

Now I've actually had that word before a few years ago, but this time it gave me so much more. So much more, well, focus. It was the catalyst to keep coming back to what I wanted to accomplish this past year instead of getting distracted and staying distracted. Now I have the word focus printed in a really pretty font right on my computer so I could read it and imprint it every day.

As a result, when I think back just casually here, we launched two new trainings, a brand new certification. We launched multiple new lead magnets, and we're going to end the year a little over 10% up in revenue compared to last year. Not a big change, but also not bad considering all that's been going on in the world this past year. Because of the word focus, I cut expenses by 10%. So that's awesome. I really believe without that word focus reminding me of what I wanted, I absolutely would not have accomplished all of that.

All right, so let me share with you four secrets to choosing and using your Money Word of the Year. Secret number one, we kind of already hinted at this, let your Money Word of the Year choose you. When I think of what I want my next year to be like in a very general way, in other words, not specific projects or initiatives or anything like that, my Money Word of the Year immediately pops into my head, even though I have no idea what actions I'll be taking because of it.

What I do have are clearly felt emotions, feelings about what I want for this next year. It's really not a great idea to try and make the word match what you want. It doesn't work that way. Any Money Word of the Year can support you in achieving what you want. I promise your Money Word of the Year is going to support you brilliantly in getting what you want. So letting your Money Word of the Year choose you is less about thinking and more about noticing what word pops up for you, even if it initially makes no sense.

All right, secret number two, identify what your Money Word of the Year empowers you to release. You know what you want, you have a Money Word of the Year pop up for you, now let's start using it. Any feeling of fear or doubt or wanting to discount your Money Word of the Year, I see that is actually a clue that there is something that you're ready to release.

So for example, a few years ago when my Money Word of the Year was for the first time that word focus, I immediately became aware of how much I had been stuck in FOMO, fear of missing out. So FOMO was causing me to doubt myself, which then led to me changing my mind frequently, never a good thing. It led to me thinking I should be doing other things.

But by staying committed to my Money Word of the Year focus, I felt calm, peaceful, and on purpose, and I didn't allow myself to get caught up in FOMO. I started to really let go of all that doubt that I was doing, even when I was facing a lot of change that was really, really challenging.

Same thing another year when my Money Word of the Year was the word elevate. I released, released, released anything that felt energetically heavy or draining. I peeled back a whole next level, really an elevated layer for myself and my business that yes, you can make seven figures with less work and with more grace, ease and a ton of time freedom, which is my most important value.

I made decisions like completing working with a coach who was amazing, but her whole vibe was super hard work, putting in the hours or the reps as she calls it, and a very complex business model with a lot of team that did not feel elevated to me. It felt the opposite of what I value, which is freedom. So because of that one year, that one Money Word of the Year, my time freedom increased exponentially.

Now it's that level of free time is just my new normal. I get to spend generous hours every day with my horses, my beautiful Spanish horses. What else happened because of my Money Word of the Year of elevate was I expected the very best, and I received it in terms of vendors and team and a whole new elevated level of amazing certification students, easier launches, everything.

All right, secret number three, do not change your Money Word of the Year mid-year. It's Money Word of the Year, not word of the month. No way you can get any value from not committing to living, breathing your Money Word of the Year for a full year. That's because you haven't learned everything that's there for you yet. It hasn't fully transformed you or your business results. In other words, you're not done. You're still cooking. You're still baking. It hasn't fully worked its magic for you yet. So please don't be impatient.

Quitting on your Money Word of the Year mid-year is, I believe, an avoidance tactic. That is a distraction and it comes from the ego wanting you to stay as is and the ego wanting you to avoid elevating in terms of income, impact, and achieving your goals.

All right, secret number four, apply your Money Word of the Year to income creation. Now it doesn't matter, like I said earlier, if at first your Money Word of the Year doesn't seem to fit with income creation. I want you to keep looking for how your Money Word of the Year can give you clarity. Here's a great coaching question that'll help you with this.

In what way can my Money Word of the Year influence income creation? Basic question, right? So, for example, let's say if your word of the year is elevate like mine was in a year past, it can influence income creation by choosing high ticket. It can influence income creation by marketing specifically to highly motivated women as your new clients. It can influence your income creation by owning your worth with your coaching fees. It can influence income creation by offering a signature package that you get known for what you coach women on.

All right, secret number five, last one, use your Money Word of the Year to create new decisions, actions, goals, and habits. Turning your Money Word of the Year from just a word and a fun new year's game into motivation and really an inspired force for change is how you create a year you can look back on of exceptional growth. A year you'll be proud of for what you achieve and when you look in the mirror, feel proud of who you've become.

Your Money Word of the Year is how you move forward. So even if it's a quieter word like rest or peace, it's not that you rest from work or abdicate thinking that that's choosing peace. Instead, maybe it's working from a sense of peace or creating something new with rest. So it's a with energy.

So for example, the year my Money Word of the Year was elevate, I saw everything through the lens of elevate. So it was elevating marketing, elevating my pricing, elevating my messaging and branding, elevating the clarity and focus of my certification trainings.

All right, so to wrap up, let me leave you with this. Making money as a coach is not about doing more. It's not about more marketing, spending money on Facebook ads or any of those things. You making money as a coach, especially if you're focusing your coaching skills on coaching women entrepreneurs, which I think is the best niche on the planet. It always, always starts from you giving yourself permission to think in a new way, to believe in a new way, to fully embrace and embody taking action in new ways. Those new ways must be aligned and powerful for you.

Your Money Word of the Year gives you a new lens to see through a new way of stepping into your gifts and genius, a new way of elevating yourself that will rock your world. But in reality, doesn't take very much effort. It takes very little effort. All right, so be sure to go to the link in the show notes, download that checklist that I have waiting there for you. Choose your Money Word of the Year and drop me an email to let me know what it is. You can also post your Money Word of the Year on social. You can go to @KendallSummerHawk and post it for me on Instagram. Just find the post with this episode.

All right. Remember coaching changes lives, starting with yours. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your loyalty. I would love it. If you would do me a big favor, would you go leave a five-star review for me on Apple? That would be so very much appreciated so that this podcast can get out to other women like you who want to be coaches, who want to make impact, and who want to make a lot of money. I would so appreciate you for that. All right. Thank you so much, and I'll see you in next week's episode.

Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode of The Money Coach School Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you follow so you never miss an episode. Also, I would so love and appreciate if you would leave a 5-star review. Your review supports women just like you in discovering all of the juicy tips and insights I’m sharing here on how to coach women on money.

And if you want to learn how to excel at coaching women on money, definitely go to KendallSummerHawk.com and check out the wealth of money coach trainings that we have for you. Thanks so much for being part of this money coaching movement and for tuning into the show every week.