How Renee Changed Her Scarcity Mindset
This week, we’re recapping our latest Coffee & Coin event with Capital One.
We interviewed Renee Gillaspia, queen of sales, Factora alum, and—uh, ya—millionaire.
(To get the full scoop, you can listen to the podcast episode, which will be out in a few weeks. In the meantime, subscribe to Coffee & Coin, the podcast, right here).
Okay, so like we said, Renee is a millionaire. And you know what else? She grew up in a trailer park. Money was scarce, and it took her a long time to feel comfortable thinking about it, talking about it, and just plain having it.
Here are just a few of our favorite takeaways about how to break free from a mindset that isn’t serving you:
PROVE TO YOURSELF THAT YOU CAN MAKE MONEY.
Because of Renee’s financial background, she was always trying to make more money for herself. “You know those popcorn tins and chocolate turtles your school would sell? Yeah, I was always selling those. I sold so much that I got to bring home a boombox, which was super cool to me and so, so useless to my two deaf parents.”
By proving to yourself that you’re able to create money, over and over again, it starts to feel less like a magical resource that shows up when the stars align, and more like something that you have complete control over, because you can create it for yourself.
“The thing about a scarcity mindset is that it’s like tunnel vision. Money is all you can think about.”
NEVER GIVE UP.
Renee’s first salary paid her $35K. Throughout college and during her first years after, she frequently had to borrow money from her sister because she couldn’t cover her credit card bill. But she never made these temporary hardships mean that she couldn’t eventually be a #wealthywoman in the future. Even after she had an expensive month or went over budget, she never gave up on saving, selling, and saving some more.
DON’T LET THE MONEY SCARIES WIN.
Money scaries are like Sunday scaries, except you feel them all the time if you’re in a scarcity mindset.
When Renee really got focused on her savings goal, she didn’t go to Target for one whole year because she didn’t want to be tempted by $3 face masks and $5 dog toys. “After every raise I got, I still pretended like I was getting paid $35K. Any bonus money would go right into my savings.”
Once you really start to think about the psychology behind why you buy more than you need (hellooo, $48 Laura Mercier highlighter), you might discover that you’re just doing it for the dopamine hit that’ll make the money scaries go away.
MONEY ISN’T EVERYTHING.
Once Renee hit $240K annually, she felt burnt out and just plain tired. “I knew if I continued like that, I would crash and burn. But I was also terrified because I felt trapped—I didn’t think I could make this level of money anywhere else.”
She took a Factora Wealth Circle and decided to take a new job with half the pressure and 75% of the pay. She also started a money-making, passion side project: photography! (@fenskefoto if you want to support and/or stalk).
ASK FOR HELP!
“I can attribute much of my financial success to me asking for help—like borrowing money from my sister, getting amazing support from my grandma, and asking my boss to help me figure out my 401K when I was fresh out of college.”
She also joined a Factora Wealth Circle, which is the ultimate move to help yourself figure things out. Once you ask for help once, it gets easier and easier.
THE NUMBERS
Annual salary: $170K
Investments: $323k
Emergency fund: $35K
Side hustle earnings: $5k total in 2019, avg. about $1000/month in last 90 days
NET WORTH: $1M
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