If you believe that “you reap what you sow,” then there is no better time to begin to understand how your relationship with money, or simply your money story, is filtered through your individual money personalities. Your money beliefs, stories, and feelings are like an invisible GPS, secretly controlling every decision, action, and opportunity in your career or business. These powerful emotions within you determine how much money you have in your bank account, whether or not you ask for a raise, talk about needed treatment with patients, discount your services, and the amount of success you allow in.
For spring issues, I am writing a series of articles with the theme, “Money Makeover.” The articles won’t necessarily get you in bikini shape for the summer. Yet, when you read them, you are going to get excited, because they will help you begin to transform how you think and feel about money, regardless of whether you are a sun worshiper or shade seeker this summer.
First, let’s get started by understanding what money personalities or money archetypes are. The word “archetype” means a model or theme. Archetypes are something that people around the world immediately recognize because no matter what culture someone is from, archetypes share universal characteristics.
For example, two familiar archetypes are the “hero” or “mother” archetypes. Archetypes are not only something that everyone can refer to regarding actions and characteristics, but also people relate to them energetically or spiritually. This is what makes archetypes an exciting guide that will help you step up into your uniquely authentic power with money, as well as other areas of your life.
The way I think of archetypes is that they are a pattern of power within you that contains a complete set of stories, beliefs, motivation, fears, and courage. They give you direction in making choices that help (or hinder) you in life, including your business or career. For example, if someone’s primary money archetype is the Connector, which many oral health professionals are, he or she is going to share certain thoughts, perspectives, strengths, and challenges as other people who have that same primary archetype. If someone’s primary archetype is the Ruler, then he or she will share similar characteristics amongst each other, but these will be very different from the Connector’s—different strengths, different challenges, and a different inner motivation. Because of this, the Ruler’s relationship with money is going to look very different than the Connector’s and vice versa.
Understanding your relationship first and then your team’s archetypes supports a profitable environment.
Let me frame this for a dental practice. The knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes (KSAs) that a doctor and team possess influence the profitability of their practice management systems (insurance, continuing care, financial arrangements, case acceptance, etc.). Those systems and KSAs are being filtered or seen through the lens of the owner’s and team’s money personalities. The systems, protocols, task lists, monitors, KPIs are tracked and gathered. Yet, the individuals are energized, function, and/or perform through the perspective of their money personalities.
Consider, the Celebrity and Ruler archetypes could each present treatment options to a patient, but each is going to approach the conversation in a different way with conceivably different outcomes, due to the makeup of his or her archetypes.
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You can make powerful shifts very easily when you know what your money personalities are. Knowing them opens the gateway to you, empowering your strengths and consciously handling your challenges so that you are no longer carrying out your job duties and responsibilities unconsciously, trying to be someone you are not or even operating from the shadow side of your archetypes. Why? Because high performance teams must feel whole and in alignment inside and outside of job roles and the practice.
In the next Director's Message article, I’ll introduce you to each of the eight money personalities (Ruler, Alchemist, Romantic, Celebrity, Maverick, Nurture, Connector, and Accumulator). You can learn about the unique personality of each one and begin to identify the traits and characteristics that are already within you.
Regards,
Kristine Hodsdon, RDH, MSEC
RDH eVillage, Director
Kristine Hodsdon RDH, MSEC is the editorial director of PennWell’s RDH eVillage e-newsletter. She provides executive coaching and team training so busy professionals easily create profitable systems that serve more clients. Visit www.kristineahodsdon.com with inquiries regarding her coaching and CE programs.
Works Cited
- Jung CG, and R.F.C. Translated by Hull. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. New York: Princeton University Press, 1968.
- Myss C. Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2002.
- Pearson CS. Awakening the Heros Within. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
- Summerhawk K. Sacred Money Archetypes. 2014.
