Trust Yourself, Enjoy the Journey

In this, the inaugural Blog post for Intuitive Money Musings - I thought it was important for you to know a little bit about ME and how Intuitive Money Management, and my business, got its start!

In case you haven't met me, yet... My name is Nichole Weaver. I'm an Intuitive Financial Coach and Money Management Strategist. When I say "Intuitive", I don't mean 'woo-woo' connecting to "Spirit" and all that - nope. I mean that YOU get to connect to YOUR intuition so that you can truly TRUST yourself with money.

I'm also a Mom of two, an Army Wife, and a Registered Nurse... but we'll get more into that in a sec.

First, you should know this about me:

I love money.

I love budgets and spreadsheets and saving.

I love numbers and math.

Yes, I’m a weirdo.

And yes, I’ve always been this way. 😂

But even though I loved all things numbers and money, it didn’t mean I was GOOD at managing my own money.

I just did what my dad showed me how to do:

👉🏼I listed my bills and the dates they were due.

👉🏼I listed my paychecks and subtracted them to see what I had left over.

👉🏼Then, I spent it, all of it, every month.

My bills were paid, I was enjoying life, and nothing was “wrong,” really. So I just kept going.

Then, I got married in 2012 (11 years ago TODAY, in fact!!).

Not only did I bring over $25,000 in debt into the marriage (my husband being debt-free), but I was going to be out of work for a year because we were moving out of the country.

I had to make sure WE were being more responsible with his (ahem… OUR) money because things were about to get tight.

Then Dave Ramsey came into my life.  

A friend introduced me to the guru and his Baby Steps methods.  We started a real budget and started to make a little bit of headway into our debt once I started working.

In 2016, we went FULL intensity… beans and rice, just like Dave teaches. We didn’t eat out, I didn’t get my hair or nails done. We hunkered down and threw every extra dime we had at my student loan.  And we did AWESOME… we paid off $16,000 in 6 months!

But... we were EXHAUSTED. 

What should’ve been an expression of excitement when we paid off my loan instead came out simply as an exasperated sigh.  Ugh, FINALLY.

Yeah, we still have my whole car to pay off and a few thousand on a credit card. But can we just take a break? Can we do something fun and take a vacation?  I just want to go see a movie! Let’s just take ONE month off from the Baby Steps to enjoy our lives!

That one month turned into seven. 

We enjoyed our lives, sure. But... maybe a little TOO much?

By January 2017, we had bought a house we couldn’t afford, with no money down. We financed THREE new computers and a new couch – totaling another $14,000 in credit card debt.

We had swung from one extreme to the other. 

**insert facepalm here**

Something had to give. 

So, we chose to find a balance.

💚We respected our priorities, stuck to our values, and still found a way to honor our true desires.

💚We made extra payments on one debt at a time to get real momentum.

💚We went on a couple vacations and even cash-flowed a move across the country.

Two years later, we made the final payment on our debt.

WE WERE DEBT FREE!!!!

I posted all the pictures and screams all over social media!!

And the messages started rolling in.

How did you do it?

What should I do?

Can you help me?

And I did. I loved helping people learn how to use the budget software we love.  I loved helping people calculate what loan payoff made the most sense to them!

Immediately I thought, “Oh, I could be a financial coach!” but Imposter Syndrome got its claws into me. You see, despite my love for math and numbers, I didn’t have a degree in finance, or accounting, or even business.

Nope. I was a nurse. I AM a nurse.

Instead, I chased shiny objects until the world ground to a screeching Covid-filled halt.

I saw the health impact first-hand working in the ICU.

I also saw the economic impact on my friends, colleagues, and family.

78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Which means, when the world shut down, 78% of Americans were at risk of their lights being shut off.

It was devastating.

And, it was the wakeup call I needed.

I knew I could help.

Despite having only half-arsed his plan, I jumped into training to be a Financial Coach under Dave Ramsey’s program. 

I started working with clients in May 2020 and I started to see a pattern of common concerns:

😭"What if this blows up in my face?"

😭"I make too much money to feel broke!"

😭"I'm so bad with numbers!"

😭"I work so hard, I should be able to have fun!"

😭"I've never been taught how to handle money!"

😭"I am so impulsive, I can't help myself!"

😭"I'll never be able to figure this out!"

😭"I just don't trust myself with money!"

Even though I wasn’t always good with money, I'd never actually had these kinds of thoughts and concerns.

Hello again, Imposter Syndrome!

I started to worry that I couldn't be an effective coach if I didn't have the same exact struggles as my clients. How would I be able to empathize and understand what they’re going through?

But then it hit me. These thoughts are SO familiar, just replace "money" with "food."

This was a game changer for me..

I realized that the same way I feel about eating/food is the way my clients feel about money.

My empathy grew exponentially because I understood the emotion. I understood what was happening in their hearts and minds!

I began reading and learning about Intuitive Eating.

It's the idea that we can trust ourselves to make food choices that honor our hunger, respect our bodies, and bring peace and trust around food.

Since beginning to implement these principles, I found peace, confidence, trust, freedom, and true enjoyment in my eating journey.

And a freaking LIGHTBULB went off.

OMG! Intuitive Money Management!

YES! Holy hell, that's it!!

I started reflecting on my experiences with my own journey, with my clients, and the things I have learned along the way.

And I developed a beautiful framework for Intuitive Money Management!! ((You can find the a rundown of that in this YouTube playlist HERE))

I realized how important it was for people to be able to make peace with money, trust themselves with money decisions, and to find true financial fulfillment.

That's right - "Financial Fulfillment" - not "financial freedom".

The thing is, financial freedom is a moving goalpost. It’s a far-off goal that’s always changing from one season to the next, and it always feels like something you might achieve someday.

But, financial fulfillment is a feeling. It’s available NOW. It’s that feeling of excitement about what you’re creating. It’s being confident in the decisions you’re making. It’s celebrating your wins now and being stoked about what’s to come! It’s knowing that everything you dream about IS possible and IS happening – and it’s learning to enjoy the journey, even in the messy middle!!!

Other plans don’t push you that way. They push you to put your head down and do as they tell you. No matter your situation, get intense for a few years until you finally hit the elusive goal of “financial freedom.” And it’s freaking EXHAUSTING.   

I experienced that first hand.

In 2016, right after we paid off my student loan, I actually called the Dave Ramsey show to ask (as if I needed his permission!) if I could pause our baby steps to take a trip back to Europe, where we had lived for three years prior – to see our friends. 

He called me stupid on the air. True Story. 

Needless to say, we didn't go back to Europe that year. 

Or the next.

Or the next.

We were supposed to go in 2020, but we all know how that turned out.

And yet, for some reason …I still thought Dave was spot on!  The steps work!  Follow the plan!

So... when I started working with clients, I was focused on getting them on a budget, making them a checklist and a spreadsheet, and working them through “the plan.”

It didn’t take long for me to realize that my clients were real people with real families, unique values, unique situations and unique priorities. I realized that money management couldn’t always be about black and white steps on a checklist.

Your money journey gets to be as unique as you are.

I believe it gets to be INTUITIVE.

That means you get to TRUST yourself to make the money decisions that feel good to YOU based on YOUR desires, values, principles, and priorities. 

And, I believe you get to ENJOY the journey.

You get to love every step, do things that bring you joy, find fulfillment along the way, and cultivate real wealth.

So, I created a program that shows people how to do exactly that.

Intuitive Money Mastery shows you how to make peace with money, trust yourself with financial decisions, create a money system that feels good to you, and enjoy the freaking journey along the way.

In many ways, it’s the complete opposite of Dave Ramsey’s program.

Does that make me stupid?

Maybe?

But is it changing lives on a DAILY basis??

Heck yeah, it is.

So hang out with me as we muse through the things I've learned an uncovered along the way. I'll share stories of client success, teach you things you should've been taught growing up, and just generally encourage you along your money journey - because it gets to be FUN!

I can't promise I'll post with any specific regularity - but I'll trust my intuition to guide me to share exactly what you need to hear, when you need to hear it!

If you want to hear from me more often - sign up for my regular Money Mindset newsletter

OH! And just for fun... you can grab my favorite Freebie, too! The PDF Guide to the S.I.M.P.L.E. Budget Method - the best place to start when figuring out your money!!