Why I Decided to Become a Financial Coach
I've had many great coaches throughout my life, mostly on the athletic field. Coaches who encouraged, motivated, challenged, and taught me how to be the best that I could be in the respective sport, or classroom. I've also had a few bad coaches whose styles gained them no respect. If you've had a great teacher, mentor or coach that's helped you do something you couldn't otherwise have done on your own, you know the importance of having someone take the time to show you how to do something, teach you something you don't know, and share wisdom and insights to propel you toward your goals.
Since starting cleaning up our own financial mess, and figuring this personal finance stuff out, I've wanted to accomplish two things with what I've learned...
- Be a good steward of the gifts I've been given.
- Help others do the same.
While not perfect in either of these things, I've definitely found a passion that hasn't gone away. I've been writing about personal finance tips among many other things that are important to me for years now.
So, I finally went to Nashville and got some world class training from Dave Ramsey's team. And while I was there, I got to meet some other awesome people with a similar mission as me and even got to meet Dave Ramsey himself!
Having a plan, and working toward good stewardship of our finances has done so much for our marriage, family, and future, and has provided a freedom that I can't help but share with others.
What is a Steward?
Steward is just a fancy Bible term for manager. As it relates to our money, it means we don't own any of it and God owns it all (Psalm 24:1). With that understanding and mindset, it's a bit easier to think about and handle our finances as managers. It takes the stress out of it because let's be honest, if God wanted or needed our money, he would take it.
So, we're here on earth given many great gifts of which we have the opportunity to manage well for the glory of God. Which sounds really nice if you've spent your whole life understanding this principle. However, I don't know about you, but I didn't grow up knowing or being taught any of this, so I'm spending my adult life trying to undo what's been done and make a straight path for the future.
How Financial Coaching Can Help You
The financial coaching that I do will help you create a plan to set a financial foundation rooted in Biblical principles that will guide your financial decision making with the ultimate goal of being a good steward.
Personal finances are personal (shocking, I know). You're not likely to shout from the rooftops "I don't know how to handle money!" I know I wasn't. There were a lot of disagreements (yelling) behind closed doors, a lot of frustrating months of not making any progress, and a lot of worrying and wondering how things would be paid for.
Even if you're making great money, it's likely leaking out of your bank account with little to no intention of working as hard as you did to earn it.
It wasn't until we had a solid plan in place and were working toward a future bigger than ourselves that I realized I wanted to help others take control of their personal finances. Because, while God owns it all, he has made us the managers, and that comes with a hefty responsibility of managing well.
And stewardship is not simply limited to finances, it can also apply to your time and talents as well. Our time and talents can be exchanged for money (job or career), but they can also be exchanged for serving opportunities as well.
But, since money is such a big part of the equation, as you begin to figure out the money, it allows you to think differently about stewardship and beyond what money alone could do.
If you'd like to read more about how I can help you, take a look at the financial coaching page for the details on getting started.
How has a coach or coaches impacted your life?
P.S. My 9th grade basketball coach called me out (yelled loudly at me in front of the team) on being lazy during practice one day. That lit a fire in me through the rest of high school to develop a better work ethic.