What is your attitude towards 'money getting' and saving?

Yes. Going from "make it rain" to "maybe I am not 50cent and I should actually be more like Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger"

I grew up poor. Not homeless poor, but sometimes if it weren't for the kindness of strangers or a government program we would have had no food poor. My parents taught me exactly nothing about money, though when I would get a few bucks from my grandparents or from an odd job that I did for someone else they would always encourage me to spend it and it was one of the few times my parents would take me to a store. So, I pretty much learned that money was impossible to come by, and if you got some, spend it as soon as possible.

I then grew up and had a chance to go to college, likely on a full scholarship for engineering. However, I was doing pretty well at my telemarketing job and made more money than my dad. I was also moving up to management and the next step up could have been a six figure job. So, I bypassed college. School always bored me anyway and this was fun, plus I was convinced that I was going to make the big bucks soon anyway, so why did I need college. A few years later the company I worked for hired a consultant who told them that I was too young and didn't project the right appearance as I was just a 20 year old kid, and they demoted me despite the fact that my department was doing a million dollars gross each month. I was insulted at best and watched the new guy come in and need my help. I left the company and that company is no longer in business.

Fast forward a bit and my wife and I are self employed. We're making more money in our cleaning business then I've ever had. The only problem was that I was supposed to take out and save my own tax money. Long story short, nearly a decade later we owed $55,000 to the IRS. I always had business ideas that I was going to start on the side to out earn my stupidity. It never worked.

We then spent 18 months working like crazy people and had to make an EXTRA $80,000 or so to clear the $55,000 needed to pay off the IRS, which we did. We cleaned all day, detailed cars on the weekend, added carpet cleaning to our repertoire, cleaned and sealed some concrete, and we would house sit for clients when they went on vacation so that we could pretty much be earning and working literally 24/7. We did 34 days straight at one stretch and something like 58 our of 60 at another, most days 16 hours or so easy. It was insane and my wife and I went through a lot, but we got it done.

THAT ^^^^^^^^^^^ will force you to learn some lessons. We now clean houses and I'll occasionally detail a car or clean carpet for a regular client, but we don't take on new clients. We backed our schedule down to a reasonable amount of work, but we still work a lot and we clear an extra $1000-1500/month over what we need. We've had to use a lot of that to catch up on some things around the house that actually needed to be done (our basement leaked like crazy and took many thousands of dollars to alleviate, and we had no living room furniture so we furnished it on the cheap, and we got a work van that wasn't an eyesore for $3500). All said though, we have enough money put away to live for 4-6 months without a dime of income now. We also budget ahead each month, living on the previous month's income so that we have an extra 30 day buffer. Whereas we once just spent and had no clue what went on, we now use the You Need A Budget software and app to track and budget all expenses and we know where every penny goes.

Next year we'll finally start investing in mutual funds for retirement, and we'll start paying the house down above and beyond that as quickly as possible. We have a pretty nice life. If we want something, we talk about it and can have it, but the reality is that now that we have money we find that we don't want so much. And let's face it, we're cleaning houses here, so it isn't like we're knocking down huge numbers each week/month/year. We work for people that have a far greater income than the two of us, but the funny thing is that we probably have a much more secure position now. No debt but our house, money in the bank, steady work that we enjoy, the freedom to pick and choose who we work for, and we have a waiting list probably 20 deep of families that want us to clean for them whenever we get an opening.

I still have problems pricing myself too cheap, as services I sell are services that I never would have bought growing up so I undervalue them. We have raised our cleaning prices, though we're still less than the big chains locally, but that's okay. We don't have to pay for marketing or overhead and our clients love us, so not everything comes down to the almighty dollar.

I come here because I love marketing and I can't market my business anymore because we can't handle the customers and don't want to expand and hire employees. I would love to get into marketing on the side and make money as a hobby but have had problems finding the time and energy to really devote to it, and because of my poor mindset I want to go after people like me and help them. You know, people that grew up poor who want to start their own self-employed hustle businesses for a better life. But the reality that I've had to come to grips with recently is that those people are just like I was back then with no money to spend on assistance. Chasing them as customers seems to be futile. Same goes for many small business owners that I know. They all say that they want help marketing but none of them will follow through and do anything. I give them advice and they don't listen. I build them a website that they want and they don't pay me and change their mind after stringing me along while not giving me the content that they promised because they're too busy and overwhelmed. So, I'm trying to set my sights higher but I honestly lack confidence because although I know what to do to help a lot of businesses, I lack the experience because I can't do those things for myself as we're covered up in business as it is. I have a real tough time asking for what I should in any new service that I want to offer. Money is in better perspective than ever, but I still struggle.

I hope that was along the lines of what you were looking for OP.

They might not, but I did!

Haha, it's okay to let your inner thoughts come out to play from time to time.