32 Comments
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Dipesh Malhotra's avatar

I wish I could bookmark this email. (Starred it in Gmail). Our relationship with money is so hidden we don't realize how bad it is unless someone else points it out, you're like that someone to me speaking from behind the screen through your coach Nick :D

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Alice Lemee's avatar

Thank you Dipesh! Yes that’s the goal — to distill everything I’ve learned with Nick so it can help others 🤞🏼

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Darlington George's avatar

This is so relatable. Especially the part about putting proposal off for later. This is helping questions my beliefs around money. Thank you.

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Jonathan Hinds's avatar

Nice post. I recently switched to freelance writing after 10 years as a bartender in Canada, you hit on several things I'm feeling. I believe success will come so I'm appreciating these early steps knowing that it will begin to grow.

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Anna Seirian's avatar

Beautifully written and so helpful. "Not very motivated" and I felt that pikachu meme on a different level 🤣. This summer I was doing a bit of work for my 78 year old neighbor who scolded me for saying I would send him an invoice and not doing it right away. I was SAT 🫡🪑 when he explained to me the energetic importance of being on top of these things. WHEW. what a journey. Proud of you and inspired by what you wrote here!!

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Piotr Wieczorek's avatar

The part about self-sabotage and feeling guilty about accepting money is highly relatable.

As it's stated, fear comes from the stories we tell ourselves, not the actual reality.

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Alice Lemee's avatar

Absolutely. We all have our own stories that we tell ourselves about money. It turns out, the story "Money comes with blood, sweat, and tears" is very, very common.

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Ben Detalle's avatar

This made me think. Thanks for writing it Alice

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Alice Lemee's avatar

Thank you for reading, Ben 🙏

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Charlie Dice's avatar

Thank you for sharing what so many of us feel and have trouble verbalizing.

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Alice Lemee's avatar

Thank you for those kind words, Charlie! Here to help. :)

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Camilo Moreno-Salamanca's avatar

Just commenting as a reminder to myself to read this daily like a manifestation. Thanks for writing this!

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Alice Lemee's avatar

I got you!

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Amy Suto's avatar

Love this piece! Mindset is such a key part of the freelancing process. And excited to be a sponsor for this edition!

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Alice Lemee's avatar

It was an easy choice, I love your job board!!

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Joyce Chou's avatar

"I believed every project needed to cost me blood, sweat, and tears to be worthwhile." So relatable! Thanks for writing this, Alice.

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Alice Lemee's avatar

Thank you for reading, Joyce! I so appreciate you as a long-time Internetly reader 💌

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Janis Ozolins's avatar

Thanks for sharing. I can relate a lot to this. Fun fact I was equally surprised for getting a 7 EUR tip by working in a Bar for a week. 😅

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Alice Lemee's avatar

Thank you for reading! And lol. It's always a bit surprising. The irony is that you have zero idea what the patrons financial situation is. For all you know, that 7 euro or $250 USD is a drop in the bucket to them

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Janis Ozolins's avatar

Well said! 🤝 And I love to read your newsletters. :)

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Matt Cyr's avatar

Lot of good takeaways in here. Creatives’ relationship with money is always something that fascinates me. Important to do work around that.

I especially liked the part in this where you figured out the “unmotivated” comment. So important to do that in coaching. Usually there’s truth in those notes that hit, but its not always 100% on point. I find so much value in a suggestion when I can figure out how best to apply in a way that feels genuine.

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Alice Lemee's avatar

Happy to hear you got something out of this, Matt. That's always the goal.

And totally. Something super helpful has been to ask myself/others: When you say [X], what do you mean, exactly?"

In this case, "unmotivated" didn't mean "lazy" but more so "governed by fear." I suggest anyone to try this mental exercise out. It's very revealing.

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Melissa Sandfort's avatar

I need to get my Notion act together. Helpful reminder!

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Giana Vasoncellos's avatar

Nicks advice >>>>

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Felicia A. Iyamu's avatar

Limiting beliefs are the main hurdles in life, aren’t they? Congrats! Keep going!

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Krista Kirkham's avatar

This is the first post I’ve ever saved on Substack. After dreaming about it for almost a decade, I finally launched my freelance writing business 2 months ago. Being self-employed has brought up a lot of subconscious shit for me, especially around money. It’s so dense and layered for me, and has been hard to face and navigate. You put words to what I’ve been struggling to name for weeks. Reading this gave me a lot of clarity. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 🙏🏼 ❤️

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