#025 – On this episode, Mayra talks to Micaela Deegan the host of the Fearless Mujer Podcast. Micaela is an empowerment coach who focuses on supporting Latinas that are ready to step into the powerful woman they were created to be. If you are wondering how to shift your money mindset from scarcity to abundance, you need to tune in to this episode.
Connect with Mayra at https://DebtFreeLatina.com Follow Mayra on Instagram at @debtfree.latina and/or @mayra.alejandra.garcia
You can find Micaela at https://FearlessMujer.com and on Instagram @thefearlessmujerpodcast
Transcription
[0:00] Are you ready to tackle those limiting beliefs that are holding you back from achieving financial success? Stay tuned as we go over how to have a complete shift in our money mindset.
[0:15] Welcome to Debt-Free Latina, the podcast where you can finally realize your dream of being debt free and feeling peace about your financial future. And now your host, Mayra Alejandra Garcia.
Mayra [0:33]: Hola, hola. On today’s episode, I’ve got a really special friend Micaela. She is the host of Fearless Mujer podcast and she is a mindset coach and an empowerment coach. Thank you so much for being here, Micaela.
Micaela: Hey, thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to chat with you today.
Mayra: Yes, me too. One of the things that I want to talk to you about is the limiting beliefs we have around money. And when we chatted a couple of weeks ago, you talked about how there’s a lot that we don’t talk about in our community, about a scarcity mindset versus the abundant mindset, and it was sort of new to me. I mean, I’ve heard the whole terms before, but I was so excited to talk about this in regards to money and how that affects us. So first, tell us a little bit about yourself, and then we’ll get right to the questions.
Micaela: Yeah, sure. So my name is Micaela. I am a mom of three. They’re a little bit bigger because I started really young. So I have a 20-year-old, a 17-year-old, and a 12-year-old, and I’ve been married for 14 years. I’m originally from Chicago. So shout out to all the Chicago people. And I live in Texas now. So it’s completely different. I’m kind of like, where’s the snow, even though I don’t like the snow if. I feel like I’m in another world. But yeah, I am an empowerment coach. Specifically, I love to work with Latinas because I believe that that’s where I’ve been called to really help women, just having grown up the way I did. I noticed that a lot of women have similar backgrounds, even though we maybe don’t come from the same place. So that’s my mission, is just really to empower women to free themselves from beliefs that hold them back so that they can influence the next generation of women.
Mayra [2:30]: I love it. And one of the things that I really think about is that this has to be something that we work on constantly, because fear can creep in and really take our joy and our passion and all the things. So tell us a little bit about how limiting beliefs affect us and how we can fight that.
Micaela: Yeah. So before I get into that, how I kind of came about all of this was from really a traumatic situation that happened in my immediate family a couple of years ago, where I was kind of in a place of devastation, where I didn’t know what to do. And I always struggled with feeling like I wasn’t good enough because I never met the expectations that my father had for me. It’s like no matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, it was never good enough, but it’s not to bad mouth my dad. I think he raised me the way that he thought was the way to raise a daughter. And again, it was probably really hard being a single dad, but at the same time, the way that that you’re raised and the things that are said to you, really do affect you. And we don’t realize that sometimes, because it’s kind of like you’re given a pair of shoes and you only know how to walk in those shoes. So, at this time in my life, I really came to a place where I was devastated, but it’s where, me being a woman of faith, God really began my healing journey. And that’s when I realized that there was a lot of lies that I was believing about myself, that were the root cause of the way that I was seeing life. So that’s the thing is, if you’re walking in these pair of shoes, but nobody comes to tell you that there’s a better pair of shoes to walk in, you’ll never know. Right? So when it comes to limiting beliefs, they’re basically just false beliefs. They really limit what you can and can’t do because you’re operating from lies, basically. And it really does affect all areas of your life. It can affect your marriage, it can affect spiritually, like a lot of people don’t want to know God because they’re like, I’m just not good enough for that. And so it’s the root thing of, I’m not good enough. But if you’re thinking this, do you ever challenge, well, why do I think that about myself? And I think that’s the problem, is that we don’t challenge it, because that’s the only way we know how to think.
Mayra [5:08]: And I think that’s very true because if you don’t know anything else, you don’t know what you don’t know. And so that’s why I think these podcasts and having more representation in the podcast world and a lot of us that are out here, that have heard something that enlightened us or have empowered us, we’re out here trying to spread the word of… like one of the things that I say all the time is Latinas can be debt-free too. And so why not? Why can’t we have the tools that other people have to fight these fears, to fight these limiting beliefs, that are like you said, lies that have been taught to us? But we really like you said, we really can’t blame our ancestors, I mean, that’s all they knew. And we’re here, we have other opportunities, especially me that I have immigrant parents, and we’ve had other opportunities that have really allowed us to learn more and think outside the box. And there’s beauty in being bilingual and bicultural, like there’s a really nice way of being able to bridge the two things of some of the things that are instilled in us from a very young age. And then some of the things that we’re learning here in the States that are a little different than our Mexican culture, wherever Latin American culture is. But sometimes it’s like, well, if we want to move ahead, especially here in the States, and we want to grow our business or we want to grow our families well, we have to learn to apply some of these things here that are a little more Americanized. Some people say like, well, that’s so Americanized. You’re so, what’s the word, you’re forgetting your roots. I hear that a lot. You’re forgetting where you come from. It’s like no, I’m actually bridging the two. I’m here to teach our people that there’s more to this limiting mindset. So I’m loving… I cannot wait to hear what you have to say. about this topic.
Micaela [7:18] Yeah. I want to talk about thinking outside of the box. And then also you touched on being Mexican American. And I think that’s the thing. We were conditioned a certain way because of how our parents were raised and the traditions that we had, which is fine. But a lot of times we’ve heard so many things, and when you’re in an environment where you’re constantly told something, you think that that’s what it is. You think that that’s the right way. And it’s not until you start to go out there and new people, that you see oh my goodness, there’s more to life and I’m sure I’ve heard the saying, Spanish phrase 7:58. Yeah. We’re Mexican Americans. So yeah, we have a lot of our roots. I’ll say all day like I’m Mexican. I speak Spanish. I love Spanish phrase. I love being Mexican as my roots, but I’m also American. And so I think it’s important that most to us being women who I think are opening doors for other women and paving the way and sharing our voice, that we do talk about things that are meaningful. So when it comes to limiting beliefs, if you’ve ever thought or looked at yourself a certain way. I hear this as a coach women who told me, I have all these ideas. I want to do all these things. I’ve been wanting to do this for five years, and we’ll just say business. And you kind of get to a place where you think okay, well why haven’t you done this? What is the difference from those people who actually do and don’t do it? Is it because they’re special and you’re not? And this is not like to judge anyone or condemn anyone. It’s just things I’ve learned from experience and also just from working with women. So a lot of times, we start to think, well, I really can’t do that because I don’t have a degree. I hear that a lot. I didn’t finish college. I don’t have a degree. I don’t have money. So I can’t do that. And it’s really beyond kind of stepping out of your comfort zone, but it’s challenging those thoughts of, well, okay, why can’t you do that? And so there’s people that have a fixed mindset where they think this is just how it always is, and I’m not even gonna try. Maybe you’ve failed once or twice and you’re just like, I’m not even going to do that because that’s just how it is. Those things are not for me, having a house is not for me. So I’m mentioning different kinds of things that come up, that are actually limiting beliefs, like having a business is not for me. So just because other people haven’t had it in your family doesn’t mean that it’s not for you, maybe you’re the one that’s supposed to do it. And then you have the growth mindset, where the growth mindset person is like well, I don’t know how to do this, but I’m going to figure it out. Oh, I messed that up. Okay, let me try it a different way. And they really find joy in figuring out how to do that. I’m talking about those two things because limiting beliefs have a lot to do with your mindset. But at the root of it, it’s more about like, how did you grow up when you were little? If you think that you’re ugly, did people around you tell you that you were ugly? If you feel that you’re fat, did people always tell you that you are fat? And it’s really a hard thing to confront and come face to face to, because you literally have to go back to when you were growing up and what were the things that were spoken over you? Because if there were certain things spoken over you, you literally have had limiting beliefs ingrained inside of you.
Mayra [11:13]: That’s good. So tell us, when we think about scarcity, money, mindset, like what does that look like? And give me an example of how can we apply this topic to money?
Micaela [11:30] Well, first of all, you got to give yourself permission to do the things that you want to do. So I think for me, I always kind of apply things to business but I’ll apply it as a mom, because we probably have some moms that listen, who want to be debt free. So when you have scarcity mentality, you’re really operating from a place of fear. And it can happen in two ways. It can show up in your life in two ways, where you’re constantly saving money. I don’t want to say hoarding, but you save it out of fear.
Mayra: Hoarding is a word. And I know me some hoarders.
Micaela: I think of Hoarders the show and I’m like, God, that just sounds so bad.
Mayra: No, but it’s people that hold their money like this. With a closed fist. You’re just holding it and you’re hoarding it and you think that it’s just for you. But when you have a closed fist, you’re not allowing money to flow in and flow out. You think that you only have control over things. And so this is one of the things that we’ve had a lot of conversations in our family, just in the last week about this. So my husband and I have been really talking about this whole mindset thing in a whole nother topic. But it’s really interesting and I’m like super pumped because one of the things that we realized was that there is so much opportunity out there. One of the things, we’re brainstorming ideas, we’re brainstorming how can we make 2022 the best year yet, how can we, because we usually go set at the end of every year. We have our budget, our template for the whole year done. We’re thinking about how we’re going to spend our time. So there’s a lot of things going on right now. So with that, I showed my husband, one of the things we talked about was where we have a little bit of fear. We have a little bit of fear and I think that some of it has been because we were really, really poor when we first got together. I think it comes from that. I think it comes from we remember getting pennies together so that we could go to Jack in the Box and get $1 sandwich or chicken sandwich. We remember these things. We are a little bit, like we have to heal that. And I told him, we got to heal that. We can go get whatever we want at the grocery store. We can get whatever we want when we eat out. We have an abundant of resources anyway. I’ll go off my tangent.
Micaela [14:09]: No, no, no, because I love it. You talked about the pennies, because that’s how I grew up with my dad. I don’t come from money. I’m a girl that grew up in the hood.
Mayra: Yeah. Me too.
Micaela: We counted pennies to buy milk. And I remember my dad just being so embarrassed because he was very proud. That was who he was. He was very proud and he took pride, obviously, like a lot of I can only say Mexican dad, because I was raised by a Mexican dad. They are very proud, but I think a lot of men are like this. They find a sense of identity and providing and when they can’t they feel like crap. So I remember we were very poor, we would eat Spanish word 14:50 all the time. I would make Spanish word repeated. I was like 12 and I would make chile with it and so I still have that. We’re low on groceries just because I’m like being lazy and I don’t want to go to the groceries, because I hate shopping. I will figure out how to make a meal with whatever I have. Because I brought that from growing up. And so I just, I love when women talk about like those things that have happened because we’re living in a time when people don’t want to talk about that. It’s not sexy to talk about counting pennies, but it is what it is. So hey, you’ve counted pennies. You’re counting pennies, it’s okay girl. Sometimes you eat ramen and sometimes you eat, I don’t know, steak.
Mayra [15:39]: So when I think of scarcity, I think it’s something that we have to, at least my husband and I, are having to work through right now. And we’re both really diving into this. I mean, he’s, like I said it’s just something we’ve just kind of discovered. We’ve known a lot, we were very practical, we can learn something and put it into practice. One of the things that I showed him was, how has this affected the business? How has this affected our choices with our money at home? We’re constantly in saving mode. We’re constantly trying to either recover from something or thinking of something that we’re going to need to buy that’s expensive. So how do you get out of that and think in an abundant mindset? Help us understand how we can make that shift.
Micaela [16:36]: Yeah, so first, you have to acknowledge that the reason why people have scarcity mentality is because you’re operating from a place of fear. And it’s not… you should save money, right? That’s not a bad thing. But when you’re hoarding it, for example, I had a friend who would argue with her husband over little things that he didn’t want to buy, like things she needed to cook with. And when you have that fear where you’re like, no, I’m not gonna buy anything, I’m not gonna buy anything. And you’re making your savings your safe place, you’re operating from a place of fear. And then also when you operate from the place of fear, thinking, I’m going to run out of money. It can really show up in your life in ways where you’re like, well, I can;t invest in that, that’s too much, I’m just not going to do it. Because you’re so scared that you might fail. You’re so scared that you’re not going to see a return in your investment. Or if you’re a mom, you’re like, you know what, I’m scared that I won’t be able to take care of my kids or get them food or whatever. And so, if you’re struggling right now, obviously, I totally get that. But if you’re in a place where you have the means and you’re still thinking that way, then you have to really dig into, well, how come? How come I have this fear? Is it because I’m scared that I can go back to one day having to count pennies again? Or am I scared that I really don’t believe in investing in myself, in my business, whatever it is. Not just business, it could be going back to school. Now with having the abundant mindset… So you really have to dig into that, you really have to get real with yourself and write down reasons why, because just, for example, something I always heard was that pastors always steal your money, so you should never give to a church. And I know other people have heard that.
Mayra: Oh, yeah, we’ve heard that.
Micaela [18:40]: So, then when we think about, oh, I think I need someone to give me accountability or help me with my finances or coaching or mindset or whatever. When you want to do that, then you’re fearful because you might think, well, that person just wants my money. Well, maybe I don’t really trust myself. So it’s fear and not trusting yourself. Now when you have the abundant mindset, it’s really digging deep and maybe for you, it could be that you have to make a pros and cons list, what can happen if, I’ll just say invest right because that’s the season of my life I’m in. What happens if I invest in this course to help me get on track with XYZ? What’s the pro and what’s the con of me doing that? Okay, so once you start digging into all the good reasons, all the good things that can come out of this long term, you start to really see that there is an abundant, that if you invest in let’s just say you invest in a mindset coach. Well, what can that mindset coach do for you? Is you working on your mindset going to help you finally go after that promotion? Is your working with a mindset coach going to finally help you start that business? Is you working with a financial coach gonna finally help you get on track so you can get that house? So you have to start thinking that way. And just know that even if you have an abundant mindset where you’re like, man, I have a lot of potential. It’s a lot of thinking about, believing in yourself, and having potential and knowing that… I’m a woman of faith, so I believe that my God has, He’ll supply all of my needs.
Mayra: That’s right.
Micaela [20:33]: I believe that my God can open the floodgates of heaven and give me what I need and multiply what I invest. I believe that with all of my heart, so when I make an investment, I pray about it. And this is so interesting because the other day I was praying and I was praying about something I invested in a few days ago, and obviously, don’t go investing in everything because you’re trying to have an abundant mindset. Make sure that it aligns with what you’re trying to do. But for those who maybe read the Bible, or have heard this story, there’s a story where the master left his servants, he basically gave them money. And one of them decided that he was going to bury it. And when the master came back, he really called him like, you’re foolish.
Mayra: That’s the hoarder.
Miceala [21:26]: Yes. And he thought he’s doing a good thing, my master’s and that’s how the Bible says it, so I don’t want to be politically incorrect.
Mayra: No, that’s accurate.
Micaela: Yeah. So he thought, wow, he’s gonna be so proud of me. And no he was mad at him because he didn’t do anything with it. And that’s how I look at it. And I think people that have an abundant mindset, because I am in a circle with a lot of other coaches, who are investing in systems or whatever it is. I always look at it that way, where you’re not making an investment out of stupidity. You’re doing it because you’re going to multiply that. And so when you think of abundant mindset, you think of multiplication. You think of long term and you think of what’s my potential. So if you want to, if you don’t have an abundant mindset now and you want to start practicing that, then you really have to dig into your fears about money and where they come from, and then dig into your potential. And what do you want long term? Because tomorrow’s not promised. How are you living your life here? And can I just say this, can I just be real? Because I don’t like to sugarcoat things. How do I say this? For a lot of women… I don’t know if guys listen to this, but we’ve been taught in this American society that we have to look really put together on the outside. We need the brand name purse, we need the brand name shoes, which is fine, however you feel happy is fine. I’m a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl, that’s me.
Mayra: Same here.
Micaela [23:10]: I would rather buy a book than a purse. That’s just me. That’s just me.
Mayra: I feel you, I feel you.
Micaela: I told my husband the other day, you know what, because I need a new purse really bad, but I’m like, I’m not gonna buy it until my book is actually done. And it’s a book and it’s out there. That’s how I’m gonna celebrate. I’m gonna buy myself a really nice purse, but I might get a Kate Spade. I don’t know. But I lost where I was going. But really just thinking about what do you want long term? Because for so many of us, we’re so distracted with binge watching TV, and looking good on the outside. But what are you really doing to help yourself internally and help your mindset and heal some of the things that you’ve been through? Because believe it or not, really digging into your mindset, because scarcity mentality is really a mindset thing. But it’s really rooted in fear, and I mean, I can kind of go on and on with even with the limiting beliefs. For example, if you’re a mom and you want to do something for yourself, I work with women who struggle with even just going to the nail salon because they feel guilty. They feel bad that, oh, I don’t want to leave my kid for too long. I’m a bad mom. And it’s like, why do you think that? And it’s really just asking, why do I think that about money? Did I get hurt with money? Whatever it is. Yeah. And I mean, a lot of times to its people, people telling you their opinion, and you not really being true to yourself.
Mayra [24:55]: That is true. I think there definitely needs to be a balance. So if let’s say you are… like for me, right? I’m already debt free. I’m investing in my 401k, my all things for retirement. There is some money leftover, what am I doing with it? So for me, I feel like, instead of investing more in the stock market or investing more in… one of the things that I’m doing is investing in my business, investing in educating myself in courses and how I can scale my business, and applying these tools that I can use in my business to simplify the processes and all that. So I think that when you have certain things in order, and when you have certain things that you’ve already met, or let’s say you’re in the process of getting out of debt. Well, let’s say you want to start a business and one of the things that you want to do is create more income so that you can get out of debt sooner. So I think it’s wise that if you are attacking debt, to have some of that and money, extra money that’s going to the debt. Also take a small percentage of that and invest it in yourself, invest it in your business, invest it in your education, invest it in your own growth, so that you can make more money. Maybe it’s going back to school, maybe you have to pay for a class, whatever it is, if you have the extra money. Now if you don’t, and I want to make this clear, because there’s a lot of people that are not, they don’t have enough to pay all their bills right now. Or maybe you put Christmas on a credit card so the next couple months are gonna be really, really tight. It’s okay to wait too. It’s okay to focus on just covering your four walls, which is food, housing, transportation, and clothing. If you can do that, you can fight another day. But if you can do that, then you should be focusing on getting a job or a second job or creating more income on the short term in order to get things in order. So there’s a lot of… everybody’s in a different path and has different opportunities. And so I want to make sure that, oh, I’m going to just invest now and forget debt freedom. That’s not what I’m saying here.
Micaela [27:26]: Just going back to Christmas, I think that we’ve been pressured to like having to go buy all these things during Christmas, if you celebrate Christmas. It’s okay to not do Christmas like everybody else. I think two years ago, maybe three years ago, I think it was two years ago, I had finally gotten to a place where I realized I was putting so much pressure on myself, just trying to do all this stuff for Christmas, where at the end of the day, it’s it’s not even about the presents. That’s not even Jesus’s real birthday. I mean, if you don’t agree with me, we can have that conversation another day.
Mayra: No, no. It’s a symbolic day, right? It’s a symbolic day.
Micaela: Relieve yourself of the pressure. If you’re struggling, you’re struggling. If you gotta get your kids Dollar Tree presents, that’s okay. You know what I’m saying? Because I think that we just live in a society where we have so much pressure from things out there telling us how we need to be. And of course, I need to get my finances in order. We had that conversation, not on air, but we had that conversation because my family went through a season of transition and I have to get back on track. So if you’re in a place where you are struggling, that’s okay, but if you know that you need help, you need accountability, there are people willing to… like churches will mentor you. There’s coaches that do masterclasses sometimes for free. So there are ways for you to get the help that you need, that accountability or extra skills, because I think that that’s really what coaching is. It teaches you new skills that equip you, new tools. So definitely don’t feel bad. Don’t feel bad if that’s not your season right now.
Mayra [29:18]: It’s all in due time. I also do think that sometimes we set deadlines on ourselves that we need to remember that it’s in God’s time, that it’s also He’s going to provide every need but it’s not going to be everything you want, when you want. So I think we need to be patient and pray and God knows our heart. We need to be able to say, I would love to make more money, or I would love to get out of debt, or whatever it is that you want. You also have to set a plan and execute it and surround yourself with people that are going to support you. So that’s all very important as well. Well, thank you very much, Micaela. It was a pleasure having you on the Debt-Free Latina podcast. Tell me where people can find you.
Micaela: Yeah, you can go to Instagram @thefearlessmujerpodcast. That’s probably the easiest place to find me. You can go to fearlessmujer.com. I do have a free guide that kind of goes deeper into limiting beliefs, helping you create custom tailored affirmations. So you can get that at fearlessmujer.com and then click on resources, and you can download that right away. So because they can kind of go really deep into that.
Mayra: Awesome. I love it. Thank you so much.
[30:43] Thanks for listening to Debt-Free Latina. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you can take Mayra with you on your journey to become debt free as you build financial wealth. Looking for more? Follow Mayra on Instagram @debtfree.latina, on Facebook @debtfreelatina, and online at debtfreelatina.com.