The Cause & Effect of Overworking & Underearning

I'm Kinsey Machos, your host and founder of the category Queen. Welcome to the podcast for coaches, consultants, and course creators who don't just want to dominate their niche, but they desire to play in their own league. My mission is to help you unlock the power of your unique brilliance and use it as a vehicle to gain recognition, reach more people, and make more money. Not too long ago, I took a bold leap, leaving behind a six figure corporate salary with nothing more than a used MacBook and a burning desire for more freedom. Today, our brand has become globally recognized, helping thousands of female founders to become industry leading experts. Join us each week as we go on a journey together to discuss mindset, marketing and money, and more importantly, the real life discussions about balancing success with motherhood and marriage.

Because we're a community of women who build and scale impact driven businesses, but do it without sacrificing the things that matter most to us. Welcome to the category queen show. Hello my beautiful souls. It's so good to be here with you today. I just got back from the most amazing trip in Nashville. I had the pleasure and opportunity to emcee an event for one of my best girlfriends and it was so incredible. The speaker lineup, the people, the energy. It was really just so amazing.

And I know that I always say this, and I'm going to continue to say this, but really just reinforcing the idea of getting in the room with people that light you up, people that are going to activate a new version of you, people that are going to inspire you to dream bigger, do bigger, and really just getting you out of your day to day routine, your environment. I think we get used to the same old. And sometimes we need to be transplanted into a different environment to really have that full picture perspective of like where you might be out of alignment, or where you need to course correct, or where you need to really step into your true potential. And that leads me to the conversation that we're going to have today regarding this idea of overworking and under earning.

I am such a big believer of the philosophies and the concepts that I want to unpack with you today. And one of the core reasons why I feel so passionate about this topic is because I do believe that so many women, especially the ones that are really trying to leverage their unique brilliance to create change, not just in their clients lives, but their lives, those are women that are really, truly living in their brilliance and are creating movements. And yet, time and time again I see these very women overworking and under earning and you might even resonate with this.

And I think that we will always have these seasons where we realize that we are out of alignment with either what we're doing in our business or our life or the amount of money that we're making in relation to the value that we believe we can provide. Now, there's a lot here I was trying to really organize my thoughts around this because I could go so many different directions on this. And truly, there's so much depth to the conversation that we're going to have.

And so I just want to, like, scratch the surface a little bit and invite you to just open up in relation to the things that we're going to talk about Today and start to go on a journey of your own discovery and curiosity to figure out where you might be blocking yourself from the abundance that you want to create in your life. And so when I think about this concept of overworking and under earning, I want to start first with this idea of overworking. And when we think about even the cause and effect of these two things, overworking and under earning, there's a lot of things that play into this. There's a lot of nuances and a lot of variables based on your unique situation and your unique life.

But underneath all of it, I can guarantee you that all roads lead to a feeling or some sort of belief around your own worthiness. And I heard Gabby Bernstein say this before, in that in everything, the underlying component to all the self limiting beliefs and all the limitations that we put on ourselves, everything's always connected to this worthiness piece. Whether we feel unworthy of the things that we truly desire or we are just constantly bumping up against this, like, not annoying. And I never really used to resonate with that, but I 100% do see where it shows up in my life.

And so, first and foremost, really making sure that you understand that although we're going to talk about these different variables that play into someone that is working too much and under earning, really the true, the truth underneath all of it is the worthiness piece. And so that's the first thing that I want you to really start to think about, is where do you feel deserving or not deserving for the things that you want in your life? And this could be simply even you not giving yourself permission to even desire the things that you truly desire. Where have you been dishonest with yourself in what you want, what you don't want? And where have you been not really staking the or putting a claim or a stake on the things that you want to call in for yourself.

This could also look like you, on the surface are an overachiever. You're doing all the things right. You've always been really noted or complimented on your successes. And working hard up until now has gotten you to where you're at. And though all of that, still, underneath all of that, there's still this sort of piece of you that feels like you can't have the things that you truly want. And so it kind of gets buried in there. I think that overachievers are probably the most vulnerable to this because of that piece, because it can be so suppressed with the achievement of that cycle. And so stay with me here, but first, just kind of paying attention to what comes up for you when you start to unpack the worthiness piece and the deservingness. Right?

Do you feel like you truly deserve the things that you desire? And even within that, are you being honest with yourself and the things that you do desire for your life and your business? But let's go back to this idea of overworking, and I'm going to be honest with you. I think this is something that I still have to really lean into and I'm still really learning for myself because for my entire almost life, I would say starting with the age of 14, when I got my first job, I was, I have been always really proud of my work ethic and working harder and hard working has always gotten me to where I wanted to be.

And so when I became an entrepreneur, I already sort of had this awareness that only got me so far and I had to really shift out of that identity. And hard working is really ingrained in all of us. Right. It's this belief that I just have to work harder to be successful or I just have to work harder to make the extra money. And society does a really good job of ingraining that in us by rewarding that. Right. When you think about yourself in a corporate career and being promoted because you're working really hard and you're demonstrating those credentials, or you go back to school and get more credentials, and so maybe you get that promotion again or overtime, right? If I just work more hours and I can get paid more.

So there's all these instances in society where we actually do get rewarded for working harder, but again, that is only going to take you so far. Now, I don't love to get this. I think talking about this is a very fine line because sometimes this can be portrayed as not having a good work ethic. So having a good work ethic and working harder, I think, are two separate things, and we have to really learn and discern the difference in that. It's really the energy behind that, which I'm going to talk about and circle back to here in a minute. But what I don't want this to be confused around is like, that things will be easy or that things should always be fun or that you don't have to, quote unquote, work hard to get the things that you want.

But if you are in a place where you are trying all the things, you're doing all the things right, you're literally like the best student, the best mentee, and you are following all the advice of the people that have given it to you, and you're still not quite getting the results that you want. This message is absolutely for you, especially if you feel like the input you're putting in isn't matching the output. Right. It's sort of like, if I'm working 30 hours a week in my business, why am I not getting paid for that, right. As an entrepreneur, it's sort of funny how we, you know, want to get outside of the confines of corporate and sort of this clock in, clock out mentality.

But sometimes you probably have thought like, man, it would actually be nice to get paid hourly because I'm working like a dog and yet I have little to show for it. And so this message is absolutely for you. And I think that there's a lot of different things, again, that can play into this, aside from sort of that really underneath layer of worthiness. But one of the things is the most obvious, which is focus. You're focusing on the wrong things. And I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about that component because that really is more of a strategic aspect of this conversation.

I don't want to go too much into that, but it's important to really know that you should understand and identify the things that are going to move the needle the most in your business for the season that you're in and really making sure that the strategy, the business model, even the behaviors of that version of yourself do align with where you're at in your business and that the energy you put in is hopefully absolutely giving you some sort of return. Now, just getting started as an entrepreneur and, like, that learning curve is really high. And so there will be a disproportion of input and output. And this is where I don't want to confuse people because it can be misconstrued, is like well, I should be making six figures right away, or I need to be making ten k months in three months, right.

As a brand new entrepreneur, you have to understand that you do have to go on a learning curve, and sometimes that's bigger for some than others. But, and a lot of times, we can shorten that by focusing on less and mastering the things that you're doing. And so really getting clear on where you're at in your business and what truly is going to move the needle instead of copying and pasting what everybody else is doing or trying to take on a business model that isn't right for you, because that will 100% play into overworking. Now, the bigger piece to this that I really want to focus on is the overworking that's caused by the limitations or the beliefs that you have behind that.

So when you think about it, I just, like I mentioned, you know, society does a really good job of making us believe that we have to work really hard in order to create success, but we actually have to detach from that, and we have to really unpack what we believe to be true about money, about work, about success. And when you start to unpack that, there's going to be limitations that you will see and notice that are actually keeping you exactly where you're at. And it doesn't matter how hard you work or how many hours per week you decide to put in, you will never break through that plateau because of this ceiling that you've placed on yourself with those limitations.

So if you've always believed that you need to work harder in order to make more money, then you will constantly be working harder, no matter how much money you're bringing in, and that is a cause for burnout. But if you've always. If you've also started to believe these other things about yourself and or your worthiness, and you're working hard by trying to outpace those beliefs, that is where the burnout occurs. I do not believe that burnout comes from working a lot of hours. I think there's going to be times and seasons where you do want to increase your. Your input, if you will, and how much you're working and you go through sprint seasons.

But if it's energetically not, if it's not naturally coming through you, if you're not excited and you're not like, oh, heck, yeah, I'm ready to grind for the next couple months, or this is totally a sprint. Let's go. If you're not feeling that energy, then it's not a good, that is not a good strategy for you. And you are trying to outpace something that's deep within you that's actually going to just keep you exactly where you are. I imagine sort of like this cord around, like a marathon runner. And if you were to wrap this cord and someone was holding that cord around the runner, and they're sprinting and they're just freaking going and going, and yet this cord is just holding them exactly in the same spot. That's what I see a lot of entrepreneurs doing.

It's like if I just run faster, then I will be able to, then I can be successful, then I can get to the finish line. But if you have that energetic cord that's wrapped around you, it doesn't matter how fast you run, you will be stuck exactly where you are. And that, I believe, is actually the key sort of culprit to overworking and burnout is because if you believe that you are not worthy or deserving of the success you desire, you can not out the ratio of you working hard, you will never be able to outwork that belief. And so it's just going to be a buildup of, like, working harder, trying harder, and soon enough, it just builds and explodes right up in your face. Now, separate to that, but also in alignment.

When we think about under earning, again, these two concepts, overworking and under earning, are so ingrained within each other. But also, I like to look at them separately because there's different limitations that play into them, but they're all weaved within one another that create this sort of explosion of, again, overworking, under earning, which is just an unhappy business owner and an unhappy woman. And that's not what I want for you in your life. And so we think about under earning. I think about that directly to the money that you're bringing in and feeling like it's, again, a disproportion to the what you're putting into the business. Now, I'll just repeat the fact that there will be times that you have to invest the time first to see the ROI on the money. But again, it shouldn't be a lot.

If you are really operating in the season that you need to operate in and you're focused on the right things, there shouldn't be a whole lot of, or the disproportion to that shouldn't be huge. But under earning, really underneath that is tied to the money mindset. And I know that people will likely, some of you might be rolling your eyes right now and, like, want to click out. But I just want you to hang with me for a minute, because if you're somebody that's saying right now, oh, I've done all the money mindset, oh, I've done all that work, I'm. I'm aware of my money story.

If you're saying, if you're not saying those things and you need to understand that, then that's something that you absolutely need to unpack and start to go on a journey around and really understanding what your relationship is with money. But 100% I guarantee that if you're under earning right now, meaning you are not making the money that you want to make in your business, it is directly correlated to not just your worthiness, obviously, but it's the worthiness of money. What do you believe to be true about money and how it's earned, how it's held and how it's released? And there's so many different variables within this. There's all the different types of people. You have people that are living in lack, and so they are literally repelling money.

I just talked to a client the other day, and she literally said to me where she was having a conversation with a potential client, and this person was like, basically, like, begging her for her coaching offer, her signature offer, which is, you know, a five figure or four figure investment. And my client had shared with me that she had prejudged this person, she had pre judged this person, and had already decided that this person wouldn't be able to afford her. And so instead of giving her the details of her signature offer, she tried to push her off to just a little couple hundred dollars of like, we'll try this first. But this woman pushed her. She's like, no, I want the thing. Like, tell me what I need to do, and literally begging for her.

And my client just had this beautiful realization in the moment of all the things that were going on in her head and all the limitations she was holding onto that stopped her from putting that offer out on the table and letting this person really receive that gift, even if she didn't say yes. But to be able to see what was possibility for her, right. And to be able to make that decision on her own. Right. She would have, she totally did this person a disservice by not first giving her that option. And that is a perfect example of repelling money.

When you are in a state of lack or fear and there's all this judgment that goes into that, and your mind is just cycling through all the reasons why you can or cannot quote a client or make $5,000 from one person or one conversation, right. You are going to self sabotage. You're going to turn away money. And so that's a perfect example of somebody that's living a little bit in fear and lack. You also have people that don't trust themselves with money, right? And so they'll get rid of it just as fast as it comes in. This is definitely something that I started to see in myself a couple years back. And then you have everything in between, but there's always a money story.

And if you were to look at your patterns and behaviors of money, you're going to start to quickly find where you might be out of alignment with the type of money you want to earn. So if you can even, you know, even bring yourself to raise your prices, even though you know it's time and you're under charging, then you are going to continue to under earn.

Now, this isn't one of those conversations of, like, you have to raise your price to make more money, but it is really just offering the invitation to say, is my pricing strategy in alignment to who I want to serve, how I want to serve, and my revenue goals, my money goals, and do I feel good about where that's at, or am I pricing because I'm really afraid that people will judge me or I'm afraid that people will say no. And so I'm just going to play it safe. I'm telling you, anywhere you might be feeling like you're playing it safe, right? Safety means there's no growth there, and so you will continue to get the same results that you're getting right now. And so when it comes to under earning, we have to really start to unpack the reasons why you're under earning.

I would love to tell you that it's all because your marketing isn't good or you need a better strategy. And I do believe all of those things play into it, but it's really a small fraction compared to the inner work of what I'm asking you to do here, because I have seen people create incredible results in their businesses and in their lives without having the most shiny best strategy, whether that's a marketing strategy or a selling strategy. And so if you feel like you're just constantly chasing the next thing or trying to try, you know, if I just get this strategy, then I'll be successful. And you're just constantly trying things on, but you're not getting the results from it. It's not about the person who shared the strategy or the strategy itself. It's the person that's implementing the strategy.

If you are not in alignment to the true desires that you want to call into your life and you're not vibrating that frequency, that version of you that attracts that type of success in your life, you will be overworking and under earning. Period. You know, I personally have found myself in this recently where I was trying so hard, and things were just not lining up for me in the way that I desired. Now, I kept justifying this because there's so many ways we could justify this, right? It's like, oh, I just need to give it more time. I'm too impatient. My expectations are too high.

But the truth is, when I look back at any of those times that I felt like I was trying really hard and the feeling was like this white knuckle, it's because I'm out of alignment with the thing that I'm doing or I'm not surrendering to the plan, which I think also play into each other. So when you're trying to control everything and you set your eye on a target, and it's like, I'm going to get here by doing this, and I am going to. I'm never going to quit. And this is exactly how I'm going to get there. And I'm going to hang on tight, and I'm going to do everything I can to get there. Now, I am the first one to admit that I do not like to identify as a quitter.

And when I set my eye on something, I'm going for it. Balls to the wall. But what I've learned is when you think that you have 100% control and you're not surrendering to a bigger power at play, that is when shit hits the fan. I was just telling a client, you know, it's sort of like when. When God's kind of giving you these signs and he's telling you're off course and we need to get back on track here. You're out of alignment. This isn't for you. I have a better plan for you. And he's just like. He starts by throwing pebbles at you, right? And these pebbles show up as, like, a failed masterclass or some, you know, a piece of content that got lots of haters or whatever, right?

There's sort of these, like, little signs of like, hey, we need it, like, course correct here. And you just continue to hold on tight. You're like, I'm just going to keep trying, and I'm going to work harder and I'm going to fix my way through this. But he keeps telling you, he keeps giving you the signs. And the pebbles get bigger. They become rocks. And then before you know it, there's a whole tsunami that's just wiping you out, and you're in this perfect storm of despair and frustration. Maybe depression, anxiety, maybe everything feels like it's breaking, and you're like, how did I even get here? But the whole time, God was trying to show you that you were off path, and he was trying to get you back on path. And he's so gracious, and sometimes he does it very loving and gently.

But if we've refused to listen, and if we refuse to surrender and lean in, then he has to give us those signs bigger and bigger, and before we know it, take it all away so that we do listen. And I think this is. I see how this has played out in my life, in my business, time and time again. When I think I have 100% control and I think I can just fix my way through it or work harder to make my way through the other side of it, things just get worse. And we have to go back to really surrendering. And if you sort of lean into this idea of alignment so it's not necessarily, again, everybody's going to be in a different season, and the way that you hear this is going to be different in where you're at.

Perhaps you have been looking to pivot. Maybe you just don't feel aligned with the things that you've been talking about anymore. Maybe you have been wanting to introduce a new offer, but you were too afraid to do that because you wanted to stick with one offer. Right? You know, I'm thinking about all, even the rules that I used to abide by. And you are just really in this space of feeling like something is a little off, and you've been maybe getting some of those signs, but you haven't been listening to them. And this is sort of that sign of like, okay, there's something here I need to lean in, and what would it look like to let go again?

This is going to look like it's going to look different for everybody, but it could mean leaning into the thing that you know you want to do, but it scares the shit out of you, right? It could mean that you just give yourself permission to experiment with that one thing that's been on your heart, but you've been too afraid. Maybe it's firing that employee that isn't serving you. Maybe it's bringing a topic to your content that is so important to you, but you've been afraid to talk about it because it's polarizing. Maybe it's this new version of you that's starting to come through, and it's time to get back into alignment with that voice, that version of you, and bring more of that into your marketing. Now, I want you to know that this is a big topic amongst my clientele right now.

All of these women are going through iterations of this, and so it's likely that you might be, too. And it's. It looks and feels a little bit different for everybody, but underneath all of it is this idea of surrendering. And when you're at that place of white knuckling your life in your business, and you're just freaking hanging on tight, and it feels so freaking hard, and it. But yet nothing's lining up. There's something there. There is absolutely something there that you need to pay attention to. And it means really clearing the clutter, clearing the noise, and. And asking yourself, where am I out of alignment? Where do I need to get back into alignment with myself? What do I want? What feels fun for me? What does it look like to XYZ? Whatever you've got on your mind. And also going back to the.

The concept earlier on in this episode in worthiness, are you being honest with yourself? What are you denying yourself of? Where do we need to be more honest with yourself, with ourselves, in what we want, what we don't want? And sometimes it just means asking ourselves those questions more often. You are an evolving human, and it's okay for your business to evolve with you, which means making changes, innovating, updating, staying in alignment to you and your most authentic self. Because I believe that truly, truly overworking and under earning comes from outpacing your own limitations or trying to outpace your own limitations. And part of that is not really knowing you and what you want or taking the time to ask yourselves those questions. Does this even feel fun to me? Is this even something I want? Does this offer feel exciting to me?

Do I even want to do it this way anymore? And I think that in an industry right now, and I will be the first to admit that, again, I think it is important to simplify your business and have one offer. But what we hear a lot in the industry is, yeah, stick to the one thing and you have to be bored, and it's okay. But there's also so much more to that if you start to unpack that message. A lot of the people that are talking about that also have several failed journeys up until that point or several failed offers up until that one signature offer. And so we have to really know that there's context to everything. And so whatever rules you think you're following, I want you to kind of, like, let go of those right now.

And if this message is resonating with you, and if you feel like you are trying too hard with little to show for it, then this is the first place. It's not about the strategy, per se. It's about who you are and who you're being. And is that in alignment to your desires with the assumption that you even know what you want? And I think a lot of you haven't even taken the time to ask yourself that or haven't done it in a while. And so let's update that. Let's really get updated on our own true desires, get back into alignment with our unique voice, our unique brilliance, and then start to align the strategy from there. That is where I know 100%, this overworking, under earning. Again, aside from this idea of focusing on all the.

On all the wrong things, which is totally normal, especially as a beginning entrepreneur, but again, that also stems from lack of confidence, lack of self concept, and that also stems from the limitations. Right. Which then, if we kind of circle it all back, it's this worthiness piece. And so I'm just asking you and inviting you to go inward and really just be honest with yourself and start to explore these things with so much love and curiosity, not shame and judgment, and start to see where your blocks are, the energetic blocks, right. The things that are holding you back from really stepping into your fullest potential in this next season of life. Because if you're not getting what you want, it's not because you're not worthy of it. And it's not. Definitely not because you're not capable of it.

It's because there's something there that is keeping you from it. And it's nothing or no one outside of you. It's inside of you. And we got to figure out what that is and release it and start to heal it and nurture it, whatever that looks like. So I hope this message resonated with you again. There's so much to unpack here. I would. I would love to have. Probably have several hours to talk about this, but I wanted to keep it tight and concise just so that you had enough to go and do your own work on this, because there's a lot here to unpack just in the parameters that I've given you here because really, nothing is worth it. None of this is worth it if you are sacrificing your life.

You're not feeling good, your relationships aren't well, none of that is worth it if you aren't having fun. If you're not having fun, right? All those things are not worth entrepreneurship. All those things are not worth money. And so let's get back into alignment by having more fun and getting into alignment with what you really want. And sometimes it might just even mean you claiming that as your desire and totally being okay with that. All right, my friends, I hope you enjoyed this. I will see you next week. Hey. If you're ready to stand out online and get paying clients consistently without having to fumble your way through tech run ads or create complicated funnels, I want to invite you to join us in the category queen school, where you're going to learn my skills. Simple, proven formula for getting clients online.

It's risk free. You either make your money back or we'll give you a refund. Just head over to kinseymachos.com/thecqschool and join today to get instant access. We'll see you inside.