Ep #122: 4 Micro Decisions That Create Early-Year Income Momentum

January has a way of making women work harder around money than necessary. Plans get more detailed, options multiply, decisions stay open. Hi, I'm Kendall and in this episode of The Money Coach School Podcast, we're talking about why January is when women tend to overcomplicate money, and the exact places this shows up, including offers, time, and pricing.

I'm going to walk you through what those are and walk you through the micro decisions that actually move income early in the year. Plus, I'm going to provide you with three compelling coaching questions to keep you out of complexity and embracing simplicity. Because income doesn't respond to complexity, it responds to clarity that's allowed to work. It's all here for you in this episode of The Money Coach School Podcast. Let's dive in.

Welcome to The Money Coach School Podcast. To really excel at coaching women, you have to be skilled, confident, and even fearless at money coaching. If you're passionate about women holding genuine money power and love supporting women entrepreneurs, then this is the show for you. Now, here's your host, money feminist Kendall SummerHawk.

Hello, beautiful coach. I have been obsessed recently with January energy because it is a unique and I think it's a very special month. January has a very particular energy. It's exciting for sure, but women can also feel a lot of pressure to get it right, to think everything through, to make the smartest possible plan. And while planning has its role in your business, here's what I want to call out.

January is when women tend to overcomplicate money. Now I'm here to tell you overcomplication is usually a sign of authority being deferred, and your income will reflect that immediately.

So here's what we're going to do today. I'm going to show you why January pulls women into overthinking instead of leadership. We'll look at the specific places overcomplication shows up, especially in terms of time and offers and pricing. And then I'm going to walk you through the micro concrete decisions that actually will move your income early in the year. No busy work, just clear money leadership.

Before we dive in, please go ahead, do me a favor. Click that follow button. I'm your money coach. You do not want to miss an episode. They're short, they're potent, they're packed with practical insights into you and your relationship with money and how to strengthen your leadership, your cash flow, and your authority with money. So click that follow button.

All right. So why does January create overcomplication? January feels like a month where everything is possible, and I've talked about this in a previous episode. New offers, new schedules, new strategies, new ideas. It's exciting, and I mean, I love it. I geek out on it. But there's also a seduction to it, and that is the seduction of it. And I'm all here for that. But for women, all that possibility while being so seductive can also trigger something very subtle. Instead of choosing, we layer. Instead of deciding, we analyze.

So overcomplication often sounds like, "Well, let me think this through a bit more," or "I want to explore a few options," or "I don't want to rush this. I just want to make sure it's aligned." That type of self talk is a clear indicator of overcomplicating. Now, none of those things initially sound problematic, but the truth is they are, because they lead to indecision, delay, and as a consequence, they actually lead to overwhelm. Decision fatigue is a real thing, absolutely. But you know what? So is indecision.

I'll tell you, I'd rather make 10 decisions than live with one indecision, right? Now I just did an episode, episode 121, on why January is a decision month, not a goal month, and how to stay connected to your decisions instead of reopening them. So definitely check that out after this episode. And this episode today is the next layer. It's what happens when decisions get overcomplicated instead of being kept simple.

So where does overcomplication show up in January? Some of the most common places I see women overcomplicate money at the start of the year is for example, over designing offers instead of just selling what already works, or being vague or non-committal about where and how you want to make money this year instead of just committing, or not being definitive about who your million-dollar client is.

By the way, million-dollar doesn't mean they make a million dollars. It means they're a million-dollar client because they're happy to pay, they do the work, they show up, they're great clients. And also women overcomplicating money shows up as bypassing taking a fresh look at your pricing.

So overcomplication often masquerades as refinement, but refinement that never leads to action, that isn't refinement, that's delay. And you can spot being overcomplicated when decisions stay open, timelines stay vague, execution gets delayed, you keep revisiting the same questions. Complicated decisions stall money from moving forward. Because money doesn't respond to how much you've considered something, it responds to clarity and direction and follow through.

So what actually moves income in January are a series of what I call micro decisions that are made and held. You don't need dozens of decisions, not everything at once. I want to give you four income moves that actually matter to really kick off this year in a beautiful, profitable way or kick off whatever month that you're listening to this in.

So, micro decision number one, fewer focus areas. Higher earning women don't do more things better. They do fewer things consistently. One primary offer, one main audience, one clear direction. When focus tightens, income accelerates. And I just lived through this myself. I just finished our planning for the year, putting it all into the calendar, and while at the end of it, the plan looked perfect, it was organized, all the things, but I felt it was too much and it was too complicated.

So I followed my own advice and I trimmed it back. And I actually removed two of the programs that we had been planning on marketing. I just said, "Nope, we're not going to market those programs," so that I can focus on the other two primary ways that we're creating income and impacting the highest number of clients this year. Now part of me clutches at letting go. I mean, it's like a clutch of an inhale at letting go of marketing in those other two programs. And we're not shutting them down, we'll still enroll clients, but we'll do that through word of mouth, through reputation, through awareness. But actively marketing them is not what's going to get our attention this year.

But when I turned my attention to the two core programs that we are focusing on this year, it feels amazing. It feels grounding, calming, exciting, all at the same time, and very powerful.

All right, micro decision number two. What moves income in January is clear timelines. Vague timelines keep decisions emotionally open. So saying things like, 'when it feels right' or 'eventually' or 'sometime this quarter or a month' or whatever. Those are the types of internal language that if you're using that, you can tell that you're being too open with your time frames. Clear time frames create momentum. Decisions with dates get traction. Decisions without dates, they drift.

If it's not on the calendar, it's not going to bring in the income that you want this year. Time freedom is such a core value for me. It's a non-negotiable for me. I have to have enormous amounts of time freedom, meaning an open calendar. And I'll be honest, I have a love-hate relationship with calendar discipline. It definitely does not come naturally for me. So getting things on the calendar, it's not my superpower and I find it really difficult. But I've learned and I live by that if it's not on the calendar, it's not going to happen. And then it's not going to bring in the income that you want this year.

So I still go through this step of putting our offers, our launches, everything on the calendar. And at the end, it feels so clean and clear and freeing. It actually feels peaceful because the schedule isn't overbooked by the time I'm done with it, and it's all crystal clear. Clarity creates freedom, not the other way around.

All right, number three about what moves income in January is pricing that isn't constantly revisited. This is a big one. Pricing won't increase your income if it's endlessly debated. It creates income when it's set clearly and led confidently.

January is not the month to tinker endlessly or delay reviewing your pricing. It's the month to choose. What are you charging? What are you standing behind? And what are you no longer negotiating with yourself about? And a quick example of this in one of my Secret Energy and Money mastermind calls and one of my clients, she's been in the program for two or three years. So we put on the calendar when she's going to raise her prices. She's booked out months in advance for her service. She has another couple of goals she wants to achieve, and then she's going to raise her pricing. And we put that on the calendar. So she's not raising her pricing today in January, that's okay, but she's not delaying reviewing it. She knows when she's doing it, she knows by how much.

Women are taught to keep pricing emotionally flexible. Why? So that other people stay comfortable. But businesses grow when pricing is led, not when pricing is babied. You can always adjust pricing later on as you get data and feedback, but constant reconsideration, what that does is it trains hesitation, both in you and in your business. And of course, you don't want that.

Number four, what moves income in January is decisions that are allowed to mature. Most decisions need time and repetition to show results. But overcomplication, it interrupts that process. When decisions stay open, momentum breaks, confidence erodes, and income stays inconsistent. Decisions that are allowed to mature, they compound for you.

So here's the coaching I have for you. I want you to ask yourself, where am I adding complexity instead of choosing simplicity? And then ask, what single decision if simplified would make my business feel lighter and more profitable? And finally, what would happen if I stopped revisiting this decision for the next 90 days? And how much energy and money would that free up immediately? Because that's where your income begins to respond.

So to wrap up here, January does not reward complexity. The rest of the year does not reward complexity. January rewards clarity that's given time to work, given time to work for you. January is the month to choose fewer things and to stand behind them. Choose the offer you're going to focus on. Choose the price you're going to lead with. Choose the schedule you're going to honor and choose to stop reopening those decisions so that you can allow momentum to build. This is what actually moves your income in January, not more thinking, not more refining, but clear decisions that are given time to work and time to compound for you.

All right, my beautiful soul. Thank you for being here with me. Be sure to click that follow button. And if you're motivated and want to take two minutes and leave me a five-star review on Apple, I would so greatly appreciate that. Remember that you are here for more and that means more money power, more unapologetic wealth on your terms. This is your money empowerment era. And I am here for it and for you. So thank you for listening and I will see you next week.

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