Ep #129: Money and the Year of the Fire Horse

Hey, beautiful coach. 2026 is the year of the Fire Horse, and don't I love that? Now, a Fire Horse year carries a very particular kind of energy. Momentum accelerates, hesitation becomes incredibly uncomfortable, and the ambition you feel becomes harder to ignore. This kind of year doesn't sit still. And how you handle your money inside this intensity will shape what this year brings to you, not only today, but for many years to come.

I'm Kendall, and in this episode of The Money Coach School Podcast, we're talking about the energy of the Fire Horse year. What this kind of intensity reveals about your financial habits and ambition, and the three money activations that help you steer powerful momentum instead of getting overwhelmed by it. So, if there's a new income level you're ready to claim in your business, this is the episode for you. 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, and welcome back to The Money Coach School Podcast. I am so glad you're here. I actually love this episode because, of course, it's about horse energy. Now, you may have heard that this is the Chinese Year of the Fire Horse. Now, I'm not going to give you a horoscope, that's not what I'm trained in, but I am deeply interested in archetypes. I am obsessed and passionate about archetypes because archetypes are such powerful mirrors. And that's what the Fire Horse is for us. The Fire Horse represents boldness, visibility, independence, instinct, and forward motion.

So the real question is not whether this year will bring intensity because, oh golly, it will and already is. The question is, how will you move with your money inside that intensity? So today I want to walk you through three things. First, what the Fire Horse energy actually represents when it comes to money. Second, the opportunity this kind of momentum creates for your income, your pricing, and your financial identity. And third, the specific money activations, I have three of them here for you, that help you steer powerful energy instead of getting overwhelmed by it.

Because the woman who learns how to direct her money decisions during a Fire Horse year will experience extraordinary expansion. And of course, I love this topic because you guys know if you've followed me for more than like two seconds, you know that I am a dedicated, die-hard equestrian. I have my beautiful Spanish horses who are very fiery, that's for sure. And I am passionate about riding dressage and about doing groundwork and liberty work, all kinds of really fun things.

All right, so before we dive in, I do have a quick ask for you. If you could go ahead and click the follow button, wherever it is close to this episode title, click follow. I would so appreciate it. It tells the algorithm to, hey, put this episode in front of other people like you and like me. I am your money coach, and every episode here is designed to strengthen your leadership, your cash flow, and your authority with money.

All right, so click that follow button and let's dive in. So what the Fire Horse represents and how to lead it. Fire is intense, right? It's intensity, it's courage, it's visibility. It's the moment when hesitation starts to feel unbearable, like just you can't tolerate it anymore. Horse energy is movement. It is freedom, it is strength, it is instinct. And you put those things together, and you get momentum that will not sit still. That's a good thing.

And that's why this year, the Fire Horse feels so different. You know, fire magnifies what already exists. So, for example, small thinking starts to feel even more uncomfortable. If your money structures have been loose, like how you handle money, how you relate to money in a very day-to-day practical way, those cracks become harder to ignore. If you've been circling a pricing increase for months, suddenly the old number starts to feel completely inauthentic to say it out loud.

If you've been delaying decisions, the delay starts to feel really uncomfortable. If you've been tolerating messy money habits like late invoices, inconsistent savings, pricing that shifts depending on the client, that friction becomes hard to ignore. Now, I just did an episode on cleaning up money messiness, and I'll link to it in the show notes, but you can also check it out. It was episode number 128. So definitely listen to that right after you finish listening to this one.

Now, all of this is why this year asks something powerful of you: direction. Direction with money can look so many different ways, but here are some examples. Choosing the revenue number that you truly desire to make, not the polite one that you've been settling for, not the shrink-to-fit one. Direction means raising a rate that reflects the value and the results that you deliver. Of course, you guys know I'm all about raising your prices. Direction looks like deciding exactly how much you will pay yourself this year.

I also did an episode on Owner's Pay 101, so I will make sure and link to that in the show notes as well. It's already becoming a fan favorite, so definitely listen to that. Direction means setting a profit standard instead of hoping that there's money left over. It's like, no, no, no. You set a profit standard. It looks like investing in mentorship or infrastructure that expands your capacity. So it can look lots of different very specific practical ways.

Fire energy isn't something you suppress. It is something that you steer. The woman who steers her financial direction this year will move faster towards her vision, towards realizing her vision.

This is exactly the kind of shift women make inside The Pricing Room, which is my monthly membership for women entrepreneurs who are ready to stop second-guessing their pricing, who are ready to stop undercharging, like for good, and start earning more from their services. Now, inside The Pricing Room, women make pricing decisions that immediately change the trajectory of their revenue. Because once your pricing reflects the value of your work, your income can grow much, much, much faster, of course. It's very simple math.

So let's talk next about the opportunity of fire energy with money, and then I want to talk about the shadow side. Fire energy can be incredibly generous when it comes to money. So this is the kind of year where things accelerate. A rate increase that might have taken six months of deliberations suddenly feels obvious. An offer that's been lingering past its usefulness finally gets released. Visibility becomes easier to claim. You start seeing opportunities perhaps you couldn't see before.

Fire also accelerates identity. So if you already see yourself as powerful with money, that belief expands. If you've been negotiating with your power, that tension becomes far, far more uncomfortable, which is actually a gift. Fire years invite congruence. It asks you to bring your financial decisions into alignment with the woman you know you're meant to become. And when identity and money start to align, when they finally match, momentum shows up quickly and more income shows up.

But let's take a look at the shadow side of the Fire Horse because, of course, fire energy has a shadow. How could it not? When it isn't directed, fire energy can spill into things like impulsive spending, expanding faster than your capacity can handle, making investment decisions from emotions instead of research and clarity, launching something before the foundation exists, chasing growth while profitability lags behind, or raising rates without strengthening your positioning.

So the antidote to this type of shadow isn't shrinking your ambition. Of course, never that. It's structure. And structure looks like cash reserves that create breathing room for you, clear profit goals, offers that fit together instead of competing or being confusing, a rhythm of reviewing your revenue, which I suggest to do weekly, a thoughtful plan for scaling. So these are the types of things that give your business structure.

Because without direction, and structure creates direction, of course. Because without direction, without structure, fire burns energy. It just burns through it. But with structure, it builds wealth. It builds wealth, okay? So no structure, you're going to consume all that energy. With structure, you're going to build wealth.

So, I want to give you money questions for this Fire Horse year that we are all in because Fire Horse years respond to bold questions. So I want to offer you six questions that will expand how you think about money in this year.

Question number one: if your financial power expanded fully this year, what would you allow yourself to pursue?

Question number two: what would look different in your business if earning much more money felt completely normal to you?

Question three: if fear stepped out of the room for a moment, what financial decision would you make immediately? I love that question.

Question number four: if you stopped choosing numbers that feel safe, what income goal would you set for yourself?

Question five: where is your ambition asking for a bigger container? Oh my golly, this question has helped me so much already in the last 90 days grow exponentially. Where is your ambition asking for a bigger container?

And question number six: if you trusted your financial instincts completely, what would you initiate?

Fire Horse years expand what you believe is possible for yourself. And Fire Horse years reveal how big your financial life is ready to become.

All right, so I promised you three Fire Horse money activations, and here they are. Activation number one: decide with authority. Fire energy does not enjoy hovering. So one of the most stabilizing things you can do this year is decide. Choose the revenue number you're going for. Choose the growth focus that matters most. So for me, for example, in this year, it's all about The Pricing Room and it's all about Secret Energy of Money. Choose the direction of your pricing, which I hope goes in the direction of premium, of course. And once you've chosen, stop reopening the decision. It's done. Move into it, lean into it, make it work.

Decisiveness steadies powerful energy. And boy, do I feel that when I ride my horses. If I am hesitant at all, even for a split second, I mean, literally a split second, they're like, "Uh oh, something's wrong. What's up? Should I be afraid? What do I do?" I have to remain decisive no matter what. And that's how the powerfulness of their energy stays steady.

All right, activation number two: strengthen your financial foundation. Expansion feels very different when your money structures are solid. That means knowing the minimum number your business needs to operate. It means knowing your desired monthly income. It means learning how to save money even with variable income. It means tracking profit intentionally. And it means reviewing your pricing quarterly. Yes, that often. A strong foundation fuels expansion.

And activation number three: claim financial power boldly. Fire Horse years reward bold financial moves. So this is the year to raise a rate that maybe before has intimidated you. This is the year to eliminate maybe a payment plan that has been draining you. This is the year to set a profit target that feels ambitious, that milestone, but you want it. This is the year to increase your personal pay, your owner's pay. This is the year to build a six-month cash reserve, what I call a money peace account. This is the year to invest in mentorship at a higher level. This is the year to stop negotiating against the value that you offer your clients. You know, a Fire Horse energy doesn't apologize for its strength. And this year rewards women who allow their financial authority to be unshakable.

Now, there's a deeper truth about money and mastery that I want to bring up here. So as someone who rides and trains horses, I can tell you something about powerful horses. When a powerful horse feels that rider's uncertainty, like what I was talking about a moment ago, the energy becomes chaotic or it becomes fractured in some way. But when the rider is clear, the horse relaxes into direction. So fire energy doesn't need suppression, it needs skill. The rider learns how to guide the energy, how to channel it, how to stay steady when the power underneath them increases.

Money works the same way. Money is not neutral. People say money's neutral. Bullshit. Money is not neutral. Money is emotion. It represents all kinds of things. It represents ambition and desire and fear and confidence and identity, all the things, right? And power isn't neutral either. Power is mastery. Mastery of your decisions, mastery of your impulses, mastery of the financial standards that you're willing to live by.

So here in this Fire Horse year, emotions around money can really intensify, which is why mastery becomes essential. Not to tame yourself, but to direct yourself. So the woman who masters her emotional relationship with money will always move further faster than the women who get caught up in drama.

Now, one of the fastest ways that I see women strengthening their financial authority, their financial sovereignty is through their pricing. Inside The Pricing Room, women make the kinds of decisions that expand income quickly, raising a rate they've been undercharging, adjusting offers that have outgrown their pricing, and choosing numbers that match the results they deliver. Those decisions are the ones that create immediate upward shifts in revenue.

All right, so to wrap up here, you are not here to be economically tame. This year invites a stronger version of you forward, stronger financial standards, decisions that stay decided, income choices that are visible and unapologetic. I invite you to let 2026 be the year that your income reflects the level of work you're truly here to do. Let this be the year your standards rise. Let this be the year you move with unmistakable authority. You are more powerful with money than you've been allowing. I know that for a fact. And the Fire Horse year has a way of revealing exactly that.

All right, and if you're ready for your pricing to represent the true value of your work, I invite you to come join me inside The Pricing Room. The Pricing Room is where women like you align your rates with the transformation that you create, and you stop undercharging permanently. This is not about random price increases. It's about looking at your pricing strategically, clearing the emotional blocks to charging more, and shifting your mindset about your pricing so that it supports the income that you want to be making. Now, The Pricing Room at the time of this recording is $38 a month or $380 for the year, which gives you two months free. There's no contract, you can cancel anytime. So if you're done earning below your vision of what your income can really look like, The Pricing Room is your next step. The link is in the show notes or you can head to KendallSummerHawk.com/pricingroom.

All right, my beautiful soul. Thank you so much for being here, and I will see you next week. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy this Fire Horse year, the year of the Fire Horse. It's special, spectacular. It's awesome. I love it. All right, I'll see you here in next week's episode.

Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode of The Money Coach School Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you follow so you never miss an episode. Also, I would so love and appreciate if you would leave a 5-star review. Your review supports women just like you in discovering all of the juicy tips and insights I’m sharing here on how to coach women on money.

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