Knowing What You're Working With

Are you ready to break through your income ceiling and transform your relationship with money? In this powerful solo episode, Lauren dives deep into what it truly means to "know what you're working with" - both from a cosmic perspective and in your practical money management.

In this episode...

🌟 How understanding your unique astrological makeup can unlock infinite energy and authentic success

🎯 The crucial difference between your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs and how they impact your business approach

💫 Real examples using Lauren's chart: Aquarius Sun, Virgo Moon, and Scorpio Rising

💰 The truth about "avoidant money style" and its hidden glass ceiling

🔑 Why tracking numbers isn't just about spreadsheets - it's about transformation

💎 Revolutionary "Profit First" methodology explained in simple terms

🌊 How to break free from the revenue vs. actual income trap

✨ Practical steps to shift from magical thinking to intentional money management

Whether you're a spiritual entrepreneur struggling with consistent income or a business owner ready to level up your money game, this episode provides both the cosmic wisdom and practical tools you need to create sustainable success. Learn how to work with your natural energetic design while implementing grounded money practices that actually work for your business.

🎙️ Brought to you by Lauren Poppins Raye

Receive your Cosmic Cash Codes: cosmicb.link/cashcodes
Find out your Money Attachment Style: cosmicb.link/quiz
Leave a Cosmic Coin Drop review: Apple Podcasts

Connect with Lauren on Instagram: @laurenpoppinsraye

Transcript

0:58

Today I want to talk about something that is critically important, total prerequisite to success in life and business. Something that's super simple in theory, but that is actually quite commonly avoided in practice. And that is knowing what you're working with, as opposed to Just doing what works. And I want to unpack this both from the cosmic perspective of the components of your astrology chart that make you unique, knowing what you're working with in that sense. As well as the critically important knowing what you're working with with your money flow to have success in business. And when I say knowing what you're working with, I'm talking about an intersection of awareness and honesty. Because you can't know something unless you're willing to be honest about it. And you can't be honest about something that you're not willing to look at. So the two are similar. symbiotic and interdependent with each other and the crucial components to being willing and able to know what you're working with and work with it, so first let's look at the big three as an example with my astrology chart to illustrate my point around knowing what you're working with, with the energetic matrix that makes you special and unique and different to somebody else. This is a big one when it comes to the online business world, where we are surrounded by examples of other people's success and the way that they do things, the way that they show up, their style of content, their style of communication, what works for them is not necessarily and Not likely going to work for you. And this is the case because we are all made up of a combination of different archetypes. Consisting of six pairs of opposites. So ironically enough, or comically enough, I guess, Somebody that it might work one way for them to do something you might actually be designed to be successful in the complete opposite way. So I'm going to illustrate that point, through the example of my own sun, moon and rising and what it means for me in business. First off. When it comes to your sun, I like to, with your sun and your moon, use the language of doing your sun and doing your moon. And so, first with the sun. The importance of doing your sun is that when you are doing your sun, when you are in alignment with that solar code that is unique to you, it It is the unlocking of your infinite energy source that is more powerful and energizing than coffee. It is your gravitational center that helps you to feel centered and makes it so that all of the other storylines happening in your life all integrate into one cohesive central narrative that makes your life and life path make sense. And it's also the core of your identity. So it's what helps you feel confident to settle into who you are And emanate from that place in how you show up in the world. Okay. So that is doing your son. And as you can tell, those are pretty important pieces, right? Our sense of identity, our ability to feel centered and our source of energy. So for me, I am working with an Aquarius sun. This means for me that to ultimately feel energized by what I do and to feel centered in who I am and come from that confident seat of identity to show up in the world for me to feel authentic, I need to be doing things my own way. Now, that's not to say that I can't take the example of other people, but ultimately, after learning from somebody else what works for them, my role as an Aquarian is to pull out and feel inspired. I'm going to talk about how to go about creating a project that is inspired by the pieces that make sense for me and to integrate those into some new way that ultimately I come up with up here. Right? Aquarius is mental air energy. So to bring in the example of the opposite that would never work for me is the Leo code, Leo solar code. And so for Leo, the source of energy, the sense of identity, the confidence of feeling centered. That all comes from expression and the confidence of expression. And basically just like through putting yourself out there, you're able to tune into the world. you know, that sense of who you are, feel confident in that you are showing up as yourself and ultimately feel really energized. So for a Leo person, if you're feeling low energy and that kind of depressive state, you just need to like go live. Put yourself out there, show up, start talking, and things will start flowing for you. For me, being in the opposite sign of Aquarian, if my Aquarian people can relate, that feels like a stretch for me. Like, if I'm feeling really low energy, what I need to do is get inspired by something innovative. Oftentimes it's. It's through the process of identifying what feels like mine through the contrast of other people's examples, aka that Leo expression of what is not mine, where I see how someone else is doing something and I'm like, Ooh, that doesn't feel quite right. But it makes it really clear. Oh, but I could do it like this. And then that opens up this channel of innovation and, doing things differently, like, for an Aquarian in your teenage years, it's being the rebel, right? That's how we do it. That's how we feel charged up is by literally just doing things in a way that Turn most people off now as we get more mature and in the world of business where we're actually trying to attract people to us, it is more about just finding our own way, even in little ways, like, seeing oh, the way someone said something I really like the way they did that. But here's how I can say that in a different way that makes it feel like mine or like something's like cringe about what they said, but extract that one piece, Oh, I just need to replace that with what feels resonant for me. And now I'm taking that and I'm running with it. And you know, it's not to say that. Everybody couldn't benefit from that process and most people probably do, especially in the coaching world. But the point being that that is what I am working with in terms of my energy source, my identity, and my feeling centered. So for me, it's like go learn something. Go, you know, go network. Go connect with and expose myself to someone else's story. something and immediately that's gonna awaken this relative arc of inspiration that takes me in some other direction. So that's what I'm working with when it comes to my son with my moon, my moon is in Virgo. Doing your moon is what is going to help you to feel really held and nourished and nurtured and able to stay the course. So it's our code of, sustenance of sustaining the journey. Whereas the sun is giving us the motivation, and the clarity of direction with the moon, it's giving you that willingness to get back up and do it again, with the cycles. It's like you go down, you get back up. You go down, you get back up. And aligning yourself with that through feeling really held and supported by life, right? Like a good, healthy sense of pro noia that regardless of what happens, it's there to support you and hold you and help you to stay the course. So for me, my moon is in Virgo. And to bring in its opposite, because I think this is just so illustrative, is its opposite is Pisces. In order for a Pisces person to do their moon and feel held and supported and able to sustain the course, sustain the journey, make it through those waves of those cycles. It's really about being receptive to the divine guidance. That sense of feeling held and supported comes through being really open to receive the inspiration. It's like emotional inspiration, right? There's just this feeling and this sense of guidance and direction When you're listening to it, it's like, I just felt called to go this way. Felt called and compelled to go in this direction and do this. And lo and behold, doors opened for me. For a Virgo moon, however, that to me is like blank canvas syndrome. I am not very well designed to just open and receive the full download and idea that guides me in a feeling sense of what direction to go. For me, the way it works as a Virgo moon, maybe my fellow Virgo moons can relate, Virgo people, is that I have to Make a plan and take that first step. Virgos are really good editors, when you actually have something in front of you, something tangible to work with, you can see it and, and see. The difference between its current state and a more ideal direction. And that's what shows you like, what's the tweak, what's the next step to take. And it is through those actions, creating something tangible in front of you that then you're able to say, okay, I know exactly where to go or what to do next. So you can see the difference there. What am I working with? I know people that are very good at being still and meditative and open and calling in to receive the felt sense of where to go next, I do not operate that way. For me, it is a very hands on experience and what I'm working with is Making a messy first start, having some plan that I devised and then taking that first step and making something that probably first pass I don't even like. but then from there I can connect with that and then I can open to that very clear guidance of direction of where to go or what to do next. Lastly, I want to bring in my rising sign. So when it comes to the code of your rising sign, that is how you magnetize people into your world through you coming off as very authentic, and on the flip side, on the inside, it's how you feel really comfortable in your skin and authentic. So you can see how those two work really well together. When you're really feeling yourself, you really attract people to you. Right? For me, it is Scorpio. I'm a Scorpio rising. What that looks like for me, what I'm working with when it comes to my rising sign is very different than the opposite of Taurus rising people. And actually, fun fact, my North node is in Taurus. So I am less connected with more awkward around the Taurus side of things, but learning to lean in and get closer to it every day. but for Taurus people, it's very much this sense of calm and centeredness. Um, peace around how you showed up, right? Like, Oh my God, I love my tourist people because for me it's such medicine with my North node there. But basically tourist people, release this vibe, this pheromone, this magnetic attractive force of calm and peacefulness that just makes people able to relax and lean in. For me, on the other side, with a Scorpio rising, what's more attractive to people is being willing to visibly ride my waves and be intense when I'm feeling it, or calm when I'm feeling it. It's so much less about, and I have so much less capacity to maintain that consistent, straight line, way of showing up every day. And it's not to say that I can't show up consistently because I can, but for me to do that, it's really being authentic and honest with wherever I'm at in the cycle. and so what I'm working with, with Scorpio, like if I try to just maintain a consistent presentation of calm and centeredness That would not feel right to me and it would also feel wrong to other people. There would be something off there. There would be a mismatch between how I'm presenting myself and how people are actually feeling and sensing me, which is on the opposite side was Scorpio. So what I'm working with, with my Scorpio rising is just giving myself permission to be really wherever I'm at in the moment.

Lauren Poppins Raye's video recording-2: 14:38

Because while Taurus maintains a certain chill with an acceptance that goes something like if it ain't broke don't fix it Scorpio on the other side is continuously and deliberately undergoing transformation By digging deep to make the unconscious conscious over and over and over. It's like an art and with a Scorpio rising, I'm designed to share it shamelessly, like a branded beacon that attracts my people.

15:09

That's what I'm working with. And to know that is a really powerful thing in a world where I'm surrounded by examples of people that are able to show up in a more consistent baseline. So these are really important pieces to know. There are codes in your birth chart that have this incredible power to give you the permission slip, the reflection, the encouragement to be exactly who and how you are, because when you do, you are able to. you so much more energy, you're going to feel centered, you're going to feel held and nourished and supported and you're going to feel comfy in your own skin and the feedback of attracting people that feel really resonant to be in your space and work with you. So from this cosmic angle, I'm curious to know here before we switch gears, do you know what you're working with when it comes to your sun, moon and rising and the other codes that make you unique and special and are part of the way that you were designed based on the imprint of the first breath you took in this body to, uh, Show up in a certain way. if you're not, I'm here to help you with that, particularly if you're a business owner and want to align with those codes to be more successful as a business owner. I have my cosmic cash code session. And for those that have done these sessions, let me tell you, it's not that they are going to blow your mind with something that you didn't already know, right? You do know yourself. You may not accept what you know as solidly as you've, internalized the examples that you've gotten from other people or what other people have reflected back to you. but you're the one that's been embodying these archetypes from day one. So the value of these sessions is more to affirm, reflect, and amplify that which you already know. And so much of the feedback that I get is like, wow, you just put into words these whispers, these knowings. And now I feel. solidly anchored into these aspects of myself and it becomes an absolute superpower to move through the world knowing without a doubt This is what I'm working with. Okay. With that, I want to switch gears into the grounded money side of this equation when it comes to knowing what you're working with. And I want to start out by giving some context to my background, before I transitioned into my current relationship with money, which was that I was a typical avoidance if you're familiar with attachment styles when it comes to how I made my money. And let me just Um, but they are just different ways of approaching something that are relatable to most people and that also both come with their own kind of superpowers. When it comes to being an avoidant with money, Which most of the people that come to me for support with their money flow are, it's that you really are just like in the flow when it comes to money. You don't spend a lot of time, you don't have a lot of structure around your relationship with it. it. You have a lot of trust that it's going to be there when you need it. And because of that, everything kind of just seems to work out with it. And this was my background with money. I attribute this, particularly the superpower side of it with what I learned from my mom, which was basically that things just always work out with money. She, really instilled in me that you don't need to worry about it and just to trust. And you know, it really did work that way. I have the couple examples of former versions of myself from half a lifetime ago. Both in various iterations of my time working with Ganja. One many, many moons ago, when I helped people to have personal stashes. And basically the way this looked for me is like the epitome of avoidant work. money style, which was that I just had this drawer that was like my magic money drawer. And when people would pay for it, I would just stick the cash in the drawer. And then when I would run out and need to re up, I would just grab what I needed from the drawer and get more. And what happened was anytime I needed to get little things here or there, gas station runs, treat myself to whatever, I just pulled money out of the drawer and there was always enough. And this is a very tangible example of the way that a lot of people actually run full on businesses. This was just some, you know, little thing I did on the side. At the time I was working at a sandwich shop. so I did have a little bit of, you know, structured income that came in as well to pay rent, but pretty much every other variable expense in my life. was covered by this magic money drawer and I never actually kept track of what was in there to the extent that I did. It was just pulling out and counting enough to re up to keep the whole cycle going again. The other example that I want to give is when I was a trimmer and basically what my life looked like then was I lived in a van. I traveled between trim jobs and festivals and hot springs to regenerate myself and do the whole thing over again. And again, I didn't have any way that I actually kept track of what I had. I would just get a windfall of cash when I would go to work and I would go about my life until I just noticed that the stack was running low. And that would be enough to instruct me to make the call to go find my next job, both of these are examples of being in that Avoidant money mode lifestyle, which let me tell you at the time felt like pure magic. Like I am not throwing shade on that way of living. I will say that it very much felt like a more immature version of myself. And at some point I grew up, got professional and started running a real business and getting really successful with it. While it was perfect for the season of life that I was in in that time, I can say that looking back on it, it had this glass ceiling. Like I was only ever able to make so much and I wasn't able to be mindful with growing it. I wasn't able to be strategic with where it was taking me. In both of those Past life in this body examples of how I made money It just kept me in this hamster wheel of exactly where I was There was like a glass ceiling or as my husband said a concrete ceiling above me There was no way to break through it. It was hard to even see anything beyond it And it just wasn't going to take me anywhere. So that's the downside of the avoidant money style is it really? Keeps you under a certain limit. And that limit is there to support a certain lifestyle. So it keeps you in a certain lifestyle and there's really not much room for advancement. And now that's not something that I would define as successful from my current standards of success. But I want to look at it now that I've, painted the picture of it for you, which maybe you can relate to in some way. A lot of the clients that come to me are doing some kind of, by donation model. So they don't even have structure around how, like how much they charge, right? There's just this very in the flow environment around how they get paid, where their money goes. They don't really have a lot of awareness around how that works. Similar to my examples, but for a lot of people, and maybe you, it's the case even with your legit official business. Like, you really just trust that you're going to get the compensation that you need, and that you're going to have what you need when you need it. And I will say that that is one definition of abundance that is absolutely real. Having what you need, when you need it, is important. Is being in that abundant flow. However, it's only going to support a certain lifestyle. Like I said, you're not going to be able to really grow and expand and reach for more very systematically or consistently or reliably when you operate this way with your money. So this brings in this topic of today's episode of knowing what you're working with when it comes to your money. It is so important to eventually, when you're ready to adult and boss up around how you make your money, actually be willing to look at with specific numbers. In real time, how much money you're bringing in and how much money is going out. It's a very simple thing, but like I said, so commonly avoided because there's so much charge for people around their relationship with money. And that's why when I work with clients around money, I know that there's so much support out there when it comes to mindset work with money. But what I've found is, until you actually start actively having a different relationship with it, and tending it, And being honest and aware with the numbers and how much is coming in and how much is going out in real time and tracking that over time, you can't really get to a point where those mantras and affirmations that you're trying to rewire yourself with. They can't actually take hold until you show yourself that you actually are doing things differently. You can tell yourself all you want, that you've got yourself with money, that you can trust yourself with money, but until you actually start showing up. As someone that can be trusted with money, that's not actually going to stick. You're not going to be able to ground that into a shifted relationship with money. And so more wealth and more advancement with how much you're able to bring in and grow and invest and, Channel through your business. so that's first thing is that very baseline, being willing to look at and be honest about what you're working with when it comes to your money, actually knowing at any given point how much money you have, how much money you can expect to come in next month, next quarter, next year, being able to make those projections and then being able to act on various promotions or. marketing efforts to actually bring those in, there's so much that becomes possible when you're willing to actually look at the numbers and structure your efforts around those numbers when it comes to income. And then when it comes to expenses, this is a big one, right? If you're not, Willing to and regularly looking at how much you're spending what those expenses are If you have a little bit of a head in the sand or like la la la everything's just gonna work out Orientation toward your spending it may work out But you're probably gonna spend every last cent that you make you're not going to have anything left over to intentionally allocate towards savings or investing or working toward reaching to that next level of expenses that open up the lifestyle that you're aiming for. That's not really possible when you're not paying attention. And then of course, there's the part where tax season and tax filing becomes an ongoing Absolute nightmare when you're not willing to look and pay attention throughout the year, but I want to go a little bit deeper right now in this unpacking of what it means to actually know what you're working with because it's more than just what's coming in when it comes to the income that you have to work with, I already mentioned a big part of it is knowing what's going out so that you know what's left over, right? Is there a margin? Which, like I said, for people that don't actually pay attention, and have a regular money ritual and do their books and record keeping, you probably aren't going to have much left over. That's part of what happens with that glass or concrete ceiling. But I want to go a little bit deeper because something that doesn't get talked about a lot, but is such a common human tendency, especially if you don't have some kind of record keeping system, is that in your mind you think that what you're working with is the money that's coming in. And this is a trap. So that's called revenue. And if what's coming in say is 10, 000 a month, but you have a commitment to recurring expenses overhead for your business that totals 5, 000 a month. What you're working with is only 5, 000 a month. But if you don't know that, if you're not super clear. What that income, that revenue amount is and what those recurring expenses are to know what's left over. You're still thinking in your mind that you have 10, 000 a month to work with, and that's what's in your mind when you make decisions around spending and subscribing to new apps or software or investing in things that maybe are beyond your means because you're thinking about the amount that's coming in and not the amount that you're actually working with. Another biggie that is a trap and so common for people is to not set aside an amount of what comes in for your taxes. So you think that what you're working with is the revenue that's actually coming in, you're spending as such, and then come the end of the year, you end up getting a huge tax bill that you didn't set money aside for, Because you thought that what you were working with was the whole thing. So critically important and so simple, but a side effect of that avoidant money style, if you're not actually paying attention regularly and having a ritual system that sets money aside as it comes in for your taxes, you think you're working with more than you have. And that's a problem. Another biggie is thinking in your mind that what you're working with is the entire amount that people are sending you for your products or services. When actually you're going to get charged typically 3 percent for the merchant fees for whatever your payment processor is, right? There's another one. And I know that might sound silly. small 3%, but these things add up. If you end up paying somewhere between 10 to 15 percent of your revenue in taxes, and then 3 percent for your payment processor, it really starts to add up with what you can't even, it's not even available for your pay. business expenses, let alone to spill over into spending on whatever you want in your personal life. Another one that I want to bring to your attention that recently came up with a cosmic currency student is that she charges a certain amount for a program that she offers. She's a functional medicine specialist. So part of that package, when somebody orders that is that she also runs labs. She includes a tracking ring For her clients to be able to bring more awareness to their health in real time. And so she's got this list. There's a couple other things of when she sells a package, there is an amount off the top immediately for each of those sales. That's going to go toward those other fixed expenses. And so, A big mindset shift for her when it comes to knowing what you're working with is not thinking about that each sale equates to that total, but rather each sale equates to that total minus those other expenses. So she has a new number in her head now of what she's actually working with when she makes a sale. And that's important. And again, another one of these things that unless you're looking at it on paper, it's easy to get it wrong in your head. And these things stack up, so knowing what you're working with, first of all, is not something that you can even do if you're not paying attention with some kind of a spreadsheet tool. But something that also changes all the time. So it's something that you really need to be leaning into tracking regularly as part of ritual check in with your money flow. And this brings me to something to bring to your awareness which is a revolutionary way of accounting. And don't let me turn you off immediately by the word accounting, this is a shift on something you are likely familiar with, which is the basic formula That revenue minus expenses equals profit. Okay. This revolutionary methodology called profit first flips that on its head because of what we've been talking about. What happens when you don't actually know what you're working with is all of these different amounts that need to be subtracted from your revenue before you have an accurate. Perspective on what you're actually working with. You can see that this is a common problem because there are so many things that we actually need to take into account. So the trap is in that thinking what you're working with is your revenue when it's absolutely not. You often don't end up having anything left over, so you have your revenue, you think that's what you're working with, by the time all of those expenses actually get paid, you don't have anything left, because you think you're working with more than you actually have, and month after month after month, it's just gone, and it's spoken for, and there ends up being nothing left over from for you or for the things that are important to you besides feeding them back into your business because you think you have so much more than you actually do to allocate toward various expenses. So the biggie with profit first is that it flips it on its head and says income minus profit Equals expenses. And to just really simply speak to what that difference is, you're saying that from the start, you're going to decide what the money is going to be allocated for and how much is going to be for you. For just profit, for whatever you feel like spending it on, for splurging or for investing or whatever, outside of your business, that spillover, instead of waiting and hoping that there's going to be spillover because often when you have this spillover. Mindset problem, because you don't actually know what you're working with, there's not, or there's very little. So instead, you decide, often by percentage, how much you're going to set aside for you. And then what's left over is what you're actually working with. And often that is in an operating expense account. So you decide by percentage when the money comes in. You're gonna put a certain percentage away for taxes. You're gonna put a certain percentage away for profit. And you're gonna put a certain percentage away for operating expenses. And by doing that, You're showing yourself what you're actually working with and it's that operating expense account. It's an account that you Intentionally flow money into from your revenue and you know that that's what you're actually working with Because it's after you've set money aside for taxes It's after you've accounted for the 3 percent fee that your payment processor charges It's after any marginal cost that you know are going to go to direct fixed expenses that are associated with each sale. And it's after you set money aside for yourself so that you know that that is going to be there and a part of it and that you're going to grow in step accordingly. all this to say. I unpacked it and maybe that made it sound complicated with all these pieces, but I really want to drive the point home with such a simple bow that I'm going to wrap around this. And that is the importance of being aware and honest and just leaning in and paying attention regularly and having systems in place. One of the biggies being that you are accounting for Setting money aside, even if it's just visually so that you know what your actual number is that you're working with, and you don't mistakenly inflate that by thinking that it's your revenue number. And honestly, this is going to make a world of difference with what's possible with your growth, the lifestyles that are available to you, and your ability to really enjoy the ride. And let this be a game that you have fun playing instead of creating some destination goal that you're never actually going to get to until you start reorienting yourself in this way. So it really is the shift knowing what you're working with when it comes to your business money flow. That is the difference between feeling like you're Stuck on a hamster wheel, crouching below a concrete ceiling or on track to continually meet and exceed the goals that you set and feel successful every step of the way. And if you could use support with that side of things, that is absolutely my specialty. After eight years of being a tax preparer and working with so many avoidant money style clients and helping them make that transition and get on track to really be able to enjoy the game of business that they're playing. Reach out. I do have special backdoor opportunities outside of launch windows that we can talk about if now feels like the time and you're feeling inspired to do this work and finally make this shift. If not stay tuned, I've got more offerings on the way that are designed to support you with this every step of the way. Or for my lurkers, a great first step is to go take the money attachment style quiz to see if you are currently an anxious, avoidant, disorganized, or secure money style because as we've talked about this whole episode, awareness is everything. And so an incredible place to begin is just to know what you're working with in terms of your money attachment style so that you can go from there to get closer and closer intentionally to a secure relationship with money, which translates as financial security in your life and business. If you haven't taken the quiz yet, You can go to cosmic B dot link slash quiz and find out right now in 10 minutes or less what your money attachment style is. And after you get the results, I would love to know if they resonate. You can reach out on Instagram at Lauren Poppins. Ray, my DMS are always open and I would love to hear how it lands for you.