Linda's business makes money. Linda doesn't.

Linda runs a marketing agency in Melbourne. Six staff. Decent client list. Margins that would make most small business owners jealous.

Linda paid herself $47,000 last year. Two of her employees earned more than she did.

There's always a reason. The new software. Staff training. That contractor invoice from March. By the time everyone's been looked after, there's nothing left. Again.

Her accountant has flagged it three years running. Linda nods, says she'll fix it, then gives the next spare dollar to the business.

She calls this "reinvesting." It's not.

Here's what Linda does that she's never noticed: when she's about to pay herself, she feels a flicker of something. Not quite guilt. Not quite anxiety. Something in between. And then she finds a reason the money should go somewhere else.

Every single time.

Linda grew up in a house where her needs came last. Four siblings. Single mother. There was never enough. She learned to be the easy one. The one who didn't ask. The one who made herself small so others could have more.

She was seven when she stopped asking for things. She's forty-four and still hasn't started again.

That's subconscious programming. It's not a cash flow problem. It's a receiving problem. Linda can generate money. She cannot keep it for herself. The girl who learned not to ask is still running the accounts.

Her business coach told her to "set up an owner's draw." She did. Then she skipped it for four months straight. Because the instruction landed in her conscious mind. The programming that says your needs come last lives somewhere no business coach thinks to look.

Perry Mardon

The Great Book of Wealth — www.perrymardon.com/new-book