When a woman becomes a mother, everything changes.
Catherine Alford knows all about it. She gave birth to not only one child but to two THE SAME DAY — she gave birth to boy-girl twins. That alone is a huge life-changing event. Now add a husband who is in medical school and depends on you to make money moves in the house; it’s a lot of responsibility. But that did not stop her from continuing to pursue her career goals. Catherine is a nationally recognized educator, author of Mom’s Got Money: A millennial mom’s guide to managing money like a boss, creator of www.catherinealford.com, co-founder of millennialhomeowner.com, and started her own business with a $10 domain name and grew it into a six-figure digital media company. Whether you are a mother or plan to be someday, she is somebody we all can learn from and can aspire to be.
What Was Catherine’s Motivator For Writing Her Book?
Catherine claims that she saw the need in the market for a book written specifically for mothers to encourage them to make moves, invest, and think more ambitiously about their capabilities. She felt like mothers were completely underestimated and needed a book with some meat and bones that thoroughly explored their possibilities to make money. She believes these limiting beliefs come from our society and culture — she wanted to break that mold. Women can, too, be financial powerhouses.
How Did She Get Into the Personal Finance Business?
Catherine went to graduate school for history and lived off a stipend to work in a museum someday. During this time, she needed a creative outlet and, as a result, started blogging about her college life and how she lived on a budget. Catherine made the money content relatable and engaging and thus, used that experience to build her portfolio as she ventured onto her next step: freelance writing. From there, she started getting paid to write, and it just grew from thereon.
Catherine’s Journey and Struggles with Her Book
If you think getting rejected is hard, imagine getting rejected 20 times. When Catherine wrote her book and was ready to get it published, she initially went through 20 different rejections. That caused her to pause and think. That’s when she switched literary agents. At that point, things started changing for her. She still went through seven more rejections (totaling 4.5 years of rejections), but she finally caught the break she had been fighting for — she gained not only one book deal but three book deals, so she had options to choose from.
“If you would know at the beginning that at number 53 they would say yes, then you wouldn’t care that 22 said no because you would know the yes is coming.”
It comes to show what persistence and your mindset can do for you.
It’s All About Mindset
Cat explains how essential it is to have a “boss mentality.”
“Your thoughts determine your feelings, which determine your actions and your future.”
She also talks about keeping a neutral mindset. It doesn’t have to be a drastic jump. If you’re accustomed to thinking negative thoughts, then start with minimal changes. It doesn’t have to be highly positive thoughts, just a thought that gives hope, no matter how small it may be.
It’s a mindset change from “I can’t do anything” to “I can learn anything.”
To listen to more of her insight as a successful working mother, listen to the podcast below.
Conclusion
Catherine Alford is a superwoman. She is a mother of twins, wife, educator, founder, co-founder, and author. She teaches us that no matter what society tells women and mothers what their limitations are, know who you are and work to reach your powerful potential. Be brave and put yourself out there. Start working in your passions because you don’t know what road it’ll lead you to. It doesn’t matter how many times you get rejected when you know who you are and what you are willing to gain if you don’t give up. Lastly, and most importantly, mindsets can either work for you or against you. It takes the simple act of changing your thoughts from negative to neutral and, eventually, working yourself up to positive. All in all, women have power. Don’t let society dim your light.
To see more of Catherine Alford’s work, check out the following links:
Pick up a copy of Mom’s Got Money
