I’m a millionaire – I secretly talk to my money as if it’s a person

In our Money Secrets series, we ask people to confess their furtive money-related secrets which they are hiding from loved ones or that people do not know the full extent about. Today, we speak to Lenka Lutonska, 47, who lives near Leighton Buzzard and is the founder and CEO of the business coaching company Business Energetics with clients in more than 180 countries and she hosts a YouTube channel sharing tips and advice with more than 44,500 followers. Lenka reveals she has unconventional money habits which she believes are the secret to her success – including talking to money as if it is a real person. Shorts I moved to the UK from Slovakia at the age of 19 and came here with just £30 in my pocket. It was a bit of running away from the traditional path my family had set out for me. I was meant to be going to university in Slovakia to study finance and banking, but I knew I would not feel fulfilled by that. I had the opportunity to become an au pair in the UK so I took this up as a way to get away. However, I was terrible and I only lasted three weeks. I didn’t know how to work with children as I had never had that experience. I am a mum of three boys now and it is very different as now I have experience, but back then, I didn’t. I didn’t bond with the parents and they didn’t like me so they let me go after three weeks. I essentially ended up on the streets as the mum paid for a couple of nights in a hostel for me, but after that, I had to find a job. I walked into McDonalds and in my broken English, I asked if I could have a job and I became a cleaner there. I rapidly grew up the hierarchy as McDonald’s is a brilliant company in terms of training and development and they give hardworking people a chance and I worked my way up to branch manager. I was managing millions in turnover and hundreds of employees and I got a really good experience there. While I worked at McDonalds, I studied psychology, counselling and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and built a thriving business. The business became reasonably successful over a few years – but then I lost it. So I was rebuilding a business and really had to go beyond traditional financial advice because it just wasn’t working for me. I had the experience and knowledge and was doing the right things, but it just wasn’t working for me. So I went into the world of psychology, especially energetic and started marrying traditional strategy with intuition, energy and spirituality. My unconventional approach and weird habits to money really helped me and I went from struggling to building a very successful seven-figure company that spans 180 countries. I live in a £1.3m house. I began talking to money as I had this idea that if I started talking to it as if it was a real person, I would be more conscious and recognise my mindset around it. This is because our beliefs around money ultimately dictates our decisions and behaviour. I started to pretend that money was almost like this being that had deeper intelligence than me and responds to my relationship with it like any other relationship. I asked myself what sort of relationship I would have with money if it was a real person and realised it would actually be a very toxic relationship. Back when I was struggling, it would be: “Money, you need to come, come on now!” Then when money did come, it would be: ‘Not enough, not enough, no matter what you do money, it’s not enough!’” If you behave like this towards another person, they wouldn’t want to hang around much. It exposed how I projected my limited beliefs on to the energy of money and it responded badly. If I was on my own, I would talk out loud to money. But usually, I would write it all down like I was having a conversation with a real person. Later on, I recognised that what I was doing was accessing the deeper aspects of myself and getting access to better financial wisdom. Up until that point, money was completely emotionally controlling me in the sense that I was ignoring brown envelopes and burying my head in the sand, but feeling good when money came in. Talking to money as an equal and giving it characteristics put me more in control. If I treated it nicely, it would treat me well. I redefined the dynamics of the relationship with self dialogue. I now help clients build successful businesses, including teaching them the energetics behind creating more wealth and I have helped clients create six and seven-figure companies. We all have inside us far more resources and wisdom and are capable of more than we realise – but it is capped by our identity and who we consider ourselves to be. I am not saying everyone should talk to money like it is a person, but I would encourage anyone who wants to transform their financial destiny to open their mind wide and use something that works for you. Share your Money Secret by emailing: Aasma.day@theipaper.com. If you wish to remain anonymous, identities will be protected.