#27: Funding Your Dreams

TRANSCRIPT – edited for clarity

INTRO: Hi friends, I’ve missed you so much! If you’re new here, I’m Suri Stahel. Welcome to Episode 27 of Doing Things on Purpose – the podcast that empowers women to take charge of their time, health, relationships, and money by doing things on purpose.

I know I said I’d do a summary of the Wisdom 2.0 Summit which was awesome. But I haven’t had time to put my thoughts together about that to be honest and my studies have taken a lot of my time, besides some side drama in my personal life.  

So this episode will be a short one. I just really wanted to get something out there and what I want to talk about today is the topic of funding your dreams. 

MOM CHECK-IN: But before we get started, let’s begin with the all-important mom check-in.

How have you been this past month, parents? 

I know, it’s been a whole month since I last published an episode. 

🪷 Have you been taking care of yourself, while you take care of others?

🪷Have you even stood still for some minutes to realize what your body and your spirit is craving?

Because we can’t give from an empty cup. I hope you know that… 

So celebrate all the things that you’re already doing to support yourself, physically and mentally, and do a quick checklist of what you can still improve on.

You know all the things like finally sleeping 8 hours a day, exercising daily, drinking 8 glasses of water a day, journaling, meditating or taking quiet walks. Whatever that supports your mental and emotional health.

🪷 Have you been without your phone or technology, for a good amount of time this past month? And if not, why not? 

These are just some things to consider. Because we are living, biological, and social beings that need to find a way to balance out the responsibilities, work, busyness, and endless distractions that seem omnipresent in our lives today. 

WE have to take empowered responsibility for that.

I can tell you that our tech-free Sundays have really saved my sanity these past months.

I had a family emergency that meant I was monitoring our family chat for a bit. But otherwise, everything was off. It has created so much spaciousness to have just that one day a week of not multitasking and not checking emails or text. 

I hope you find a strategy that works for you and your family.

Funding YOUR dreams

Let’s get down to the topic of today’s episode about funding your dreams.

As a stay at home mom, I get a small ‘salary’ from my husband. Which means that I get to spend it any way I want, to meet up with girlfriends or to go to the hairdressers. 

To be completely transparent, my ‘salary’ began (I believe) at just CHF 100 a month, then CHF 200 a month, and now it’s up to CHF 400 a month. Again, this is MY expense money, not money for groceries, the kids, transportation or anything like that.

For some of you, this might sound like a lot of money, for others it’s miniscule. It doesn’t matter. 

But how do I spend that money?

If someone were to ask me: Suri, how did you afford your online courses, your laptop, your lighting, your books and so forth?

💎 My answer would be: by knowing what I want, and owning my priorities.

Now in the beginning when I was just knee deep in motherhood and learning how to navigate my relationship with my husband as a new dad, and learning to manage a home by myself – my money was spent on things like:

• The stainless steel water bottles that the kids had to have instead of plastic ones
• The plants and expensive self watering pots that I wanted to have
• Or the stainless steel pans we had to own.

I was willing to put what little money I had, where my mouth was.

Meaning, I was willing to put in the first investment myself. Maybe one great successful purchase means we’ll then use the family budget to get another one. But I was willing to take the risk first.

Which I think did help build a lot of trust in our relationship as a couple, and my trust in myself as a co-leader in our family. 

And today?

• I automatically give away CHF 100 to my mom because she’s retired and had asked me for some help. It’s not a lot, I know but I give what I can. 
• I used to donate to AVAAZ monthly because I believe in their cause.
• I used to put aside CHF 100 a month into our investment account because I believe in doing my part to grow our investments too. 

But since a year or so ago, my priorities have shifted slightly. Everything except the money for mom, was squirreled away to save for the coaching course I’m taking, and the laptop that I needed to both do the course and start my future coaching business. 

In addition to my past savings: 

• I did some audiobook reading gigs to earn some extra cash.
• For my birthday last January, instead of asking for a present, I asked for some money to help fund my laptop.
• And I’m still paying back my husband CHF 120 each month until March 2025 to afford the coaching course that I’m currently taking.

And this is also how I funded the personal investment course that I split 50/50 with my husband over two years ago.

So from the CHF 400 – CHF 100 for mom – CHF 120 to pay back for my coaching course = Leftover money equals CHF180 (about USD 180).

What do I do with that? 

• Some months I need it to buy a skincare product that’s run out.
• Some months I use it to cut my hair.
• Other months I use it to meet a friend for coffee or dinner.
• Sometimes it’s to buy a birthday present for my husband.
• And more often than not, I’ll use little bits of it to buy more books for my skills development.
• Or for equipment like cables and adapters for my business setup. 

So when I look at it as a whole, the majority of my money (in fact, practically ALL of my money) is used to fund my dreams. 

💎 Whether it’s my dream of having a beautiful home, a solid financial plan, of celebrating and nurturing my relationships, of growing my skills as a coach and now to build my own thriving business.

💎 And I don’t do any of that in one sweeping motion. I do it bit by bit. Month by month.

So I invite you to track how you’re spending your money. 

Is a larger proportion of it spent on things that actually align with your values, your dreams, and your big goals for yourself? Or is there room for improvement there?

I’m not saying my way is right. But if you’re a fellow parent who feels like they never have enough money or enough time or money to work towards their dreams – concentrate on just making small moves. 

And repeat that, over and over again, and I know you’ll get there. One small dream at a time. 

Key takeaway: Knowing what you want, and owning your priorities

I hope this has been helpful. And if you have any comments or questions about funding your dreams, or you just want to share your story, you can always email me at suristahel@gmail.com. 

And something exciting is coming up in the next few months…

I’m expecting to be able to take pro-bono coaching clients soon to practice with.

I still have to get approved to do that, but it’s coming. It’s a goal that I’m saying out loud here, and setting for myself.

Want Me To Support You?

So if you’re interested in being supported by me in the near future, or you know someone who might be interested, please let them know about me.

They can use the contact form on my website, email me, or leave me a DM on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.

Thanks again for making the time to listen in with me, Suri. This is Doing Things on Purpose, and I’ll catch you again next time.