Three and a half years ago, I made a decision: I was going to learn how to become wealthy. And once I succeeded, I would teach other women how to do the same.

At the time, I had just quit my Ph.D program in counseling to pursue an online coaching business full-time. I had no money in my savings, I was in approximately $200,000 of student loan debt and earning enough each month in my new business to cover my basic living expenses. I felt financially capped and completely stuck. Money was a constant source of fear, doubt, stress and anxiety.

Fast forward a few years later, and my financial reality has completely shifted. My business brought in over $1.5 million in revenue in 2017, and I’ve fulfilled a longtime dream of becoming completely location-independent, living and working from locations like Bali, Spain, Greece, Costa Rica and more.

I’m often asked how a regular girl from Sand Springs, Oklahoma with no formal business training pulled it off so quickly. My answer often surprises people, because more than any tactic, strategy or amount of “hard work,” I know my success — and the success of my clients — is the direct result of unlearning limiting beliefs around money and reprogramming our minds for abundance. I’ve seen again and again that changing your mentality around money from one of stress, lack and fear, to one of ease, joy and flow is the first step of moving into the experience of having money.

Here are three powerful questions that will help you to start shifting your mentality and experience with money right now.

Question 1: How is your financial past impacting your present reality?

I can’t tell you how many women I’ve met over the years who sabotage themselves out of their earning potential (usually because of limiting beliefs about money learned in childhood). Some of the most common financial  “truths” I hear are, “You have to work hard for money,” “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” “Rich people are greedy and selfish,” and “It’s not spiritual to desire more material abundance.”

In addition to limiting beliefs, people often carry around a tremendous amount of guilt and shame about past decisions or actions around money. Is it any wonder that so many people, especially women, self-sabotage and under-earn when thoughts like these are playing on repeat in the background of their minds?