Hi there, Money Adventurer,
How do you create space to work on your relationship with money?
Who do you turn to when you need support and encouragement along the way?
Where do you go when you feel stuck or alone in your money work?
What would change if you had that safe space and support?
For the more than 22 years that I’ve been privileged to lead the Art of Money, I’ve been constantly checking, adjusting, and fine-tuning the program to ensure we’re answering these questions and meeting the needs of our ever-growing and evolving community.
What Community Means in the Art of Money
I first started teaching what would become the Art of Money in my living room, sharing my financial therapy methodology with a handful of students at a time. When interest outgrew the accommodations, and my living room could no longer meet the needs of my community, I drove all over the Bay Area to meet my students where they were. And my classes continued to grow, from 10 to 20, up to 50 students at a time.
Eventually, about ten years after those early “living room sessions,” the Art of Money became an online program, and weaving the threads of community support and encouragement looked different.
For years, our virtual community forum gave Art of Money adventurers a space to share their money stories, the lessons they were learning, and created a sense of mutual support, encouragement, and accountability.
Then, once a month, I would host a group call where anyone in the program could come to spend some time in community and get some teaching and money wisdom right from me. Where we could talk about the themes coming up in the course material, and the forum, and I could take questions from folks one at a time.
More than a decade after the Art of Money became an online money school and global community, I still lead those community calls every month on Zoom. Yes, if you join the program and dial in to join our monthly Office Hours call, you’ll find me – and an amazing community of money adventurers – on the other end of the line.
I’m still showing up to guide the community through money themes I see unfolding behind the scenes. And I save plenty of time for live support, coaching, and Q&A, where you can bring your money questions right to me so you can work with me and learn from me directly.
But this is just one of the ways we’re nurturing community and weaving meaningful personal support into the Art of Money experience.
A few years ago, the private forum where Art of Moneyers once created such incredible connections stopped feeling so impactful for our community. Folks still wanted the chance to connect, but they wanted to do it in a way that felt more intentional. They wanted a space to really and truly do the work and share this journey together.
That’s why we created weekly Art of Money community co-working sessions. To create a space where you can come as you are, wherever you are in your life and money journey, to do whatever money work matters most to you in the moment.
Where you can bring your Art of Money modules and get some support as you work through them.
Where your money work is rooted in community with other money adventurers who are committed to the same gentle money path.
Where you know that you aren’t alone.
Because we all have so much to learn from each other, and hearing from folks working through similar situations, or even completely different ones, can serve you and your money journey in so many ways.
What to Expect from an Art of Money Coworking Session
In the words of veteran money adventurer and Art of Money Alumni Guide, Sybille – one of five incredible alumni guides who take turns leading the weekly co-working sessions –
“To me, the Co-working sessions are a “come as you are” weekly date with ourselves and our money work. A perfect way of experiencing that you are not behind. No preparation or particular knowledge required other than that in the moment you commit to this time of money work.
We work individually on whatever money topic is current in our lives right now, and at the same time, we are connected over Zoom. The sessions include a body check-in or any other grounding practice to get us started and a check-in at the end. The alumni guides on the call can assist to point you towards resources in the Art of Money material if the need comes up during your work time, and share from their perspective.
Being with others on the money journey creates a supportive group space where you can drop in regularly to do money work that might feel stressful and overwhelming when sitting at your desk alone. Oftentimes, just the presence of others on the call and the intention setting and checking in clear the space for the work to happen and create a supportive container to move ahead with more ease, one step at a time.”
Want to know more about the Art of Money weekly coworking sessions?
Watch this video (or read the transcript).
Transcript:
Hello, money adventurers. My name is Sibylle. I’m one of the Art of Money alumni guides. I’m also a filmmaker and training to be a certified a big lead coach. And as one of the Art of Money alumni guides, I am one of the people who are leading the weekly co working sessions. So I thought I’d make this little video to give you a little bit of an idea what those sessions are all about what you can expect if you come to one of those.
As the name suggests, they happen weekly, on a specific day and time of the week. And I like to think of them as a come-as-you-are party. What I mean by that is, you arrive on Zoom, they happen on Zoom and Zoom call. Tthere’s no particular preparation required, there is no we don’t have a curriculum that we’re going through. But it’s a co-working space, they are co-created by you, and the whole community. And again, what I mean by that is you bring whatever is current in your money life for you right now to that session.
So imagine, you’ve opened the Zoom link, the other little Zoom Windows popping up, you can turn your camera on or off, whatever feels better for you. And usually, I’d like to invite everyone to arrive in the space first, because with money work, we can get so stressed and can get all in our heads. And it’s oh my god, I have to get the taxes done. And I have to prepare this, and I have to get this to the accountant. And did I? Have I really? And there’s all this energy rising up in the head. And usually it is really, really useful, and very relaxing, to take a few deep breaths, feel our feet on the ground, feel the surface supporting us. And check in where we are checking what’s present, what sensations are there, what emotions are there.
And from that point, bring, what’s my intention for this session, you might plan to, you might be brand new to Art of Money, and you plan to drop into module one and listen to the introductory audio or fill in the intake form.
Or you might be in module six and have dropped off the bandwagon, you think, and want to get started again. And you like this energy boost of being with other people and community to do that.
Or you might be preparing your taxes, and you want to sit with all the documents, or you might be inputting your invoices, you have the stack of invoices, and you want to put it into your tracking system.
Whatever your particular current money task is, that is your item to bring to the co-working session. And after a body check in, a little bit of a grounding session, some arrival time then usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
In the beginning, I usually invite everyone to put in writing in the chat what their intention is. And then we start the actual co-working. And that means we mute our microphones so as not to disturb the others with sounds that come from our microphones, and we work individually on our tasks. And there’s the chat, there’s always the written chat to connect with the alumni guide who’s there. Also with the other people, but usually it’s the alumni guide, if you have any questions, if you need pointers to the material, if you feel like, “I’m not really sure I’m understanding this right, can you tell me something about…” and so on.
We’re there to point you towards material in the Art of Money modules, or to point you towards other resources, or also just to share from our experience of having done this for a few years, in some cases for many years already. And that, during the silent co-working time we put in the written chat. And then at the top of the hour, so after an hour has passed, we usually do a check to see how everybody’s doing, and usually people opt for staying longer.
You’re welcome to drop off at any time, as I said, come as you are. Iit’s kind of a drop-in thing, drop in, drop out session as well. There’s no obligation for you to stay a particular amount of time because, well, you’re working individually. You’re doing whatever you need to do at that moment. You might need to turn off the camera and do a phone call with your bank. So, perfectly fine.
At the top of the hour, we usually do a little bit of a check-in, maybe do some stretches, and breathing. Because, you know, it’s been a while already. And what usually happens is there’s a lot of momentum going, and people opt to stay another 30 minutes and keep working.
And what I like to do is, I like to do a sharing session at the end as well for the 10 minutes. The last 10 minutes I like to use for sharing.
What did I come up with? What did I arrive with? What was my intention in the beginning? What did I do in the end? And what happened? What did I experience? What happened for me during this co-working time?
And what I find really, it’s, I like to call it, magic. What I find really amazing about these sessions is that usually people will share that there was a task that they were dreading at the start. And then, by the time the session ends, they get started on it. They get something done. Sometimes they even accomplish the whole task that seemed very overwhelming at the beginning. And they felt the support from the community. And that for me is really the most amazing thing about the co-working sessions: that we co-create the supportive space for each other where everyone works individually and in their own responsibility on their own stuff. But the synergy of being together and working at the same time creates something that gives you an extra boost.
And yeah, you can pop in one time. You can become a regular. Many people do and join us the next week again. So it is, in a way, it’s very individual. And it is a community.
So if that at all appeals to you. I’m very much looking forward to seeing you on one of our co-working sessions in the near future.
Why Coworking Makes a Difference
For some Art of Moneyers, community feels essential, which is why fostering community always has been and always will be a foundational part of the Art of Money program. When I recently received the following message from an anonymous Art of Money Adventurer, I knew that we had truly created a safe, supportive space to meet that need once again.
“I CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR THESE WORK SESSIONS!
As a busy homeschooling and working mom, I struggle to have time for money management or AOM. These work sessions are at the perfect day and time to help me to stay steady with my commitment to slowly work through the material for the course. In fact, I know now that I will be working on money every Saturday morning forever. I feel so hopeful and happy about building this good habit.
Today I was working through some course material and didn’t have time to read through the rich conversation that was happening in the chat about credit cards. The work session ended but I skimmed the convo before logging off….. on a whim, I decided to BE BRAVE (inspired by the convo in the work group time) and log into credit karma RIGHT NOW to check my credit score. It had improved since the last time I checked and is a solid score, so I took a deep breath of relief. There were offers for personal loans on the site which got me thinking since someone in the chat said they had consolidated debt into a lower-interest-rate personal loan.
Then I decided to do something radical for me. I checked the interest rates on my two credit cards. Wow– I learned that they are too high, and I also realized that one of the cards WILL NEVER GET PAID OFF at the rate I am paying it. I ACTUALLY DIDN’T KNOW THIS. I will do some research about the best possible personal loan to pay off these debts, and wow, wow, wow, all this movement came from a 90-minute work session. Not to mention the amazing course material I was working with during the work session.
THIS IS LIFE-CHANGING STUFF !!!!
THANK YOU!!”
If you’ve been wondering what it would be like if you didn’t have to do your money work all alone – this is what personal and community support looks like.
This is what truly transformative money work looks like. Meeting you where you are with practical money tools, body-based wisdom, and meaningful support so that you can create a healthier relationship with money in your life.
This is your invitation to be a part of it.
This Money Mocha mini-series is an offering of my thanks and gratitude for being a part of my community. It’s also a taste test, a sneak peek at what the Art of Money is all about. And it’s an invitation to join this one-of-a-kind, global community.
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran on this gentle path or just beginning to explore your relationship with money, we’ll meet you where you are.
The Art of Money is open for registration for a few more days.
If part of you is calling to feel seen, and heard, and less alone in this ever-unfolding life and money journey, join us here.
I would love to welcome you to the Art of Money.
With my dearest wishes,
