Money Changed My Confidence Before It Changed My Income
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
By Jessica Crane
SheEO Collective
For a long time, I believed confidence came after success. After the money. After the milestones. After the proof. What I’ve learned both personally and through working with thousands of women is that the opposite is true. Money didn’t change my confidence because I earned more. It changed my confidence because I learned how money actually works.
I grew up in Ward End, Birmingham, an area once labelled by the press as one of the toughest places in Britain. As a child, I spent countless weekends in women’s refuges, surrounded by the brutal reality of domestic abuse, financial dependence, and instability. I watched capable, intelligent women trapped in situations they couldn’t leave not because they lacked ambition, but because they lacked financial agency.
From an early age, I was determined my story would be different. At ten years old, I ran a car wash and learned my first real money lesson: time-for-money models have limits. Later, I built a successful career in the beauty industry, became an educator for global brands, and eventually transitioned into entrepreneurship. Outwardly, I was “successful.” Internally, I was still operating in survival mode.
The financial decision that changed everything wasn’t earning more, it was separating income from wealth.
Until that point, I was focused on cash flow alone. When money came in, it went straight back out. There was no strategy, no asset building, no protection. Learning about wealth assets, systems, leverage and ownership fundamentally shifted how I led. I stopped reacting and started deciding. I stopped chasing and started structuring. Confidence followed because I finally trusted myself to make informed choices.
Money literacy changes leadership because it removes fear from decision-making. When you understand cash flow, margins, risk, and long-term planning, you stop leading from urgency. You set better boundaries. You say “no” more easily. You stop overworking to compensate for uncertainty. I see this every day with the women I support through the SheEO Collective. As their financial understanding grows, so does their authority.
Hustle culture thrives where money literacy is low. When women don’t understand how to build assets, they work harder instead of smarter. They confuse exhaustion with progress.
Sustainable leadership comes from clarity, not chaos and believe me when I say clarity comes from education.
One of the biggest things I wish women understood earlier is that wealth is built through ownership, not just effort. Income is important, but it’s only the starting point. Wealth is about what you keep, how you grow it, and how you protect it. It’s about pensions, investments, property, systems, and diversification not someday, but alongside business growth.
Today, I run multiple businesses across coaching, education, e-commerce, property investment, and apprenticeships. I’ve generated over £3 million in revenue, received industry awards, and support women across the globe building six, seven, and eight figure companies. But the work I’m most proud of is helping women move from survival to strategy.
Confidence doesn’t come from the number in your bank account. It comes from understanding it.
When women are financially literate, they lead differently. They choose differently. And they build futures that don’t rely on burnout but on intention, structure, and self-trust.
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