Struggling To Believe You Can Make Money? Watch This.
A belief-reduction exercise and 20 real, mostly-tiny income case studies, aimed at the one thing that actually stops beginners: not believing it can happen to them.
Posted
1 years ago
Duration
Format
Talking Head
sincere
Views
96.7K
3.4K likes
Big Idea
The argument in one line.
Most people never take the first step in an online business because they don't believe money is possible for them specifically, and that disbelief has to be dismantled with small, provable numbers before any strategy or tactic can work.
Who This Is For
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
You want to start (or have started and stalled on) an online business but keep procrastinating because deep down you don't think it will actually work for you.
You've read income reports or seen case studies from strangers and thought 'that could never happen for me.'
You compare yourself to someone earning six or seven figures a month and use that gap as a reason not to start at all.
You want proof from ordinary beginners with small results, not another framework, funnel, or growth-hack video.
SKIP IF…
You already believe you can make money online and just need a tactical plan — this is a mindset video, not a strategy one.
You're looking for the specific mechanics of building a passive income business; this points to a resource but doesn't teach the steps.
TL;DR
The full version, fast.
Maria Wendt argues that most people never start an online business because they don't believe money is possible for them, which becomes self-fulfilling: no belief, no action, no results, belief confirmed. Her fix is a belief-reduction exercise: instead of trying to believe a huge number, shrink the target ($400K/month down to $100K/year, $500/year, even $1/year) until you hit an amount you genuinely believe, then state it positively. She normalizes doubt as universal among beginners, tells viewers to actively hunt for evidence they CAN succeed rather than evidence they can't, and closes by sharing a free 40-page document of 20 real students' results, deliberately spotlighting small wins like $58 and $85 over the big six-figure ones.
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States the video's goal and names the trap directly: disbelief leads to inaction, which produces no results, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
01:30 – 04:18
02 · The belief-reduction exercise
Shrinks an impossible-feeling target ($400K/month) down through $100K/year, $500/year, $1/year until the viewer finds a number they actually believe, then reframes it positively.
04:18 – 05:54
03 · You're not alone / no one starts confident
Normalizes doubt as the universal starting point for entrepreneurs and warns that waiting to feel ready means waiting forever.
05:54 – 08:30
04 · Hunt for evidence you CAN
Uses her own unrelated limiting beliefs about dating and marriage as a parallel, arguing you must actively seek evidence of success from people like you instead of defaulting to failure statistics.
08:30 – 13:08
05 · The 20 free case studies
Screen-shares a free 40-page document of 20 students' real results, deliberately spotlighting small, believable wins over the large outlier numbers, and points viewers to where to get it free.
Atomic Insights
Lines worth screenshotting.
Disbelief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you don't believe you can make money, you take no action, get no results, and that confirms the original disbelief.
Instead of trying to believe a huge number, shrink the goal repeatedly ($400K/month to $100K/year to $500/year to $1/year) until you hit an amount you actually believe.
Frame belief in the positive: say 'I believe I can make $30 in a year' instead of 'I don't believe I can make X.'
No one starts a business feeling confident; disbelief, doubt, and skepticism are the universal starting point, not the exception.
If you wait until you feel ready to start, you will wait for the rest of your life, because that feeling never arrives before you act.
Train yourself to actively look for evidence you CAN succeed (people who look like you, live like you, started where you did) instead of defaulting to evidence you can't.
The same belief-mechanics apply to any area of life stuck in self-doubt, not just money; the video draws the exact parallel to dating and relationship beliefs.
A curated case-study collection deliberately weighted toward small, unglamorous wins ($58, $60, $85, $111, $138) does more belief-building work than showcasing outlier six-figure results.
Being skeptical of 'six figures in six months' claims is rational, not a personal failing — the fix is recalibrating the target down to something believable, not ignoring the skepticism.
Takeaway
Shrink the number until your own skepticism runs out.
WHAT TO LEARN
Disbelief blocks action long before any strategy matters, and the fix is finding a money goal small enough that you genuinely believe it, not a bigger pep talk.
Disbelief becomes self-fulfilling: no belief leads to no action, no action leads to no results, and the lack of results quietly confirms the original doubt.
When a goal feels impossible, shrink it repeatedly until you find an amount you actually believe is achievable, even if that number is very small.
State believed goals positively ('I believe I can make $30 in a year') rather than as a negation of what you don't believe.
Every entrepreneur starts with doubt and skepticism; waiting to feel confident before acting means waiting indefinitely, since that feeling arrives after results, not before them.
Deliberately search for evidence that people like you have succeeded instead of defaulting to statistics about failure — the evidence you look for shapes what you believe is possible.
Being skeptical of extreme claims (six figures in six months) is reasonable; the useful move is recalibrating the target down, not dismissing the possibility altogether.
Small, unglamorous proof points (someone making $58 or $85) often do more to shift belief than large outlier success stories, because they're easier to see yourself in.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing.
Limiting belief
An internal assumption about what is or isn't possible for you personally that restricts action, even when it isn't objectively true.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A belief that causes the very outcome it predicts, because the belief itself changes behavior — here, disbelief in earning money leads to inaction, which produces no earnings.
“If you don't believe you can make money, then you won't take any action to make it happen, and then it almost becomes like this self fulfilling prophecy where it becomes true.”
names the core mechanism in one line→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
03:39
“Your lack of belief is bullshit... it's all in your head, and it's fake and it's keeping you stuck in poverty.”
“We all start with disbelief. We all start with doubt. We all start with skepticism.”
normalizes the target emotion in three parallel clauses→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
17:56
“Making money starts by believing it's possible to actually do that.”
one-sentence thesis, works as a caption or title card→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
The Script
Word for word.
Read-along
Don't just watch it. Burn it in.
See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
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metaphoranalogystory
00:00My goal for this video is that we sit down and have a heart to heart on what to do if you don't believe you can make money online. And the more I talk to my audience and the more I talk to my girlies, the more I realize that so many of you could have extremely successful businesses, but you are struggling to take that first step because deep, deep down, you don't believe you can make money, like you don't believe this is for you.
00:22And so that's where we need to start. That's what we need to have a conversation around because if you don't believe you can make money, then you won't take any action to make it happen, and then it almost becomes like this self fulfilling prophecy where it becomes true.
00:34Like, yeah, you don't believe you can make money, so you don't make money. And so I have forgotten that that's what so many people struggle with because it's been eleven years since I made my first dollar online, and I forgot that such a big thing is, like, I took years to even make my first dollar.
00:52Like, before I even started my business, I was learning and thinking about and reading about starting a blog at the time because that's what was that was happening eleven years ago. But like two years before my business officially started, I just like procrastinated because I was I didn't think it was possible for me. You have to remember that, like, I was reading income reports of bloggers thirteen years ago, and, like, oh my gosh, they're making so much money.
01:13They made $10,000 a month from their blog. And so you're not alone in struggling to believe that you can't make money.
01:22Like, your lack of belief that it will actually work for you is very common, and it's very common because I think a lot of people are rightly skeptical and rightly cautious of some of the very big promises that can be promised in our industry.
01:38So if someone says, you can make 6 figures in six months, you're right to be skeptical of that. That's not very realistic.
01:45So the first thing that we're gonna wanna do as we work to shift your belief from I don't believe it's possible for me to make money online to I do believe it's possible for me to make money online is we wanna, like, put some tangibles on your lack of belief. So essentially, like, taking this big concept of, you know, Maria makes $400,000 a month, that feels impossible to me.
02:07I don't believe that's possible for me. Okay. Do you believe you can make $100,000 in a year?
02:11If the answer is no, okay, let's reduce it even further. Do you believe that you can make $500 in a year?
02:20If the answer is yes, amazing. If the answer is no, no problem. Do you think you can make $1 in one year online?
02:27And you keep breaking it down. There's no wrong answer. Like, if your answer is, I don't believe I will ever make 1p, then it's like, okay.
02:33Do you believe that if you worked at it for three years, you could figure out how many they make $1? If the answer is no, then you make the timeline longer. Do you believe I could make $1 in five years?
02:42So there's no wrong answer. All you need to do is just get some clarity and and and put some parameters, like put a frame around exactly what you do and don't believe when it comes to making money online.
02:55So that's the first step, and I would love it if you guys put it in the comments. My YouTube channel is still small enough to where, like, I can reply to all my YouTube comments, and so if you share, like, after you've gotten very clear on where you're at, it's like, okay, I I believe I can make $30 in one year.
03:13Right? So frame it in the positive. Don't say, I don't believe I can make x.
03:17Frame it as and speak to what you do believe. So, Maria, I believe that if I had five years, I could make $5.
03:24That's just an example. Right? And so just, like, get some tangibleness around what you do believe.
03:30That's the first step. And I have some notes here because really, like, at the end of the day, what I what I what I just wish I could just tell you is, like, you can do it because that's the God's honest truth. Is it like your lack of belief is bullshit?
03:43Like, that's what I really wanna tell you is that it's all in your head, and it's fake and it's keeping you stuck in poverty. That's what I want to tell you. But I'm worried that's not going to be helpful, so I'm also trying to offer some practical stuff so that it's not just like do this thing.
04:00It's or it's not just like stop thinking this way. It's like, okay. Here's how to think this way.
04:05So fundamentally, the answer is your limiting belief is just that. It's a belief that's limiting you, and it's not serving you at all, and you can make money.
04:13But let's talk about, like, what this actually looks like. So the other thing that I wanted to share is that no one believes that they can make money at first.
04:22So if you're waiting for the day where you magically all of a sudden wake up and are super confident and totally feel like you've got it and there's no fears, and then it feels like, okay, yeah, now it's time. This is just never gonna happen.
04:36You'll wait the rest of your life for this to happen. And that's the honest scary truth, is that if you wait until you're ready, it will never happen for you. And I got, like, weirdly choked up just thinking about all those people that are gonna miss out on a life they could have had because they were waiting for something that was never gonna happen because nobody like myself sat down and said, hey, everybody's shitting their pants.
04:59Excuse my language. Everybody's shitting their pants in fear as we do this, and that's just the way it is.
05:08That's just the way it goes. Like, that is entrepreneurship. And so I want to normalize the fact that literally nobody ever starts a business super confident and feeling like, yeah, this is definitely gonna work.
05:18Like, we all start with disbelief. We all start with doubt. We all start with skepticism.
05:23We all start like, probably not gonna work. It doesn't work for most people. Probably not gonna work.
05:28Oh my god. Like, it's all it's from that place of, like, such scarcity, and that's where we all start because we have not proven it to ourselves yet.
05:35Like, we don't fundamentally trust ourselves. That's what it comes down to. And so that's the second thing is that this is super normal.
05:45So if you're waiting for the time that you feel ready and confident, you'll wait the rest of your life and you'll miss out. Like, that's the God's honest truth. You're gonna miss out if you wait till you feel ready because you're never gonna feel ready.
05:53No one believes. I also want you to start looking for the evidence that you can do this versus looking for the evidence that you can't.
06:02So I'm doing this in the love department. Right? Like, I have a lot of, like, things I'm working through from my past when it comes to relationships and love, and I have a lot of limiting beliefs around marriage and a lot of limiting beliefs around love and a lot of limiting beliefs around men.
06:15And so what I'm doing is looking for evidence of the opposite. I'm looking for evidence of good men and good marriages and, um, healthy relationships and, like, reasons to be in love.
06:24I'm looking for the evidence that I can have a healthy love life versus the evidence that I can't. And so you and I are actually at the same level, just in two different areas. Right?
06:35I'm right at the, like, newbie beginner stages of relationships, and you're right at the newbie beginning stages of business. And so we both have to, together, look for evidence as to why we can have something versus why we can't because both are true. Like, if we look for all the reasons why we can't have something, we're gonna find it.
06:52Or if we look for all the reasons why we can't have something, we'll find it. And so start looking for people who look like you who are successful, people who sound like you who are successful, people who have a business in an industry like you that are successful, people who have you know, maybe you're a single mom too, and so you have kids.
07:07Right? Like, your limiting beliefs are, whatever your excuses are, look for people who are like you in that area who actually made it, who are successful.
07:17And it doesn't have to be like this person launched a course that was exactly identical to me, and they had the exact same amount of kids as me, and they had this challenge that I have.
07:28But, like, take one step back and say, oh my gosh, I have a limiting belief that I have to look a certain way in order to be successful, but here's three people who look exactly like me in three totally different industries, and they're super successful. So if they're super successful, it can't mean that everyone who looks like me can never be successful, and that could just be one limiting belief.
07:47And so you have to start training your mind. This is all head stuff. You have to start training your mind to look for evidence that you can be successful, that you can make money online versus looking for evidence that you can't because you'll find that.
07:59People who quit, the statistics are not really in your favor when it comes to starting a business. Um, there's a lot of different things you can find if you're looking for for all the reasons why you should never start. But somebody that's running a multimillion dollar business now, god, I'm so glad I didn't listen to the statistics.
08:12I'm so glad I didn't pay attention to that because it's bleak if you pay attention to that, but I just kinda always like I was like, hey. But, like, this random blogger is making $10,000 a month. I wanna start a blog that makes 10,000 and I never even started the blog.
08:24I, like, started as a graphic designer, but I was very interested in making money online from day one. So you wanna look for evidence that you can versus you can't, and I have something for you. I'm gonna pull something up that I want you to get.
08:35It's totally free, but I want you to get it and I want you to read it, and we're gonna read, um, like a summary of it together. Um, I'm gonna pull this up here.
08:45Um, it is basically, what I did is I took 20 of my students who have made had, like, big results and small results, um, and I put their stories together, like, in a case study. So I'm just gonna share my screen here, um, because I want to I want to show you this and just look at some of these together.
09:03Here we go. Okay. So these are let's let it load.
09:09These are 20 passive income case studies. So passive income with Instagram is my main course, and I thought it would be really cool to actually talk to the students who were in this course, and so I sent out an email, and I said I'm looking for 20 people, um, to do case studies on.
09:24I want to do case studies, and I specifically said I want to hear from everybody. I don't care how much you've made.
09:31Like, I'm not looking for really big results because that's not even realistic. Realistic. Like, we're looking for, like, you making your first dollar online, your first $80 online.
09:38I want smaller testimonials. Um, and what I said here at the very beginning of the case study thing is making money starts by believing it's possible to actually do that. And the goal of this case study collection really isn't to get you to enroll in my passive income course that they all mentioned.
09:50You might decide to do that. Right? Like, might realize and be like, shit.
09:53I'm gonna get Maria's course. It sounds amazing. But it's not even the goal.
09:56It's they reference this course a lot, but I wanted to clarify that the goal of these case studies is to expand your horizons and ultimately ultimately, I wish I knew your name, like, right here through the screen, please hear me. I want you to know and believe that you actually can make money online.
10:12Like, you can do this, and you can make a lot of money online. And that's what I want you to know, and that's why I put all of these stories together.
10:20So I'm gonna give you all these stories for free. It's like a freaking 40 yeah. It's a 40 page document.
10:25Um, but I'm just gonna read you, like, some of the headlines, and then in the description, um, I'm gonna tell you how to get access to this for free.
10:32There's no charge, nothing. I just want you to read this because I want you to believe in this. So, um, just like some of these.
10:39Right? So okay. So, like, we have the big ones.
10:40Right? Like, Joy who did $250,000 in eight months.
10:43Jodi sold made $32,000 with her gardening guide. Um, Em hit 12,000 months.
10:50Renata made $14,000 in her first, you know, her first sixty days. Like, those are the big ones that stretch your belief and expand your mind to what's possible.
10:59Then there's the ones that I actually want you to pay attention to. Nicole made 880 with her gut detox bundle.
11:05Nasha did $58 in her first two days with her challenge. Brea made $60 in seven days with her new perimenopause course.
11:13Okay. The Samantha made $85 in two weeks. Those are the numbers I want you to pay attention to because I I I will venture a guess that most of you believe you can actually make something like $85 in two weeks.
11:25Like, that doesn't feel that unbelievable. Or like Leila who made a $111 in her first week or Beth who made a $138 in her first two days. Like, these seem much more realistic, and that's what I want you to focus on because you probably are looking at somebody like myself who does $400,000 in a month and thinking, oh, like, that's unbelievable for me.
11:45That's unrealistic. So, okay, let's like I said earlier, let's chunk it down and let's start small. So I want you to read there's 20 different stories, and I want you to read every one of them.
11:54There's screenshots of proof for each one, so each person had to provide proof, um, that they actually made what they said they were going to, and then each person shared what was the most important thing that everyone should know, um, and other along with, like, other advice and other stories. So, again, it's 40 pages. I highly recommend you read it because that's gonna do a lot of my job for me, which is to help I'm just trying to convince you.
12:18Like, at the end of the day, I'm trying to convince you that you can do this and that you should do this. So again, look in the description of this video. I'm gonna give instructions.
12:28It's either gonna be a link, just so you know, it's either gonna be a link to get it, or it's going to be a way to, like, um, message me on Instagram and get me get the like, because that way I can automatically send you a link. I'm not exactly sure how you're gonna do it. If I can get my team to make, an opt in page in enough time, then it'll just be a link in the description.
12:45Otherwise, it'll be, like, an easy way to just message me, and I can have a, um, automation just send you the link. So that's how we're gonna do that.
12:52I highly, highly, highly recommend that you go read those as your very next step because at the end of the day, if you believe it's possible, you're going to make it happen, and that is going to change your life. And that's what I'm here for. I will see you in the next one.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Maria Wendt opens by naming the thing most 'how to make money online' videos skip: it isn't a strategy problem, it's a belief problem. If you don't believe money is possible for you, you never take the first action, and the lack of results quietly proves you right.
Frameworks
Named ideas worth stealing.
01:30model
The belief-reduction ladder
Start with the big number that feels impossible ($400,000/month)
Shrink it (do you believe $100,000/year?)
Shrink it again (do you believe $500/year?)
Keep shrinking until you hit an amount you believe (even $1/year)
State the believed amount positively, not as a negation
A stepwise way to find the smallest money goal a skeptical beginner actually believes is achievable, then anchor confidence to that instead of the aspirational number.
Steal forany pitch or coaching moment where a prospect's disbelief in a big outcome is blocking them from starting at all
CTA Breakdown
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
08:30link
“I want you to get it and I want you to read it... look in the description of this video, I'm gonna give instructions.”
Soft, no-price lead-magnet CTA — framed as belief-building proof rather than a sales pitch, delivered via description link or an Instagram DM automation.
A business coach who lost her marriage and most of her working hours in one year lays out the six rules that kept her business alive on three hours of childcare-free time a day.
A live-drawn whiteboard reduces an entire digital products business to three scored ingredients, then proves the hardest one with a brand-new, anonymous Instagram account.
A ManyChat coupon-recovery flow, a retargeting ad script, and a 45-email upsell sequence — the three automations one course creator credits with tripling her monthly revenue.
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