Guest Article

The Wealthy Spirit: Go for the Underlying Value

Chellie Campbell, Financial Stress
Reduction Expert

What are your true goals?

The ones that lie underneath the surface?

Love, not praise. Value, not money.

For many years I had studied acting, gotten my B.A. Degree in Dramatic Art, and made the trek to Hollywood as countless thousands before me.

I got my Equity card performing in Hello, Dolly! with Martha Rae, my SAG card in The Time of Your Life with James Whitmore, and did odds and ends of dinner theaters, commercials, and Disneyland.

Though even minor stardom eluded me, I enjoyed my creative pursuit of the dream.

In between acting jobs, I took secretarial jobs to pay the bills—luckily, during one summer-school session, my mother had said “Learn to type, honey!”

Each time a show closed, I’d call the employment agency and they’d send me on my next temporary assignment.

One fateful day in September, a play I was in closed when the backers ran out of money. The temporary secretarial assignment was supposed to last for two weeks.

I was there for four years.

The catch was they kept promoting me. With every promotion, I got more involved with the company and my coworkers, my skills improved, and I discovered a love for the creative side of business.

I found myself turning auditions—and then parts—down. I had clearly come to a crisis about what work I was meant to do.

Agonizing over my choices, I called my friend, Gaye Kruger. She asked me what I loved about acting. I said I loved being creative, the fun I had with the other actors, the applause and acknowledgment, the money, and feeling important.

She asked me what I loved about my office job. I said I loved being creative, the fun I had with my co-workers, the praise and acknowledgment, the money, and feeling important.

She said, “It’s the same list. Go for the underlying value. You have everything you want where you are now.”

She was right. The ruby slippers were on my feet and everything I wanted was in my own backyard. I never acted again.

And never missed it, either.

What are the underlying values in your life and work?

Chellie Campbell, Financial Stress Reduction Expert, is the author of bestselling books The Wealthy Spirit, Zero to Zillionaire, and From Worry to Wealthy: A Woman’s Guide to Financial Success Without the Stress. She has been treating Money Disorders like Spending Bulimia and Income Anorexia in her Financial Stress Reduction® Workshops for over 25 years and is still speaking, writing, and teaching workshops—now as Zoom classes and The Wealthy Spirit Group on Facebook—with participants from all over the world. Website: www.chellie.com.