Women- We Have The Power 💪🏼💪🏽💪🏾💪🏿

Women- we have the power to create the working world we want.

And it's not necessarily about shattering glass ceilings. And it might not be about 'leaning in'. 

It's about defining ambition... for yourself. 

Now that might mean the corner office, and the big salary, and the important title, if that's how you define success.  

But it might also mean a self-determined schedule so you can pick your kids up from school, or stay home during the day with babies and toddlers, or keep tabs on your teens while you also find time for your aging parents. 

Your ideas of success might include bopping around to different cities or different countries as you pop in and out of remote desks and offices and even apartments around the world. 

It might mean dabbling in your art, teaching yoga, and generating income on a project by project basis with your talent for visuals and quick wit on social media. 

Your ideas for success might mean time for travel, time for friends, time to read, time to write, and time to keep fit. 

You may be a part-time creative, full time parent, loving and committed daughter, with a clean house and a home cooked meal for anyone who arrives.

This may be your vision for ambition.  And it's critical that we honor and recognize all of these pursuits as ambitious and worthy of financial viability and financial security. 

For too long women have been told that in order to be successful, for their work and their lives to really count, they should want big salaries and big offices.  We've been told that we have to 'step away from ambition' to raise kids, and we have been told to accept and expect that 're-entry' after 'time out' from that singular ambition has inevitable and just consequences. In fact, we have entrenched systems that support this inevitability. We have come to accept the story we're being told about what ambition women want. 

And it is an acceptance of these systems that promote a one size fits all definition of ambition that indeed preserves this system. We have all become comfortable with it. There are more men named John and James at the helm of Fortune 500 companies than all the women leaders. There's roughly a 20% pay gap between women and men working the same positions with women receiving 80% of what men do.  Just under 20% of the US Congress comprises of women. 

And yet, we all know many, many women who are doing remarkable things every single day for themselves, their families, their communities, their companies, their organizations and for each other. And they may or may not be running a Fortune 500 company. 

Aren't these women also ambitious? Isn't their work also valid and valuable? 

We know, that, of course, it is. But if we are to change the tide and create the working world we really want for ourselves, then women must begin to tell new stories of ambition and we must honor and support these stories. 

It is the danger of the single story of an ambitious women that limits our potential. 

And so let's start to create the working world we want. A working world that honors, celebrates and supports, both socially and economically, the multitude of women's stories of ambition.  

We can shape a new working landscape for ourselves and for the future.

We will rise by lifting each other.

 

Ladies, Let's Stop Being So Polite About Money

Let's stop being so polite about money. Seriously.

Let's start asking each other where we make money and where we don't; how we save money or why we don't. Let's start telling each other what we don't understand about money and start helping each other take control over our thoughts, emotions, and actions around money. Let's get confident in asking for money and knowing our value. Let's be clear about what we charge for projects, how we manage cash flow gaps, and who's lending to whom. Let's talk about how we access health care, and how we pay for college, or professional development, or awesome software, client coffees, dinner dates, and that dang trip to Cancun. Let's be clear about what we expense, and how we keep track of it. 

Let's make this the year to let go of fears and anxiety around money and exchange it for awareness, transparency, collaboration, and information. 

Because by shying away from the cash chit chat, we're adhering to a code that disempowers us.  

And in order for us to lead a workforce revolution.  We need to be empowered. 

So let's start some money chatter right now.

Here are a few actionable first steps for entrepreneurs of every sort, from side gigs to solos, to startups and small businesses: 

1. Get a separate bank account for your business. This is the first step to getting your business financials in order. Whether you take on a project or two a year or have a full-time operation with employees and contractors, it is never the right decision to mix your personal account with your business account. Keep them separate and pay yourself from your business account into your personal account. Even just one side gig project demands a separate account. 

2. Same goes for credit cards. Don't mix personal and professional. If you cannot yet get a business credit card, then simply dedicate a personal card exclusively to your business. 

3. Understand money in, money out. You need to know exactly what money is coming in and what money is going out. It seems basic, but it is so often unexamined. This cannot be guess work or estimates. Look at it. Understand it. Reconcile it. When you really start to look at your transactions you can begin to truly understand the cost of a project and what you're actually earning. You will be able to make informed decisions about how to best operate your business and allocate your time. The best ways to understand 'money in, money out' is to track it. There are several online accounting software programs (at THE JILLS OF ALL TRADES™ we love Xero) that can help you do this, but so can a self-created spreadsheet, or a big 'ole paper ledger. Whatever your approach start tracking now. 

4. Schedule a money date with yourself every single week. Avoidance around money is all too common. For some of us, the task is arduous. For others, the fear of what we might learn can paralyzes us. At times, it's frustrations about what we have to pay in student loans, or health insurance, or rent that keep us from simply facing our cash. And too often, we are just busy, so we put it off. But the truth is, when you start to look at your money routinely, it indeed becomes routine. It gets easier, less time consuming, and you, as a result, become more informed and more confident. So make a money date every week. Put in on your calendar, and block 15 minutes to check in with bank statements, reconcile your accounts, follow up with invoices, and make payments. Practice will help you feel better as you make financially informed decisions for yourself and your business. 

5. Pay yourself first. If you did the work, then you need to pay yourself for it. How much you choose to pay yourself will depend on what you learned about the true cost of your projects and what you charge for them. And remember there is a cost to running your business and taking care of yourself. Know what you truly earned and pay yourself.