What you do (and who you are) has huge value. To truly be prosperous in business and life, you must wholeheartedly believe this. Often, however, I see women in business, myself included, underestimating their value. From a financial perspective, if you’re not appreciating the value of your products and services, you’re certainly not being paid what you’re worth. I want to share some suggestions how to get clarity about your true value so you can really maximize your potential.

 

 Women In Business – Recognize Your Value: The Key to being Prosperous [Metromom Podcast] [5:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As a woman in business for yourself, who you are – including your relationship with money – translates into your business. A few months ago I interviewed my good friend and mastermind buddy, Linda Hunt, for a training call for my members on The Language of Money – Understanding Your Language Around Money So You Can Change Your Relationship With It. I want to share just a few highlights from that call on how to improve your relationship with money.

 

 Women In Business - How to Improve Your Relationship with Money [Metromom Podcast] [6:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In my last blog I shared how I see women in business, myself included, consistently underestimating their value. The impact from a financial perspective, if you’re not appreciating the value of your products and services, you’re certainly not being paid what you’re worth.

As entrepreneurs, we have to validate that our ideas have meaning and worth. You need to connect with like-minded women; they’ll see things in you that you don’t recognize about yourself. A huge revelation came to me because I took the time to participate in the mastermind group. What’s interesting is my biggest learning came from chatting in a restaurant, over a glass of wine, after hours!

If you really want to be prosperous, and not just get by, your success depends on association with other entrepreneurial women who have great ideas, an open, sharing approach, are in tune with their purpose and are already achieving the kind of lifestyle you want. Spending time with the right peers and role models is invaluable. It’s time to reach out if you don’t already have these kinds of connections in your life.

So once you get some clarity and feedback on your true value, what’s next?

For me I recently realized that I could help a lot of people take their brilliant ideas (which typically overwhelm them) and learn a system to actually make them a reality – that is “get it done.” But then my doubts started creeping in… “Can I really do that? Is that possible? Will people care? Will they want it?”

What helped me overcome these doubts was acknowledging that I have value and it’d actually be selfish for me not to share my gift. If we hold back from putting our true value out there we’re not being of service to the customer who can benefit from what we offer. You owe it to yourself to step into who you’re meant to be. Acknowledge your gifts and talents and then find a way to share them with the world.

Even though I’ve had some financial challenges as I launched my business, I feel completely prosperous. I give my business my heart and soul. I love the customers I get to serve and feel gratitude for the prosperity that flows.

I share this, because I am just like you, and I know that you’ve got tons of value to share with the world, and you owe it to yourself (and to the world) to get it out there.

FYI – If you’re ready to get it done join me for a free call I’m hosting – Get It Done 101: How to STOP Procrastinating and Tackle Your BIG Ideas with Confidence… So that You Can Make More Money and Help More People.

What you do (and who you are) has huge value. To truly be prosperous in business and life, you must wholeheartedly believe this. Often, however, I see women in business, myself included, consistently underestimating their value. While they enthusiastically support the gifts and talents of their husbands, children and friends, when it comes to their own talents you hear them say…

"It’s no big deal," "Anybody can do that," or "It’s just a fluke it all worked out."

From a financial perspective, if you’re not appreciating the value of your products and services, you’re certainly not being paid what you’re worth. You’re absolutely leaving money on the table.  Let me share an example of something that I’m naturally really good at but I’d placed little or no value on it until recently…

I was at a mastermind group a few months ago and was speaking with one of my mastermind partners. As she was getting to know me, she basically said, "Kim, I’ve never seen anybody who gets things done as quickly as you do."

As I wrote those words down, it really sunk in for me. Even though I knew this about myself (somewhere deep down), I’d never internalized it until I wrote it down on a napkin!

When I went back to our mastermind group and shared this with them, I said, "You know, last night Evana told me I get things done quickly." Everyone in our group said, "Well yeah, of course. That’s what you do." I had never allowed myself to appreciate the value of my "innate" skill.

Now what was the benefit of recognizing the value of my special ability to get things done quickly? Well, I started to envision how I could help others get things done. This got the wheels of my brain spinning and led me to revamp my Metromom community to the GET IT DONE Circle and launch a new "Get It Done" coaching program. In a very short time, after acknowledging my gift, I not only created more valuable and needed products and services, but became more aligned with my purpose and as a result am having much more fun with my business.

I know many of you have had similar experiences… When someone pointed out to you a special gift or ability you have that you probably take for granted. Please share your comments about any breakthroughs you’ve experienced.

In my next post I’ll share some suggestions how to get clarity about your value and then really maximize your potential.

For the past month I’ve been working with a fantastic group of women in a pilot of my new coaching program – The Get It Done Challenge. On our first call I had them share what they wanted to accomplish as well as what typically holds them back from getting things done.

Here are some of the projects they were challenged about moving forward with:

- Creating a new blog-based website
- Developing a coaching program
- Hosting a telesummit
- Develop an info-product
- Building an email list
- Creating a video-based newsletter

What’s been interesting is that even though they’re a diverse group of women with different projects, age groups, types of businesses and personalities – there are common threads when it came to the obstacles they faced.  Here are some of the snippets of conversation I captured that speak to their frustrations.

“What holds me back is my perfectionism. It sometimes makes me procrastinate because I just get confused.”

“I just seem to procrastinate when I have so many ideas I have ideas galore What I tend to do is hold back until it’s all right and perfect.”

“The biggest thing that gets in my way is I get so many ideas…For me it’s fully around time management, taking a look at the project, saying, ‘This is what I’m doing now,’ and really staying with it.”

“What gets in the way? Everything. There are only so many hours in a day.“

“I get distracted by shiny things. I’m just overwhelmed with all the other business that’s going on. It’s time management, staying focused, and having a plan.”

“My biggest challenge is reigning in of all the ideas that continuously swirl around in my head and getting clear on prioritizing. Which comes first? Then which comes second?”

“What holds me back is time management, prioritizing, streamlining, and having too many ideas and shiny object distractions.”

“For me, it’s the how-to’s and getting the assistance of somebody else who understands that whole process.”

“It’s getting the stuff done. It’s the time-management part of it and not being an expert … It’s finding that person or people to help support me in doing this. That’s what gets in my way. “

“Right now, I am so bogged down… I’ve just been doing an awful lot of it myself. I can’t do all this nonsensical stuff myself that others can do for me.”

Perfectionism, prioritizing, having too many ideas, distractions, not knowing how or when to delegate – these topics kept coming up in our conversation when it came to what’s stopping us from getting our ideas out of our head and into the world.

The great thing is that the 5 strategies I’m sharing with these women are working! It doesn’t matter which project or which challenge they’re grappling with, they’re all making progress.

FYI – I’ll be sharing these five strategies in my upcoming free teleclass on October 15th, Get It Done 101 – How To STOP Procrastinating and Tackle Your BIG Ideas with Confidence… So that You Can Make More Money and Help More People. Click here to learn more.

In my last blog I shared some highlights from an interview with Linda Hunt for a training call for my members on The Language of Money – Understanding Your Language Around Money So You Can Change Your Relationship With It.

Here are a few more great suggestions and powerful exercises she shared that really got me re-examining my attitude towards money.

Create awareness about how you feel spending money.

You need to analyze your feelings both when you’re making a purchase and then again at the end of the day. Linda gave an example that completely resonated with me.

Let’s say you buy yourself a latte every morning. Your emotion when you make your purchase is, “I feel great! I love my latte!” But later on in the day, how do you feel? If you feel great, then keep buying those lattes!

But what it you feel guilt and regret? Ask yourself “Why do I keep putting myself through that every day if I feel guilty? If it makes me feel bad, why am I buying lattes every day?” Analyzing your feelings during and after purchases is a great way to create awareness, and make changes.

Don’t avoid money issues.

There’s nothing more stressful than a pile of unpaid bills sitting on your desk. The energy of them sitting around can zap your energy, especially if money is tight that month. If you’re having trouble making payments, you must address this right away. Pick the phone up and speak your truth and say, “This is what’s going on for me. Is there some way we can work it out?” Being upfront and having these conversations is going to ease some of your stress. Another benefit is that most companies want to work something out with you if you’re just willing to make that phone call.

Abundance comes to you through feeling.

If you truly believe your glass is half full as opposed to half empty, you’re going to feel abundance. Find what makes your heart sing. Is it your children? Is it playing with your dog? Is it decorating your home? These simple things that you do that make you happy are really the root of your abundance.
For me personally I enjoy reaching out and connecting with women, something magical always happens. There is richness in my life and in the experience of sharing and learning with other great women.

So when you feel money stress rising, maybe when you receive an unexpected bill. Instead of going into that panic mode… pause. Get up from your desk, take a deep breath and recall your feelings of abundance, the simple things that make you happy. Abundance comes in many ways, other than just monetary.

Applying these suggestions can really shift your relationship with money. Stay tuned for more details about the upcoming Metromom Prosperity Telesummit where I will get back in touch with what it means to be abundant and focus on the service and value you’re providing in the world.

Many of the women I speak with are feeling a lot of stress financially right now. The key questions become: How do you remove this stress when you’re thinking about money, so you can do the work you’re meant to do, especially in a time like we’re in right now? How can we all replace a “lack” mentality with an “abundance” mentality?

The fact is your attitude about money is incredibly important when you’re an entrepreneur. As a woman in business for yourself, who you are – including your relationship with money – translates into your business.

A few months ago I interviewed my good friend (and now mastermind buddy) Linda Hunt for a training call for my members on The Language of Money – Understanding Your Language Around Money So You Can Change Your Relationship With It. Linda shared many great suggestions and powerful exercises during that call, that she really got me re-examining my attitude towards money.

I want to share just a few highlights from that call on how to improve your relationship with money.

Redefine what money is.

Money is energy but it is also a transaction tool that helps us attain what we want and need. It’s important to remember that money does not define your worth. It’s a separate distinct energy like electricity, a book or a table.

Develop a healthy mindset about money.

This mindset works for a lot of things, not just money. For example, the woman who diets and is successful at keeping her weight off is the one who changes her eating habits. She doesn’t deprive herself and she doesn’t view food as evil. She just changes her eating habits. She approaches it with a healthy mindset.

Money, like food, is emotionally charged for many of us. Probably because we heard the following messages growing up…

“We can’t afford that.”
“Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
“You must work hard for your money.”

The problem is we develop the mindset that money is the only vehicle for being able to get what we want or not get what we want. If you don’t have the money to give, you can’t get something. We end up thinking of it from our childhood perspective as though we’re being punished.

Instead of feeling bad about not having money, it’s a time to step back and look at your habits. Do they really reflect your family values? Ask yourself, “Do I really need this or is it just a habit?”

In my next blog post I’ll share a few more tips that will help you improve your relationship with money. In the meantime women in business really need to checkout my upcoming Metromom Prosperity Telesummit.

In my last blog I spoke of how important it is for women in business to have a clear vision. The interesting thing is, once you have that clear vision it becomes apparent what action is necessary for you to take. When Victoria Colligan, the founder of Ladies Who Launch, and I spoke during the Metromom Online Success Telesummit, she shared something really important, “taking any action is better than taking no action, even if the action you take leads you nowhere.”

Why? Because you learned from it. You now have information so you can adjust your course. The key is that you have momentum and can just keep on moving.

Let go of the Need to be Perfect

A really important message I want to communicate is there’s no such thing as perfect. The beauty of having a business, particularly an internet-based business, is how forgiving it is and how easy it is to make adjustments along the way.

I’m a recovering perfectionist so I know it’s not easy to overcome that tendency. It’s not an easy thing to walk away from. But if you acknowledge how much your desire for perfection is holding you back (which is incredibly eye-opening in itself) that can often give you the motivation to just move forward and take action. I sometimes have to remind myself of this when I’m stuck in the desire for perfection when launching a new service or product to “just get over it because a blank page doesn’t sell anything.”

Start with a clear vision and then take consistent imperfect action as you work towards it. Embrace the organic business process and you’ll not only be successful, you’ll have much more fun.

FYI – You can download my interview of Victoria Colligan and listen to “7 Steps to Realizing Your Dream.” These seven steps were designed specifically for women in business.

Please share how you’re taking action in your business, I’d love to hear about that.

As women entrepreneurs we tend to start and run our businesses very organically. I’ve noticed that the women in business who are flourishing are the ones that remain open to new opportunities, new connections and taking small steps along the way. They take one action, move forward, and then take another action.

But sometimes we run into roadblocks.

We have been conditioned to think that the traditional way of running a business is the only way, so we sometimes find ourselves paralyzed in moving forward. We are told by society, and often the men in our lives — our brothers, spouses, teachers — that we need a business plan, financial backing, experience and education in a specific area.

As we hear these messages they often become roadblocks to us moving forward, and our success. The interesting thing is that many truly successful women in business rarely have any of these things in the beginning. Many of us start without a business plan, without crunching numbers, and even without much money.

So if these “traditional” things aren’t necessary – what is? What do we as women need to have to move our new business or new idea forward?

Start with a clear vision.

As you get started with your business, it’s paramount to have a clear vision. When you have a vision of WHAT you’re trying to do, like the problem you’re trying to solve or the quality of the product that you’re trying to produce, the HOW will eventually come.

As entrepreneurial women, the path we take as we work towards our visions may twist and turn a bit. Imagine you’re driving a car. If you know you’re driving from the east coast to the west coast, you know you’ve got to take some combination of east-west roads. There is not just one right and perfect route for you to take. You, as the navigating entrepreneur, have the choice of your route (as crazy and twisted as it might be).

It’s the same with your business vision. As you gather new information, ideas and connections along the way you might adjust your route. The key is to keep focused and continually move forward towards that final destination – your vision.

In an upcoming post I’ll share another key aspect of being successful as a woman in business and share what I learned from my interview with Victoria Colligan, founder of Ladies Who Launch.

I’m really passionate about empowering and supporting women, especially when they’re going through difficult times. With that in mind, I’m looking forward to participating in a live TeleRetreat with my friend Colleen Bushby, The Savvy Divorced Chick.

I’ll be one of the 5 featured experts sharing invaluable information. If you or a friend have gone through a divorce and are looking to create power, security, and direction in your life after divorce, you won’t want to miss the Savvy TeleRetreat. It begins January 27, 2009 through February 5, 2009.

My segment will be on Rediscovering Your Professional Savvy. If you’re reentering the workforce or maybe looking to start your own business – where do you start? I’ll show you how to increase your confidence and professional savvy when starting out in a new career.
You will learn:

1. How to get clarity on what drives you and what you want to accomplish.
2. The importance of having a support system – both professional and personal.
3. How to conquer limiting beliefs and make the time to commit to personal growth

This educational, entertaining, and empowering event will focus on areas of Mindset, Health & Wellness, Finance, Career, and Relationships.