I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate.
~ George Burns

Well I’m back from my big New York trip and ready to pick up where I left off in the discussion of women and money. The first part of this article highlighted some common and potentially limiting attitudes some women hold about money including a tendency to feel undeserving or even shame for making – or
wanting to make – good money.

Moral and other money-related dilemmas are not unique to women. Yet, having and managing money is often a bigger challenge for women. It’s not surprising when you consider it was not until 1974 that all women got the right to have business credit in their own names. Today the barriers are more attitudinal than institutional. Just ask Gail.

“Making Money is Selfish”

Gail is a consultant and trainer to non-profits. “Many times over the years,” she says, “I've encountered and been frustrated by the attitude that there is a special ‘glory’ for non-profits in making do with as little as possible, using outdated equipment and shabby facilities, paying staff little, working them too hard and offering few benefits, expecting the director to also be the janitor, etc., etc.” Adding, “In this framework, for-profit = bad (the “dark side”) and non-profit = good, so apparently money must be a necessary evil.”

Despite having spent more than 20 years working in the non-profit sector herself, Gail could never quite put her finger on what was behind these attitudes. Last summer she attended the Work at What You Love workshop and the light bulb went on. She explains:

“A woman in one of my discussion groups was feeling real anguish that her business idea could make her significant money. She had spent her career in non-profits and felt it would be somehow ‘wrong’ and ‘selfish’ to earn a larger income by working for-profit. The connection that jumped out at me between this attitude and your article is the large percentage of non-profit staff who are women. A coincidence?  I don't think so!”

“No Nobility in Poverty”

Not everyone gets what all the fuss is about. Fayette, a 54 year old single mom and long time small business owner wanted me to know that she’d raised three children and managed to get them all through college. “Had I not been marketing and making money in my business, my kids would not have made it to the point where they are now. All of this I did on top of working a 40 hour a week job.” Adding, “When you are in business, one of the things you are in it for is to make money. My saying is, ‘There is no nobility in poverty.’”

There may not be any nobility in poverty but there sure is a lot of fear about it. Suze Orman cites a 2006 survey in which nearly half the women respondents said they’ve imagined ending up homeless. It’s no wonder that many of the women I heard from are actively exploring their relationship with money. “I may not be happier rich but am I happy being poor?” asks fellow reader and writer, poet and interfaith minister Sandra Lee Schubert. Answering her own question she writes:

“No. So I don't tell ‘those’ friends about my goals or what I am setting up online. I have joined groups that support my goals. At this moment I want to make MONEY. And I am no longer ashamed to say that. I want an apartment at the river’s edge overlooking Manhattan. I want to be able to afford the kind of medical care to improve my life. I want to buy good clothes. I want to feel generous again. That feeling will come from me. Slowly I am spending money on my education, creating my Web site and laying the foundation.”

At the moment Sandra says none of this makes her feel particularly comfortable, “But,” she adds, “looking at living in poverty in my golden years makes me really uncomfortable.” (You must visit Sandra’s delightful Web site and see an adorable photo of “young Sandra” at Writing-For-Life.com)

Change Your Thinking and Change Your Life

Someone who has absolutely no qualms about women entrepreneurs making money is Nell Merlino, cofounder and president of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, the leading national non-profit of online micro loans for women entrepreneurs. Nell is also the visionary behind Make Mine a Million $ Business. MakeMineAMillion.org

Along with founding partner, OPEN from American Express®, the Make Mine a Million $ Business program hopes to inspire and support one million women entrepreneurs to reach annual revenues of $1 million by the year 2010. The program provides a combination of financing, mentoring, marketing and technology tools to help grow their businesses from micro to millions.

Someone who has done just that is Garnett Newcombe. Her Los Angeles-based organization, Human Potential Consultants, trains veterans, newly released convicts, and others to return to the workplace. Garnett had managed to grow her business to $400,000 a year in revenues but then hit a wall.

Then, she decided to compete for a spot in the Make Mine a Million $ Business program (think American Idol for entrepreneurs) and made it. Barely a year later, she’s grown her business to $4.2 million and has $18 million more in contracts. And she’s added 70 staff members to what had been a 10 person operation.

In the last article I told you that I’ve never aspired to be a millionaire. But I have to tell you I’m kind of warming up to the idea. Between 1995 and 2005 I probably spent a total of $2,000 on books and courses to help me learn how to grow my business. That’s a total of $200 a year. My business grew steadily to the point where I could pay the bills but not much more.

Then, between the fall of 2006 and 2007, I invested over $25,000 in my own education. This year alone it looks like it will be around $16,000. Just a few years ago, this would have been unthinkable for me. But what I have very quickly discovered is that for every $100 I have spent on self-study programs, a mastermind group, or a live workshop I have made $3,000 back. You do the math.

Change Your Thinking and Change Other People’s Lives

What turns a lot of women off, including me, are the people who make it ALL about the money. Worse is when I hear some big internet millionaire bragging about how he found someone in some developing country to work for him for a few bucks an hour. It’s sickening.

For me it’s not about making money for the sake of making money. I don’t need a fancy car or a bigger house. I don’t even wear half the clothes I already own. It’s not about having more “stuff.” For me, the goal of making more money is that it will allow me to do more for other people.

I’ve always contributed to favorite causes on a regular basis… $50 dollars here, $100 there. But in 2006 I decided to use my good fortune to help those far less fortune than I am by partnering with a wonderful micro-grant organization called Trickle Up TrickleUp.org to donate a portion of all profits from Changing Course.

With your help, in December, I was able to donate $5,000. That money directly helped 50 people previously living on $1 a day to get the seed money they need to start small businesses. When you consider their families the impact is closer to 250 people. But these are just numbers.

Putting a human face on some of these hard working entrepreneurs, I feel incredibly grateful and humbled. (Click here to read these inspiring profiles TrickleUp.org/entrepreneurs/profile.html) In 2008 I hope to double my contribution.

Never Say, “I Can’t Afford It.”

I started to write, “If I can afford it, in 2008 I hope to double my contribution.” Then I remembered some advice I read that said you should never say “I can’t afford it” to anything. You can say, “That’s interesting, but it’s not for me,” or you can say, “Where do I sign up!” or you can say, “I can’t swing it right now.” But when you say “I can’t afford it” unconsciously you’re telling yourself that you not only don’t have the money right now but that you never will.

You might not be ready yet to imagine yourself making a million dollars. And you may not be in a position to give away thousands of dollars. But that doesn’t mean you can’t change your thinking in small but important ways.

I’ve barely scratched the surface on what is a complicated and vast subject. But in doing so I hope to stimulate a conversation that can enable all of us to grow, learn, and prosper...whatever prosperity means to you.

Add Your Two Cents

Want to comment on this article? Click here to hop over to the Changing Course Blog!

P.S. On a personal note: I was brought up in a very private family where how much you earned was “nobody's business.” When I share my financial successes in these kinds of public arenas, I assure you it is not to toot my own horn. I’m telling you this because as the Garnett Newcombes – and every single other successful self-bosser I have ever met will tell you – the more you learn the more you earn. Investing in yourself, your education, and your business truly is money in the bank.

P.P.S. And since I’m sharing… The reason I was in New York was because a literary agent set up two whirlwind days of interviews with nine major publishing houses including Simon & Schuster, Collins, Crown/Random House, and Brown Little. The meetings were quickly followed by – are you ready – an auction which resulted in a bidding war. I am thrilled to say I have signed with Crown for a, drum roll please, six-figure contract for How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are. Somebody pinch me! I hope this inspires other first-time authors to go for it!

Can One Person Really Change Your Life?

From Food Stamps to Entrepreneurial Success

If you really are serious about wanting to look in the mirror and see the boss, then there's someone I really want you to meet...

One of the very best ways to be an entrepreneur yourself is to learn from people who have done it themselves. That's why I really want you to meet marketing guru (and I'm happy to say new friend) Jeff Walker. Jeff not only introduced me to marketing techniques that have - and I am not exaggerating here - literally doubled my income, he also happens to be one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.

Jeff is one of the only big “internet marketing gurus” I know who genuinely cares about the “little guy.” One of his most inspiring success stories is about a guy named John who put his family in debt (we’re talking food stamps here) in his quest to make and market a board game. John was a success at making the game. It was the selling part that bombed. That is, until he met Jeff…

Over the years, Jeff has helped hundreds of regular people to launch small businesses in such diverse niches as health food, knitting, horse training, even business coaching in Poland. And, like you, the overwhelming majority had no previous marketing experience… and I do mean NONE.

I know you want to change course… preferably yesterday! That’s why I’m so excited to have a way for you to “meet” Jeff via a short talk he put together. In this talk he explains why you need to start thinking now about what it will take to succeed - even if you aren’t anywhere near starting your business… or having anything to sell.

The case studies Jeff shares here and in the follow up videos are very real. I know because I’ve personally met and talked to dozens of people who have learned and prospered from Jeff as I have. These are people who have launched very successful small businesses and in a very short period of time were able to replace their salaries. This is not hype. It is fact.

You don’t need to enter your email address to watch the video. It’s free to watch. But you DO NEED to sign up to watch the follow up case studies, which Jeff tells me are even better than the first. If there is any doubt in your mind that it’s really possible to make good money doing work you enjoy, you really do need to watch and learn from my friend Jeff.

The first 1-2 minutes of the video may not make a lot of sense to you unless you’re already familiar with the people and world of internet marketing. But hang in there for some really inspiring “regular Joe and Joanne” make good stories.

Again I highly recommend you continue to watch and learn by signing up to view Jeff’s other case studies. I guarantee they will be eye-opening. Click here to meet Jeff now ChangingCourse.com/recommends/jeff

Update: The Cost of Freedom

I was going to tell you all benefits of coming to the big Work at What You Love workshop happening this April 11-12. But you can click here anytime to get that: ChangingCourse.com/workshop.htm

Instead, after writing not one but two articles on attitudes about money, I feel compelled to say something about the price of this event.

To be blunt, there really is no one else out there delivering an educational and networking experience like this at anywhere near the price of this workshop.

After all I’m bringing the incredibly wise and entertaining Barbara Winter (best-selling author of Making a Living Without a Job) all the way from Las Vegas… plopping down a couple of thousand dollars to reserve an entire hotel ballroom and another thousand just to keep everyone caffeinated… to say nothing of the cost of printing a 65+ page workbook, and all the other expenses that go into putting on a big event like this.

My big concern is not my expenses. I can handle these. What concerns me is the “perception” of charging so little to attend. People are funny that way. For example, in consumer tests they’ve found that despite initially preferring a less pricy wine when told that one wine is more expensive, people switch their vote to that one. 

With other people demanding $2,000 and $3,000 for a two-day seminar, at only $297 I worry that some people will think Work at What You Love can’t be worth much.

Sometimes though – and I know I speak for Barbara here – it’s not all about making money. Don’t get me wrong, neither of us is opposed to profiting from our own passion. It’s just that, when it comes to this particular workshop, money is just not the driving force.

This is the sixth time I’ve invited Barbara to co-present with me. Anyone who has ever seen us work together knows we have a ball together. Every year at the end of the workshop we turn to each other and say the exact same thing: “We changed a lot of lives today.” There simply is no way to put a price on that kind of satisfaction.

This year we want to change as many lives as possible. In the past we’ve filled that ballroom with a wonderfully diverse group of women and men of all ages and races from across the U.S. and Canada. We even had an attendee from as far away as Israel! We want to change even more lives this year. And, if keeping the price ridiculously low helps do that, well so be it.

The Extreme Early-Bird Registration discount ended February 24^th. But you still have until March 15^th to take advantage of the Still Great Early Registration discount and shave $50 off the already insanely low registration price of $297.

In the last issue, I introduced you to some of the inspiring entrepeneurs who will be speaking at the workshop. This panel is always a favorite part of the workshop for attendees. Take a moment now to listen is as last year's panel share their knowledge with the attendees at ChangingCourse.com/workshoppanel.htm

Remember, register by March 15^th and pay only $249. Click here for all the details: ChangingCourse.com/workshop.htm

***The Early Bird Registration $50 off discount ends March 15^th ***

P.S. In case you missed it in the last issue, click below to watch a fun 4-minute video from last year’s workshop.

 
 

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