Value Yourself
You have so much to offer.
I am continually awestruck by the gifts and talents of the women I am surrounded by. I am also very clear that something is amiss with how women who serve value themselves and their work. I write this letter in love and support so that you might see a different way forward for yourselves, your family, and your business.
Coaches, leaders, and healing professionals, I bow to you.
You are a wide sweep of the population. You are largely women, many of you are mothers. ALL of you have felt called to do something great in this world. To teach. To heal. To create. To serve.
You are here to make the world a better place.
No, you are making the world a better place, and I love you for that. I love you for that urge to lift others up through your own special mix of experience, talents, training, and longing. I see you doing so much for others and I see you striving to serve more people, to create transformation in the present moment. But I also hear your fear and your secret anxiety about the work you do in this world.
"Will I be able to make a good living doing this work?"
It comes in different varieties, "The economy is so bad, no one wants to pay for _____________." "No one pays for coaching." "Yoga teachers are expected to give their classes away." "Art is under-valued - no one cares about beauty enough to pay a good price for it." "I am here to heal the world therefore I can't expect people to pay..." What is your version?
No matter, I know you long to be valued.
To have other people willingly support your work by paying a reasonable price. To make a good living doing the work you are here to do in the world. To have the world understand the value of your work and reward you accordingly. You know that when you do your best work, people are changed for the better.
This is not about 'them', this is about YOU.
If you are not making a living doing what you love and you are blaming it on the market or others, you are going down the wrong path. Self-value (and therefore the value of your work) is a behavioral expression of your self-worth. So if you struggle with value, you likely struggle with self-worth. Because we must be clear - the value that your work has cannot be defined by another - you must teach people how valuable you are by valuing yourself. YOU.
You must stop apologizing.
You deserve to make a healthy income. You are worthy of being able to support yourself and/or your family. Think about the airplane instructions - put on your own air mask first. You cannot truly serve others until you feel safe and taken care of and that is your job.
Do you value yourself and your craft?
Do you know the benefit of what you bring to the world? Do you own it, 100%? Do you feel worthy of generating a beautiful, life-giving income with your work? I know you see people doing the work you are doing and succeeding. Pay attention. What are they doing that is different from you? Likely, not much. Except they feel worthy and own the value of what they bring to the table in all areas of their life.
It’s true. Women are traditionally undervalued and underpaid.
However, it is time to change that paradigm. There are so many of you, of us, doing this very important work in the world: creating, leading, coaching, and teaching. No one else is going to stand up and say, "Hey, I see you and your value and I want to pay you more because of the value you bring to this world." That is YOUR job. OUR job. That is true service - to you and to others.
Stand up and own your value.
Stand up on your own behalf. It's time to shift the paradigm, to stop apologizing, to stop undervaluing yourself. Say YES to yourself and NO to the lies that you have been fed.
Devote yourself to living into your value.
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