Focus on the IMPACT and the INCOME will Follow

Over the last decade of being an executive and leadership coach, one question has really irked me: “Why do so many women feel that you can’t have it all. You can’t have a great income and make a massive impact on the world at the same time.?” I have never bought into this story, as surely, if women entrepreneurs deliver great value to their clients they deserve to get paid. I can’t imagine a guy saying, “No problem, don’t bother paying me.” And yet time and time again I come across women entrepreneurs willing giving away their valuable time and expertise for little or no financial recompense. 

Now believe me, I am committed to doing good in the world, creating a massive impact that helps others and leaves a lasting legacy; but I also believe that I should be rewarded for my expertise. After all, I’ve invested many hours of my time, and hundreds of thousands of pounds in developing my skills, and I know that my work profoundly impacts people lives.

So, what is it that is holding women back from receiving income for the great work that they do? What kind of support do they feel they need to shift this mindset? I spoke to a number of women entrepreneurs to find out their thoughts, and this is what they said:.

Thelma Patmorre of Elmz Consultancy thought that: “There must be a way to be able to do what you love, but also have the life that you dream of. I think it’s doable”. However, she also recognised that “it’s a marathon, not a sprint”.

Ayla Annac from InvivoSciences also concurred that achieving a great impact and income is “one of your birthright…..but in reality, that is not easy to achieve as you work with others, and there are others that may not share the same opinion or belief system”. This is why she went on to talk about how the environment you are in needs to support what you are seeking to achieve.

Meanwhile other interviewees such as Erin Pheil from The MindFix Group, wondered if “it was something that could be possible for me”. And this was a big theme with the women I chatted to. Most believed that conceptually creating a massive impact and income was great idea but many didn’t feel they were ready for it. Seba Thomson from Spring CPT said “it seems a long way off at the moment” and what I took from this was that many women have not given themselves permission to make great money whilst having a great impact. They feel it is an either/or option.

Other women like Maria Dennis of ZaZegga were generally “cynical and mistrusting around the promise of a seven figure income because it abounds everywhere….and because it appeals to the greed” and yet despite this, all the women unanimously agreed with Maria that “you don’t have to be virtuous because you’re running a purpose led business.”

So there was an interesting juxtaposition coming from the research where the women I spoke with wanted to make a decent income so they could create a great impact but whether that income level is at the seven figure mark remained the question. It was almost as if seven figures seemed too elusive for many of them.

Maxine King from Fresh Mindset highlighted that it is important for women to “be aware of the blocks that are already in front of them. Because, let’s be honest, if those blocks weren’t there, they would already be doing it”

Jane Fisher of Jane Fisher Associates also candidly shared with me that one of the challenges for her and other women can be imposter syndrome and how this has held her back in making the impact that she wants to make in the world. “It is one of my biggest fears….. as I feel that I am going to be shot down”. This then leads to a lack of confidence and women playing small in the world.

When I asked about the potential challenges for women of building a business that delivers both impact and income Diane Morton said that she needed accountability and deadlines because “if I don’t have deadlines, it’s easy for me to find other things to do…..I think as women, sometimes we can be great at doing everybody else’s stuff and it becomes more important than our own business”.

During the interviews, I talked to these women about a programme I am developing to support women like themselves. This is also one of the reasons why Cassandra Dillon from Compliance Solutions “wanted a step by step approach” and also why she felt that a “mastermind group would bring value to the women participants because they are surrounded with like minded people”. Another reference to the need for women to have a supportive environment around them, one that gives them permission to show up in a bigger, more impactful way.

Virginia Clark from Connecting Teams also wanted a programme where each stage would build on the next like “building blocks” and where there was “clarity on what the next stage would be and achieve”.

Having clarity and guaranteed results was also important to Erin Pheil who said “I would want to make sure that I was clear on the outcomes” and that “it’s really incredible and very rare to have a guaranteed result”.

Nancy Mayer from Power Play Productivity Solutions thought it would be a “real game changer and differentiator” to offer a programme where the investment was linked to results. Whilst Virginia Clark thought a “staggered payment option would work, because as your business grows, you can afford to pay more”.

Sherree Russell, from Sherree Russell Psychotherapy, like all the other women I interviewed loved the structure of payments based on guaranteed results. “I think that’s great, you know, for somebody to put their money where their mouth is”

All the women I interviewed were not afraid to invest in their business. However, having invested in programmes before that offered incredible results and did not deliver, they were skeptical. This is perhaps why many of the women baulked at the idea of the promise of a seven figure income, as in their mind there was something incongruent about this. However as Maxine King noted “money isn’t bad or anything…..money gives people choices and what you are doing is empowering people to go out and make this world a better place.”

I’d like to thank all the ladies who contributed to this research through sharing their wisdom and time with me. Please go and check out their awesome businesses and profiles.

Thanks to their insightful feedback they have helped me create the Seven Figure Impact Programme. It is for purpose-driven women entrepreneurs who are ready to give themselves permission to make a massive impact in the world, whilst also creating a great income. After all, the more income you make, the more causes you can support. This is not a programme about making seven figures per se but rather the impact and legacy you can leave in the world through having a great income.

The programme has five stages that effortlessly transition you from creating a strategy to generating more income and then putting in the systems and teams in place so that your business can grow without your day to day involvement, thereby enabling you to have even more time to commit to the causes that you hold dear.

 The five stages are:

·     More Impact & More Profit - which gives you clarity and confidence on the game you are playing and where to start

·     More Profit - during this stage you learn how to add an additional $50,000 to your business in new sales from the Unbridled Strategic Philanthropy Programme

·     Unbridled Living - through implementing systems you are able to design a business where you can earn twice as much with half the stress

·     Unbridled Teams - help you leverage your time so that your Systems Champions run the business and you can confidently take seven days off, without checking into the office even once.

·     Unbridled Growth: Scale To Seven Figure Impact - by the end of this stage you will have generated an additional $250,000 in new sales whilst delivering massive impact to the causes you hold dear. Plus you will have in your hands a blueprint on how to comfortably scale your business to seven figures.

And best of all the programme is under-pinned by an incredible guarantee so you only pay when you get results. That way both of us are truly vested in ensuring you get the outcomes you desire and more importantly create the impact and legacy that you want. 

Applications are now open, so if you are curious and want to explore if the Seven Figure Impact Programme is a fit for you simply complete the application form and then book into my diary for a strategy session. https://calendly.com/juliafelton/strategy-session.

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Julia Felton is the Lead Impact Igniter at Business HorsePower. Purpose-driven business leaders, women entrepreneurs and executives hire her to ignite the possibility and hidden potential in themselves and their teams, so they can create massive impact. By aligning purpose with actions the business achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.

 Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community.