The Price you Pay.

“Don’t let someone who doesn’t know your value, tell you how much you are worth!”

The Rose Review originally highlighted that if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men, up to ￡250bn of new value could be added to the UK economy.

More women than ever are starting new businesses. Over 140,000 all-female founded companies were created last year, and this figure is growing by over a third each year.?It means that in total over 20% of new firms are now led by women, a record high, the Rose Review reports in its third year of progress.

The Rose Review Progress Report 2022 on female entrepreneurship, published today, sets out the full extent of progress made since the inaugural report in 2019

Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship

80% of women struggle with their self-esteem. This correlates directly with the figures from the Alison Rose report. The other 20% have recognised the contribution they bring to the world is purposeful and adds value. There is much room for growth (another 80%) in fact. I can help.

When you start a new business knowing what price to set can be difficult. What if no one else is offering what you are and normally, people are not. Price setting for your value? How do you set your prices? This is a difficult one for a couple of reasons. Firstly, you might be used to giving your power/ideas away for the greater good. ?This means you have been in a partnership or as an employee where you are part of a team, and your ideas are co-opted for the benefit of all. Women especially are conditioned to work for free, to give and to nurture and to facilitate, we are (mostly) great at it, I am up to a point then I get resentful! These are excellent skills and attributes but what bigger reach could we get if we turned those skills and attributes inwards and focused on ourselves. Secondly, you don’t know, and because, so few people talk about money in a positive manner, you don’t know who to ask. ME ASK ME!

The value of the unpaid work women undertake is worth ￡140 billion pounds to the UK economy every year. We are running the country for free. It is time to start charging.

How much more impact would we have if we were able to fulfil our potential? What if we were celebrated and visible? How do we put a price on experience, qualifications, and specialisms on soft skills like kindness and empathy and fun? Can we rely on market forces if our offer is unlike any other because our offer is US it is YOU. Our businesses are extension of ourselves, and we have experiences that have affected us and have changed us. None of us are the same, experience the same or are affected by those experiences the same; although we are all equal. We cannot let market forces decide our worth. (Market Forces the actions of buyers and sellers that cause the prices of goods and services to change without being controlled by the government:?the economic forces of supply and demand)

Employed women are working for free from 22 November this year. This includes the figures for black and ethnic minority women who have been working for free since September. This is what is tastefully called the gender pay GAP, how acceptable a word GAP. It really translates as gender inequality. Gap = inequality/ deficiency. ?

When starting out, why do we do deals, offer mates rates, do speaking for free? Are we testing the water? We should not just jump right in and let the water temperature adjust to our fabulousness?

What are “mate’s rates”? Please can we flip this from being less money to more money? If your friends are any good, they will have seen and appreciated the work and sacrifices you have put in to creating your business, to qualifying. I know of a woman who cleans for her friend and this friend has 6 dogs AND because they are friends, the SIX!!!! dog owning one pays her cleaning friend less money. Less money than market rates and less than value-based ones. How can this be ethical or kind and why is it accepted does self-esteem hold the key to saying NO? I also have a question to whether 6 dogs are maybe 5 too many!

I have another friend with 30 years’ experience in a very physical job using chemicals. She offers mates rates, but WHY? What kind of friend are you if you ask for mate's rates or accept the offer? don’t you not see the value in the work or experience or goodwill in her work? AND if my chemical using friend won’t accept more money, pay it into a charity of her choosing. The key to living abundantly lies in generosity and kindness. Happy money moving around. No obligation and no resentment.

Mate’s rates should be MORE expensive. For MY friends, if you cannot afford my prices (yet), I do understand. I know the value I bring in my offering, so instead, please promote me to YOUR friends. Those who can value the skills I bring and are able to pay me my rate. ?You have seen me studying and taking exams and trying to create something useful to all, so your support would be a way of showing love. Soon I will have enough and I have the capacity to give back even more. Our finances and our self-esteem grow in tandem when you run your own purposeful business. You can’t pour from an empty cup. I can’t pour from any cup – goes all over the place! Need a jug or a bottle. Who invented that saying?

No discounting and no freebies. Why? Because you are confident that the value you bring is worth the fee people pay. And if you are asked for a payment plan, perhaps those asking are not the clients for you. YET.

International Women’s Day! This is a forum for building a more equal world. Utilising the power of women to build and create and support businesses for absolutely the greater good. Why are professional women invited to speak on subjects that impact 50% of the population and asked to do it for free. And, if you say you are not willing to, then asked “do you know anyone who is?” Madness.

Women shoulder the responsibility of 'unpaid work' - Office for National Statistics Follow this link as it allows you to put in the number of hours you do for free and see, if you were paid for that work, how much it would be valued at. Mine – I have a busy house and several children so the work I do was valued at ￡400 per week. ￡1600 per month. That, if you do the maths, is ￡38,000 and over 26 years (that is the number of years I will have had a child under 18) that is ￡499,000. That is half a million pounds of unpaid work just doing the basics. If I looked at the volunteering I do and the mental load and the unpaid planning, then the figure is higher than that. Obviously, the rewards I get that are non-monetary are lovely. I am very grateful to be able to contribute but really! Enough!

So, I think the time has come to start charging properly or to go on strike. Mums go to Iceland! To be confident enough in your competence to know that there is a customer out there who will see your value. Ban mate’s rates, freeloading, discounting and special offers from the vocabulary. Ask for payment upfront and then overdeliver. You are in charge of your own business journey, and you are leading the way for all of the women who are at the point of writing this, lacking in confidence and not quite there yet with their self esteem to say “if you cannot afford my rates, you are not the client I need or want”. Have unwavering faith in your ability to deliver your heart filled, purpose driven best. And when you have done that, then start giving. The cup is not empty and does not need to be poured from messily or otherwise for it overfloweth. Amen!

Julia Shepherd is a Financial Educator, Coach and Mentor and I am leading the way to empowerment. Contact me to help you understand that Money does grow on trees and the route to wealth starts and ends with your self-esteem. I can help by coaching you to abundance. You know you are worth it!

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