Tuesday Thoughts | 23 May 2023 | What’s It Worth to You? – Bonus Thoughts from the EVENT

“Well, I guess we’re just going to have to pay our way out of it”. I’m pretty sure the Association CEO who said this to me would not like it to be for attribution, because while their board would probably not care all that much (at least about the relatively small difference in cost that we were discussing), we Not-for-Profit staff leaders are generally a pretty frugal bunch when we’re spending our members’ money.

In 2020 two things happened (neither of which is what you think I’m about to say, although that was a pretty big deal too); I set a mantra for the year – “outsource, automate, delegate” – to remind myself to stop doing the things that were taking up time, but where my doing it myself added little, no, or even net negative value; and I signed myself up for a change maker mastermind group of sorts being beta tested by my good friend Nick Gibson of Our Better Selves .

If you had asked me in 2019, “what is your time worth?” I wouldn’t have been able to give you a very good answer. I’d have run some sort of rough calculation: [Yearly Salary (after tax) ÷ 52 ÷ 40 = Hourly Take Home]; but realistically that’s only part of the picture, for starters in the nearly 20 years I’ve been a salaried employee, there have been only a handful of weeks a year when I have worked 40 hours or less, even if you factor in the weeks I was on vacation, I still put in +40 hours a week on average.

In 2020 one of the exercises Nick and his team introduced me to was, a calculator that also helped me value what I was willing to spend to get back an hour of my time, and helped me to understand that there is a difference between paying someone for an hour of their time to do a job, and spending many hours of my own time doing the same job.

Did you know that I pay a lawn and garden care company? Yes, I actually am more than capable of mowing the lawn, weeding and edging the beds, and raking my own leaves; I did spend that one summer working on the greens staff at Angus Glen because my dad wanted access to free tee-times. However, the team from the Gardiner shows up at my house and mows the lawn and does a rotating list of maintenance tasks in about 20 minutes, that would take me an estimated 4 hours a week to stay on top of, if you consider what 4 hours of my time is worth, I’m saving money by “paying my way out of it”.

That new way of thinking about the value of my time has informed how I think about outsourcing, automating and delegating. Where I was initially looking for some sort of straight-line return, I now also think about the absolute value that I am recouping by not doing something myself.

One of the first things I did when I set about outsourcing, automating and delegating was setting a habit of ordering my groceries online; the math was pretty simple, I paid a fee to have my groceries delivered, and found some predictable savings, gas, a higher rate of purchase of sale items (I actively meal plan while I shop to take advantage of lower cost items), and the kicker fewer impulse purchases. Now I realise there is also a value to saving my time – it takes me about 20 minutes to meal plan and order groceries – as opposed to the 20 minutes to plan and make a list, and the 40 minutes to drive to the store, purchase everything and drive home.

Of course the other flaw in my 2019 logic was that I was probably (actually definitely, by a lot) underpaid, relative to the absolutely massive size, scope and responsibility of my job; did you know that one of the reasons that it is best practice to publish the salary range for a job is because Women underestimate their value relative to men, and are paid less on average for comparable work? Although to be fair, the salary range for my role had been published, however I would later find out that the published range topped out well below the top of the range that had been scoped for the role.

Understanding our value is complex, even in a salaried environment, although for those of you in the Association and Not-for-Profit space in Canada, I cannot recommend enough that you peruse the CSAE Compensation Survey prepared yearly by The Portage Group . Even more complicated is figuring out how much an hour of time is worth when we are billing by the hour, although certainly a good starting point is figuring out how much an hour of our salaried time is worth before taxes and fees; and then assessing what the market will bear, and how much value you believe you bring to each task.

In the same vein as published salary ranges, it is important that we become better at talking about money with our peers; part of the reason I have any idea of my value (in dollars and cents at least) is because women (yes, only women) in my circles are willing to talk about how much they make, or what their rates are, or to council me on how much I should be charging for a given product or service.

For the record my current hourly rate for consulting services is $275 (plus HST)*, and generally the flat rates I quote on projects are a reflection of how many hours I expect it to take me to complete the scope of work (where I add value is that it would take most people much longer to produce the same caliber of output); if you want to know how to price a speech or facilitated workshop , I cannot recommend enough that you work with Tami Adams - Founder, Speaker Strategist, Agent, Speaker Coach (because what she does has a monetary value too).

Sometimes we choose to do work that falls well below our “worth” in terms of compensation, often we will do this to build our brand, or for exposure, or to show proof of concept; other times we may do it for love of the work.

People often ask me how sales are going for the #TuesdayThoughtsBook The Tuesday Thoughts Companion: A Year of Small Actions for Big Impact, Volume 1 (available exclusively on amazon); I’ve answered honestly a few times when the person doing the asking is an aspiring author or trying to figure out how to distribute or price their book; most often (when I sense the person is just being needlessly nosy) I simply say “if you want to get rich, writing a book is a bad strategy”. Simply put, when you consider how much time I put into compiling my 2022 thoughts, developing the work pages, writing the monthly reflections and laying it all out, I have a long way to go to break even.

Late last week I was talking to a colleague about my absolute dream job (which is currently being hired for), and they said something along the lines of “the compensation probably won’t be the best”; it was easy for me to respond because I have spent so many years thinking about how I value my time, and what I am willing to give up to get to do something that also fills my cup. Am I willing to take WAY less than market value? No. But am I willing to give up maybe 10-15% of my current market value? For THAT job, yes.

Conversations about money are hard, and they can be embarrassing, and certainly as illustrated above (with how I deal with questions about the ROI of my book) need not be entered into just to satisfy someone’s curiosity; but especially those of us who are women (although some men also struggle with issues around confidence) and especially minorities, and especially those of us who work in industries where our work is perceived to have less value (don’t even get me started on how people seem to think if you work in the Not-for-Profit your work is less valuable), we need to lifting those around us as we rise.

The Meetings and Events Industry was the #HardestHitIndustry during the pandemic, couple with it a fundamental lack of understanding of the value of face-to-face (especially amongst those who believe that Zoom was the perfect alternative), and you get a perfect storm. Ignite Magazine – Debbie van der Beek , Laura Bickle and Jennifer Newby – have launched the #IgniteWorthIt Campaign to help the Business Events sector speak up about their worth, and help elevate the conversation from just dollars and cents to value.

This #TuesdayThoughts was inspired by the Worth It campaign; because while the problem is acute in the events sector, it is universal. I was standing around with a small crowd before the Worth It panel at the EVENT ; and commiserating about a client I had, that balked at the price of a template I quoted on when someone in the group said, “I would pay twice that at least, because you know your stuff”.

This Weeks Call to Action: is to embrace the ideas of Worth It, even if like me you are “meetings industry adjacent” or even farther removed, do the math, seek out real life market value comparators (and generously share with others), know and demand what you are worth, and only make exceptions to do the things that truly fill your cup.

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*Think my rate is too high? Great, hire someone else. Think this rate is too low? Let me know.*

New and Noteworthy is a collection of things readers of??#TuesdayThoughts ?might find interesting, important, or informative;

??Other Stuff I Did This Week (shameless self promotion): Starting tomorrow (and continuing on June 7) watch Association Advisor for my 2-part wrap up from the EVENT , on what the Association Industry can Learn from the Meetings Industry. Have extra time today? Check out my past articles on What Associations Can Learn from Minimalism and Decluttering and why A Down Economy is the Call-to-Arms the Association Sector is Built For .

?? What to Read:?8 ways to improve your written communications from SmartBrief h/t Jacqui d'Eon | The Case for Selfish Volunteers from Karen Knight

?? What to Do:?Take the Imagine Canada What type of Nonprofit Changemaker are you? Quiz h/t Maryann Kerr, MA Leadership | Respond to Leanne Calderwood, CMP 's #IgniteWorthIt poll

????♀? Cool Jobs (Paid and Volunteer):?Junior Policy Analyst @ Colleges Ontario h/t Janet Hope | 2 Marketing and Comms Roles @ Terry Fox Foundation h/t Shellbie Wilson

??Take Note:? CSAE Virtual Member Town Hall with Tracy Folkes Hanson, CAE and Dan García | Spinal Cord Injury Canada Scholarships h/t Julie Sawchuk

??I am a Certified Association Executive with nearly over a dozen years of experience in leadership positions in Canada's Not-for-Profit Sector; as a College Professor, occasional Speaker, and contributor to blogs, newsletters, and media, I am skilled at using the art of storytelling to explain my ideas and inform audiences and readers on a variety of topics.

??♀?I am also a Certified Organizational Specialist and Practical Minimalist, who happens to have an unhealthy love for Excel Spreadsheets. I don't do this work often, but I am always happy to give a bit of advice if you are struggling.

??Did you know I also paint and draw? I am passionate about the benefits of Adult Colouring, and can create custom colouring sheets for speech and workshop audiences, by request.

Not-for-Profit Consulting Services ?(pdf) | Check Out my website daniellerussell.ca

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LinkedIn?Danielle S. Russell, CAE (she/her) ?| Instagram?@danielle.s.russell ?