Money Musings: my big money hangover

Money Musings 💭  my big money hangover 😫

As part of my job, I negotiate a lot. I have set rates for my book, courses and coaching but all the other parts of my business are a lot murkier. I negotiate speaking engagements, financial wellness consulting projects and brand partnerships. 

Now that the Fiscal Femme is seven years old (WOAH), you’d think this would get easier. Maybe it has a little bit but I still depend on a team of support to get me through any negotiation. It’s hard for me to sell myself! 

One thing that works for me is to frame my negotiations around helping womxn everywhere. When I negotiate and get paid, I’m walking the walk and setting the stage for womxn to earn more after me.

I’m also normalizing negotiating and hopefully weakening some of the stereotypes that make up the double bind (albeit probably very slightly). 

I also run it by my Dream Team and J before saying a number. They call me out if I’m not knowing my worth (their words exactly). 

Sometimes after I stand my ground or send over my rates, I have something I call a “knowing your worth hangover.” I got the idea from Brene Browns’ vulnerability hangover

It’s a mini freakout spiral where I think things like “who do I think I am charging these rates?!” 😫 This can go on until the other party responds. 

And they most often respond with a “that works great” or “we can’t do that but here’s what we can do.” For the record, no one has ever said “who do you think you are charging that?!” 

If you’ve had a “knowing your worth” hangover, I’d love to hear about it. Having them is a sign we’re growing and challenging our worth limitations. 

As uncomfortable as they are, they are a really good thing! 💰

MONEY MOVE OF THE WEEK

Put together your travel (and wedding) sinking funds. The Fiscal Femme community loves to travel but due to the pandemic, most of our travel plans were put on an abrupt hold and we saw many weddings get rescheduled or postponed. Ben & Jerry’s even released a new flavor called “Cancelled Wedding Cake.” It’s cake batter ice cream with a non-refundable deposit. 

As we start to plan for travel again, we will want to check in with our travel sinking funds. Maybe there’s money waiting in yours because you never used it, or maybe (like for many of us), it was used for income changes from layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts. Regardless of where you stand, it’s a great time to check in and estimate your future travel plans. Make sure to include any weddings you plan to attend. Then calculate how much you’d like to set aside per paycheck to your travel fund and set up automatic transfers so the money is there waiting when it’s time to make your travel purchases. 

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS

I started the Fiscal Femme for a number of reasons. One was that I needed this as a resource myself. When I dove into the financial resources that were available, I found that so many of them were daunting and boring. 😴 It felt like they were trying to keep me out of the “in the know” money club. 🤮 That’s the opposite of what you’ll find here. 

Our mission is to provide you with the tools you need to become wealthy. Why does it matter? We all (the entire world) benefit when more incredible people, especially womxn, become wealthy

Whether you are new to the Fiscal Femme or just missed a few of these golden nuggets, I’ve compiled a list of our favorite free resources for you here in one place. 

GET ACCOUNTABILITY: THE FISCAL FEMME SLACK COMMUNITY 

If you’ve been with us for a while, you know how important accountability is. And in our money lives, accountability is usually pretty scarce. That’s why we launched the Fiscal Femme Private Slack Community. It’s a safe place to come together and support one another in our big money 💰 goals. 

If you are looking for an incredible group of feminist money buddies to hold you accountable for taking action in your money life, join the Fiscal Femme Slack Community

GET INSPIRED: MONEY MANTRAS 

Most of us carry our cell phones everywhere and if we’re being honest, check them frequently, if not constantly. We realized this is actually a wonderful opportunity. Why not use our phones for good? Enter Money Mantras. ✨ Money Mantras are things we tell ourselves over and over again about money. We often think of mantras as being positive, but we usually have some pretty negative self money talk. 

Changing and reprogramming these negative thoughts into powerful Money Mantras becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The positive powerful Money Mantras lead us to take action. This brings us closer to the results we are looking for and that further reinforces the positive belief about ourselves and money.

For inspiration and a constant reminder throughout the day of the things you are trying to accomplish in your money life, download your favorite Money Mantras and set them as the lock screen on your phone. 

GET KNOWLEDGE: OUR GUIDES 

If you are looking for more of a deep dive or tool to help with any given personal finance topic, we have some incredible free guides. They cover everything from learning how to invest to negotiating your salary. Need a budget? We have a spreadsheet for you. Want to save more money? We have a guide to help you save $1,000 in a month

If there’s a topic that’s particularly aligned with your goals or you are inspired to learn more about it, dive right in. Check out all the guides and tools we have available!

GET STARTED: THE WEEKLY MONEY MUSINGS 

This Money Musing goes out each week on Wednesday and it’s all about bite-sized action and inspiration. Small steps lead to big wins. To share the love and money knowledge, please forward this Money Musing (or your favorite one!) along to any financial feminists you think would enjoy being part of this conversation.

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