This Needs to Stop. NOW.

Recently, my business coach shared a surprising statistic with us on our weekly Q&A. She stated that as we are all making over $100,000 a year in business revenue, we are in the top percentage of entrepreneurs doing so well in business. She was sharing this to commend us on our accomplishment.

Now, I know that I have the tendency to question everything, so I started to dig a bit deeper to discover where this percentage came from.

I found an article on Medium.com written by Rose Radford, Wealth & Business Coach, TEDx Speaker written in January 2020 that stated:

On average, 39% of all businesses bring in over $100K in annual revenue in the USA. For women, this figure is much lower! Only 12% of female-led businesses bring in more than $100K per year, and this percentage is reducing every year.

12%! Only 12% of female-led businesses make over $100,000 per year in the USA!
What!?!?

Continuing to dig deeper, I discovered a report prepared for American Express by Ventureneer.com called “The State of Women Owned Businesses 2019”.

Here’s what I found in this report:

In 2019, women-owned businesses averaged earnings of $142,900 compared to $474,900 for all privately held businesses and $1.4 million for all firms (including publicly traded companies).

Since discovering this interesting fact, I started to have further conversations with my colleagues and clients who are earning a revenue over $100,000 each year.

I uncovered another fact that is causing me some concern.

Of the people I spoke with, in my informal survey, I found out that many of these women-owned, female-led businesses are not paying themselves a salary. Some were paying themselves a small wage just to cover the essentials.

This madness needs to stop today.

As an entrepreneur, you deserve to make a healthy salary, not scrimp by and pay everyone before yourself.

This reminds me of a behaviour that we used to see in the 1950s. Women would take care of everyone else, making sure that everyone else was well fed and well clothed, while they only made sure their needs were met after everyone else was cared for.

If you’re paying everyone before yourself, then you’re essentially behaving like this woman from the 1950s.

We are no longer living in the 1950s and yet, this social norm is still happening in our world.

As a woman in business you merit taking home a healthy pay cheque.

As a woman making a difference in the world, you deserve to pay yourself and pay yourself well.

As a woman taking the risk to be an entrepreneur and make magic happen for your customers and clients you are worthy of paying yourself first.

Your company wouldn’t exist without you. Pay yourself a healthy salary. Charge what you are worth.

Other businesses are charging what they are worth. The statistics prove this. It’s just numbers.

So, today, stop selling yourself short, increase your prices, pay yourself well.

You are so worth it.

You’re setting an example for the younger woman who are considering starting a successful business today by putting yourself first.

When you decide to step into paying yourself what you’re worth, you are changing the future for every other woman who wants to do the same.

Step into your success. Show the world that you’re a successful woman-owned, female-led business and change the status quo.

I believe that you have the potential inside of you to BE who you want to be, to DO what you’re passionate about and to HAVE the success you’re striving for. It’s in you.