“There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women”
-Madeleine Albright
Sing it, sister!
I feel pretty lucky to be able to do what I do each day, but I also know that this road was not built by my hands alone. Women by the names of Susan B Anthony, Anne Bradstreet, Lilly Ledbetter, Sally Ride, Katherine Graham, Madeleine Albright, and Andrea Jung have all laid the foundation for these steps I am proud to walk upon each day. My whole life’s mission since Dress Up As Your Hero Day in 2nd grade when I went to school as Elizabeth Cady Stanton – and probably from the time I opened my eyes – has been to connect, support, and empower fellow women.
To this extent, I haven’t just been lucky: I’ve been working hard to further this life mission. I’ve founded organizations and am continuing to lead organizations that help other women in business.
Yet in the decades that I have dedicated to this work, I’ve learned it is the little things that we do as individuals each day to help each other out that truly make the biggest difference. You may be doing things that you don’t even realize belittle or setback the work of your fellow women in business, and there may be things that you can do that weren’t even on your radar yet.
Here are the top ways I’ve learned you can help truly support your fellow women in business.
1. Stop asking other women to do work for free or for less than their work is worth. If you want your own work to be valued, then you need to value other women’s work. My current hourly consulting fee is $125 an hour. I have earned that rate after more than 15 years as a proven communication expert. If you pay me my worth, I can help your business move mountains. When you ask me to lower my fee, you are asking me to devalue my work, and I won’t do it — because I don’t want YOU to devalue your worth either. Set your prices, and believe in them; then don’t question another woman professional’s prices or ask her to devalue her work.
2. Hire women and remember: quality input equals quality output. Sounds simple enough, but so few business women I know actually budget enough to hire other talented women in areas they truly need to outsource to build a lasting business. Stop using cheap logo design contest sites and hire a real designer who can give you a quality, long-lasting brand. Sure your babysitter can take nice iPhone photos but if you want your business to be perceived as professional and top quality, then hire a professional photographer for your headshots, product shots, website photos. If you can’t afford someone’s services right now and you know that woman is THE one you want to hire, it might be time to re-evaluate your annual budget, your business goals, and make adjustments. Do you really need that fancy new (expensive) office space or would that money would be better spent staying in the same space and hiring a quality bookkeeper right now? (Hint: pay for the top woman bookkeeper your money can afford, and I bet your investment will pay off quickly enough for you to get that fancy new office space soon enough).
3. Refer fellow women professionals and truly have their back. One of my friends is an exceptionally talented photographer. Her fees are not cheap, but they’re not exorbitant corporate agency prices either. I recommend her to almost everyone I meet, and I often have people balk at her prices. I push them to dig deeper: look at the depth of her experience, look at the quality of her work, read the testimonials of clients who have not just loved their photos but also had an amazing experience during their photo session, look at the time and knowledge and care that goes into every single edit. It is hard enough for women to sometimes validate our own worth; validating the true worth of our fellow women professionals should come naturally, and it should come often and with confidence.
4. Pay your bills. When you hire a woman professional, pay on time, and pay your full bill. If you can’t, then communicate clearly with the person you’ve hired and work out a payment plan. This is a sore spot for me, as not only have I had MANY friends who have been shorted payments by other business women who hired them, but I, too, have been shorted payment by a painfully difficult client who ended up never paying me what she owed according to contract. Read your contracts and only agree to what you can afford. “My boyfriend/husband decided the work you did wasn’t worth it” is NOT an excuse to not pay what you agreed to pay (and yes, that is an actual excuse that not one but TWO of my fellow women business owners have told me they have received from other women. Imagine!).
5. Collaborate with other women. I love working on projects with fellow business women any chance I can get, whether on paid work, volunteer work, or mastermind groups. I learn so much when I am able to work with other women, and I love it. Even if you just need a quick focus group for something new you are considering, or you are putting together a fun birthday party for good friends, collaborating with other women is a great way to connect and support each other.
6. Congratulate fellow women on their accomplishments, no matter how big or how small. Women are competitive. We are protective of our work and our intellectual property. But we’re also in need of –and we deserve– a lot of emotional support. Luckily, we women are GOOD at this support game. So give your support, and give it lavishly. Praise your colleagues not just in private conversations and emails, but boast about a fellow woman’s work on your personal and business social media pages. At FemCity Portland, we are big on endorsements, another reason I am SO very proud to be leading this amazing group of women professionals. Write a blog post about a great woman mentor. Which brings me to my final tip of the day…
7. Pay it forward. Mentorship is hard to come by in the world of women in business. It’s a very difficult task that no organization I know of has been able to pull off with national success because it is so unbelievably complicated. So mentor when and where you can. You don’t have to give away your trade secrets in order to offer advice. Oftentimes, small doses of advice and encouragement are all that are needed to help motivate and propel another future female leader forward.
There are, of course, countless ways you can help connect, support, empower fellow women in business. These are just a few of the top ones I have learned throughout the years that truly make a big impact.
What is your favorite way to support fellow women in business?
MOB MONDAY = Mom-Owned Biz Monday. If you would like to contribute a guest post on a topic related to supporting, connecting, and empowering fellow mom business owners, please send me an e-mail.