In the society where I come from, we have a popular saying “make your own money, e get why” which is a call to women to empower themselves financially given that what’s common is situations where women have been subjected to all sorts of discrimination and injustice just because they have no source of income and financial support of their own.
One notable difference I have seen so far this first week of the new year, is the conversation aim towards women increasing their financial earnings most especially for stay at home moms to get empowered to work or start a business.
Around this time last year, I started ‘work from home mum’ as a way to help in my own capacity stay at home women who struggle with financial dependency and lack of work that would enable them earn and help their family.
I see an awakening of more women who no longer want to leave their finances to chance but rather are actively seeking opportunities that will help them actualise their future goals of working and living of their dreams without the fear of financial hardship and dependency.
How To Increase your financial earnings.
I’ll start by mentioning that there are so many ways to do this, however I’m sticking with three ways because they’re what I know to work for me and other women in my network.
Monetise your knowledge:
Think about it, you have a knowledge you have gained overtime either through education, experience or your expertise that people always seek your help with or constantly picking your brain on. This 2024 refuse to be the person others come to for free, whilst they go else where to pay for less value. When it comes to monetising your knowledge, it can be on anything! As long as you have done and gotten proven results, you can teach or transfer that knowledge to others to help them get same results as you did. Here are some examples of things you can monetize: Of course! Here’s a list without explanations: skills and expertise, knowledge, creativity, experience, physical products and digital assets.
These are just a few examples, but there are countless ways to monetize your skills, knowledge, and creativity depending on your interests and expertise.
Actionable step:
So what you’re going to do is look within, list out three things you are really good at, and at the end of the day narrow it down to just 1. I want you to focus on this one thing you’ve decided on and put all your efforts into marketing and promoting it. Give it a year, I promise you, the testaments you will share will blow your mind! And everyone else who hears your story.
Position yourself as an expert in your industry.
If you’re a professional working mom. How do you do this? By leveraging on social media, to be more specific, focus on LinkedIn.
Actionable step:
- Go on LinkedIn today, optimise your LinkedIn profile, and then commit to showing up there on days you can make time for every week and share value content that would be helpful to whoever comes across your content.
- Don’t be afraid to share your perspective on topics you normally would shy away from. The goal is to use your voice! Be seen and heard. What you’re doing with these activities is building a professional brand.
- As you show up, position yourself as an expert, that way what your branding and marketing efforts does is that one: it’s attracting recruiters to your LinkedIn profile who sees you as a valuable asset to their company and wants to get you onboard. Two, it opens opportunities for speaking engagements, networking with other like minds, national and global recognition, community building and other opportunities for you.
Start a business:
Whether you’ve never run a business before or just starting out, with the right mindset, tools and resources, you can build a successful business of your own from scratch!
Actionable steps:
- Decide on the business you want to do, get clear on your Why and then do your market research on said business!
- You want to make sure it’s a business that is profitable! Unless you are running a charity organisation, the goal of every business is to make profits. So don’t choose a business because it’s something you “like doing” or because you have friends already doing it, if you start with the wrong mindset, it may affect your business eventually!
- Next you want to have a business plan, because he who fails to plan, plans to fail! Have a plan for everything! From location, to pricing, marketing etc
- Now that you’ve started, stay committed and show up! Don’t stop promoting your business, don’t stop talking about what you do but off line and online.
- Continue to learn! The people are great at what they do are those who are constantly learning and smart enough to apply all they learn. Take courses and leverage on resources that helps you run your business well.
The actionable knowledge shared here is valuable to all moms, not just those with professional careers but it cut across to all!
This year, make it your goal to invest in your personal development. An investment made on yourself will help you achieve your dreams and goals, both short and long term successes.
I’ll put my pen down by sharing a quote by Clare Boothe Luce, “A woman’s best protection is a little money of her own.”
As always, I’m rooting for you!