How to Get Paid What You're Worth

Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt like you’re not getting paid your worth?

If I shouted that in a crowded room, almost every hand would be in the air (mine too!).

Kathleen Burns Kingsbury has an answer for why this happens: money taboos. Have you ever felt that asking for business (or money) is awkward? (For me, even selling girl scout cookies at age 9 made me insanely nervous!) Or have you ever thought that financial success is greedy? Or even that taking pride in the amount of money you make is insensitive? Well, guess what — those are the money taboos talking!

I want you to get paid what you’re really worth, so I interviewed Kathleen for the latest episode of Growing Your Financial Business: The Woman’s Way, which you can find here or on your favorite podcast platform.

Like everyone, you grew up with certain attitudes toward your money, which determines whether or not you create success or sabotage it! This is why the conversation I had with Kathleen was invaluable. Kathleen is a wealth psychology expert and the founder of KBK Wealth Connection. She combined her experiences in the financial industry and as a “recovered” therapist to help people shift their money mindsets and shatter those money taboos.

But before she got to where she is now, Kathleen had to take the time to invest in herself and shift her own money mindset.

A Recipe for Disaster

Kathleen was your classic under-earner, and also who I would call an Overgenerous Olivia, one of my 5 Money Types. She was dedicated, intelligent, motivated. . . and swamped with guilt when she got paid a lot. Asking for a fair wage seemed impossible.

Her solution? Volunteering for twenty hours every week! Any business owner should know that’s a recipe for disaster.

She was on just about every committee, board, and team that someone asked her to be on, working for free. Sure, she got plenty of kudos and a shiny Volunteer of the Year award, but she soon realized she wasn’t being valued enough for her efforts.

She knew she wanted to make a change, but how? First, she quit volunteering, cold turkey, and refused to sit on any more committees.

Then, she hired a coach. Kathleen was definitely financially literate, so it didn’t make sense that she was a chronic under-earner. With a coach, she was able to analyze and shift her money mindset.

It turned out that Kathleen had early experiences that gave her a negative feeling toward financial success. When she was just seven years old, she tried to pocket some change after running an errand, and her mom scolded her for it. More recently as a therapist, Kathleen adjusted her prices for inflation, and a client called her greedy — for a $5 increase!

Working through these memories, Kathleen realized how important it is to be comfortable with money talk. All of the taboos around how much you can make — how much you can ask for — only limited your success. This is even truer for women.

The Value You Provide, Not the Time You Spend

Once you change your mindset, you also have to change your habits. When I interviewed her for Growing Your Financial Business: The Woman’s Way, she also shared how to set yourself up for success, the perks of playing to your strengths, and a helpful exercise to analyze your current money mindset.

Click here to listen to the episode now, so you can start to shift your beliefs and get paid what you're worth (not to mention help more people while you’re at it!)

Before you go, what’s one time you felt EMPOWERED to take control of your finances? Let me know in the comments!

Talk soon!