Women Who Inspire with the Happy Hour Ladies
Today is the last Friday of the month and my regular listeners know that on the last Friday of the month, I host a happy hour, where I gather great friends to drink cheap drinks and talk about money topics. Since March is Women’s History Month, we focused this conversation around women who’ve inspired our lives, or at least that’s what I told everybody we were going to be focused on. But, like most Happy Hours, this conversation took a turn that I was not expecting. But I absolutely loved it, because I love nothing more than an honest and real conversation, which is what my friends, and our guest for this month, listener Erin, provided.
What are we drinking?
Melanie from Dear Debt — Margarita
Tonya from Budget and the Beach — Vega Protein Shake
Erin — Gin and Tonic with a splash of grapefruit
Shannon — Pinot Noir
Podcast Notes
Erin is taking Liz’s spot this month, as she is on maternity leave. Erin was supposed to be on the 200th episode, but there were issues with the connection. Shannon was in San Francisco last week with Bacardi, and Melanie met up with her. Erin found them at the event.
Shannon had an interview today with a company that wants to feature her and the Financial Gym on their internal site. One of the questions the interviewer asked her was “Who was a female entrepreneur who inspired you to start your business?” Shannon didn’t have anyone in particular, so she asked the ladies if they had anyone that inspired them on their career path.
Tonya: No one in real life, but she has always been a fan of Lisa Ling. Tonya has always wanted to be a documentary film maker and has always liked Lisa’s point of view. She has never had a real mentor. Tonya always looked up to her former male boss. She gets energy from people who are pushing through boundaries, even if she doesn’t know them.
Shannon: Her greatest mentor was her former boss, Bob, who is also the first investor in the gym. Shannon wants to be a mentor for other women.
Melanie: She didn’t have a lot of female role models to look up to when she worked in the non-profit sector. From an outside perspective Sophia Amoruso from Girl Boss has inspired her, because of her resilience.
Erin: She is still in the early stages of her career. There is a difference between inspiration and copying. She doesn’t like the question of “who are you inspired by?”, because it makes it sound like you can’t do it on your own. You don’t need inspiration of from other people to have your own success.
There is not enough accountability with women - are we thinking of how we are influencing others?
There is a lot of credibility to women who are simply living authentic lives. There is a lot of pressure on women to be all. We don’t give a lot of credit to women who are making other choices.
About 50 years ago, K.B. Switzer was the first woman to participate in the Boston Marathon, and she entered illegally.
The challenge women have is realizing what your authentic self is, because of all the pressure of what we “should” do. If we are not totally comfortable with the life we are living, how are we going to tell someone else how to do it? Work/life balance talks are usually with women, not men.
You might not have it all figured out, but you have something figured out. Own that, and whatever you know will be valuable for someone else. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be valuable.
When things aren’t going well, you could be a source of strength and mentorship for other people.
A huge area women need to change is not viewing each other as threats. Why do you think women have an issue with this?
Melanie: We live in a patriarchal society and we want a seat at the table, but we feel like it’s a man’s table and there is one seat available. Let’s create our own table.
It’s intimidating to ask someone to be a mentor. It comes down to finding the right source. The worst that is going to happen is they are going to say no. The best case scenario is they are going to lead you to someone else.
Some women think that reaching out for help is a sign of weakness, like you don’t know what you are doing. Why should we all know everything? If you are trying to get your life to the next level, you need someone to help take you there.
Tonya is currently mentoring a man and helping him make more money. Mentoring is not always imparting advice, it is about listening. Ask them questions and they may figure out what they need to do. Don’t always give them your opinion and what you would do.
Be careful who you share your grand plans with, because people will question you and give opinions. Look for someone who listens to you, encourages you, and believes in you. Be that woman!
Instead of feeling threatened, embrace other women's’ journeys and support them.
Wherever you are is good enough. Embrace that.
TAKEAWAY: Here’s to strong women - may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them, may we hire them, and most importantly, may we support them.If you have any topics you would like for us to talk about during happy hour, please feel free to email me at shannon@finblonde.com or tweet to me at blonde_finance or join the private martinis and your money Facebook group and let us know. Until next time, take care!!