In this empowering episode of Turn Back Time, Penny Zenker teams up with money expert Samantha Varner to explore the critical topic of money mindset and its impact on your financial success.

Gain valuable insights and practical strategies to enhance your money mindset, understand your worth, and confidently ask for the compensation you deserve.

In a world where confidence and clarity are key, Samantha and Penny share their expertise to help you navigate the intricacies of negotiating salaries, bonus structures, and increasing your rates. Discover how to effectively communicate your value and financial contribution to secure the compensation you desire.

Join them as they delve into the power of self-awareness and conscious self-talk, allowing you to take control of your mindset and achieve remarkable results in your business. Learn how transforming the way you speak and think about money can positively impact your financial trajectory.

Don’t miss this transformative conversation that will empower you to embrace your worth, attract the compensation you desire, and develop a healthy and prosperous money mindset!

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Listen to the podcast here

 

Money Mindset: How To Get Paid Your Worth Every Single Time With Samantha Varner

In this episode, we’re going to talk about money. Money is one of those things that we love and fear or lots of in-between. Sometimes it’s not talked about and there’s a lot of beliefs that we have around money. I’m excited to have a money mindset expert and a profit leader. Samantha Varner is here with us. She believes that without profit business is just an expensive hobby. It is so true. She’s the Founder of SHE Collective.

She’s on a mission to show business owners how they can live full and robust lives while building massively profitable businesses. For you that are reading that aren’t building your companies, we’re going to talk about how it affects you in the organization and going after what you’re worth and asking for what you’re worth in the organization. Keep that in mind. Sam has many years of experience in public relations, sales and business development. Welcome to the show, Sam.

Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

How exciting for us to be talking about money. My money belief is that there’s always a way to make money. I know that that has served me in my life because there’s always more money to be had. There is an abundance and we can all make money at the same time. What are some of your beliefs? Did they change over time? You’re doing this and I don’t know if you’re doing this because you had a money issue in your mindset or what. Tell us a little bit about your history and beliefs around money.

I hold the belief that there is always money to be made. I will chat with my clients all the time about, even if all of us are sitting in the same room going after the same clientele with the same product or service, there’s enough for everybody. I used to have a corporate job. I was in a corporate environment for years before I had my kids and moved to countries. I ended up coming to Texas and starting my business.

One of the things that I found is many female business owners in particular, but the men are not immune to this, live in that world of, “I don’t know if I can make enough. I’m hesitant to make more money. I’m certainly hesitant to ask for more money.” There was a lot of shame around feeling like, “You should already know the answers. You should know how to do this. You shouldn’t need help. This is something we should innately know as humans.” As those of us who make money know, that’s not the case. We need to be taught, encouraged and coached through that.

When you say shame around asking or feeling like we should already know, I didn’t understand that. Maybe people are feeling that or they didn’t understand. What do you mean by that? Is it because we’re afraid to ask questions?

That’s a huge part of it. For those of us that are reading that are not business owners, think about it from your finances. There are experts out there that you can go to to get help in these areas. The reality is we often are very reluctant to put up our hands and ask what feels like the crap question or feels like the question we should already know. What that ends up doing is hindering people in their ability to generate more wealth or revenue as the case may be because there is that feeling of shame that comes around the idea that we should already have the answers in terms of, “How do I manage my money properly? How do I balance my checkbook? How do I balance my books?”

Those types of things like, “How do I create a budget or stay within a budget?” Where I was going and thinking before you talked about that was a lot of people don’t stand in their worth. They don’t want to ask for more money because they’ll be afraid that they’re fired or they don’t think that they’re worth it or deserve it. There’s a lot of that that I hear from people. That is a general belief like, “I’m not enough.” It is one of the deep-seated things that can hold all of us back. How does that affect people in their money situation?

So much. That feeling of Imposter syndrome is alive and well in most of us. It affects us when we know or we’re starting to feel resentful for the work that we’re doing because we’re not being compensated to the point that we deem to be acceptable. Most people seriously are still underselling themselves anyway. When you think, “I’m worth more,” you are worth more and then some. We get into that position where we do feel like the only option if I ask for more money is, “I’m inevitably going to be fired. This client is going to stop working with me,” as opposed to acknowledging that you are indeed worth more money, “The tasks and the job that you’re performing are worth more. We’re going to compensate you accordingly.”

We get very in our heads about what that means about us and whether or not we are being pushy, salesy or greedy. All of those words start to come up in our vocabulary when we’re starting to think about how we work for ourselves in getting more money into our lives. How do we pull more money into our lives? The easiest and most low-hanging fruit for corporate people or people that have a business is to talk to your current provider of cash for more based on performance when you talk about those things and show up how you are meant to show up.

We’re living in such an interesting time because there are a lot of people that are leaving and saying, “No, I’m demanding this amount of money. If you’re not going to give it to me, I’m going to go somewhere else.” That’s a double-edged sword because people just out of college might be overestimating the value of their skillset and asking for more than what many companies are able to pay for because different companies have different budgets for the same position. How do you balance that? How do you know when you’re asking for the right amount that’s good for your skills and that makes good sense?

One of the best ways to do it is to create a wins list. if you sit down and write out all of the things that you have either achieved, created or were as a result of your actions in your job or business, it allows you to reflect on how are you then in comparison to your job description, for instance, measuring up? Are you above and beyond what the expectations of the role and the original salary are or are you still underperforming in areas and you can evaluate that?

If you are missing big chunks of that, then probably you want to be careful. You don’t want to go and demand more money if you aren’t indeed exceeding the expectations of the role. With that being said, with like a little caveat, corporations especially large and well-established and old corporations are slow to get with the fact that there are changes in what people’s expectations are in an environment of employment.

I do think that there is a bigger push for, “I don’t need to be 100% qualified for any particular role to do a great job very quickly.” There is the legacy of being able to quickly learn a new task, put it into motion, get it done and those sorts of things. There is a fine line between having to already know how to do something and how to show up as a go-getter and somebody who is going to learn and thrive immediately to be a higher-value participant in the team.

There are two different skillsets depending on the role. I want to go back to what said about the wins list. I like that idea. It doesn’t matter whether you have your business or you’re working in someone else’s business because what a great opportunity to build confidence in the wins that you’ve had. You get to see your competency level and where the gap is toward where you want to go in the organization but it’s a great conversational tool as well.

I find that sometimes when people get to their year-end review, they’re not happy with how they were rated if they’re not prepared for that to be able to show, “Let’s take a look at my wins here.” It’s important to come prepared and be able to have that conversation with that confidence and knowledge of where you have added value. Be open to listening to where you’ve maybe not performed as expected but at least you have that as a conversation. If you’re the entrepreneur, you can use that when you’re talking to new prospects, validating your rates and things like that. I love that wins list.

Especially in the corporate world, often we don’t reflect on what our resume looks like or what our increased skillset is until we go to look for another job. It’s only when we’re like, “Back at this resume-building point and I want this job. I’m looking at it in comparison,” as opposed to making sure that we’re keeping a list of everything that we have grown, achieved and increased along the way. Your employer doesn’t always see all of those pieces or doesn’t necessarily realize what your role is in those upgrades. It’s important to make sure everybody sees that in a way that is helpful for you in your career development.

When we’re talking about in corporate as people might get a promotion, very often companies may give you added responsibilities but they don’t always match the pay because they’re like, “You’ve been with the organization. We can’t jump you that high.” They’re not market relevant. I do think there. What do you think stops people from speaking up and asking what this job is worth on the market? It’s a disservice to the organization. Many people leave because they’re not compensated properly. That costs the organization so much more money. Let’s talk about that a little bit.

There are two pieces. That piece right there of the fact that having an idea in your head of what it costs your employer to reget somebody into that position will put you in a much more comfortable place, even if you’re not going to be using that as a bullet point when you talk to somebody. When you know that to replace you, they are going to have to put out a certain amount of money, it makes your shoulders relax and makes you feel a little bit more confident to be like, “I can demand what this role is out on the marketplace.” That’s first and foremost. The number one reason that people in a corporate job are fearful is they could lose their job. They aren’t sitting in a position where they have one client.

If you say that everybody’s got a certain number of clients, whether you’re in corporate or not, if you are in a corporate job, your employer is your single client. You are very much at the back and call of that client. There has to be a little bit of understanding of, “Where is the corporate environment? What’s happening with the budget? Where is that?” The vast majority of us don’t ask for raises when we get promoted. We assume they’ll give it to us if we deserve it. We need to start remembering that they’re operating under a business. If you don’t ask for it, that’s cost savings for them and they’re happy with that.

The vast majority of us don't ask for raises when we get promoted. We just assume they'll give it to us if we deserve it. We need to remember that they're operating a business, and if you don't ask for it, that's cost savings for them… Share on X

Don’t ask, you don’t get. Can we talk a little bit about language? How would I ask for that?

You want to go in with an example of what you have done for the company, how you have performed and how you exceeded expectations. You want to make sure that you’re tracking things as much as you can depending on the role. This can be hard but numerical associations are important. When you’re going to negotiate salary, bonus structure or something like that, you want to be able to show, “I understand what my financial contribution is and therefore there is financial room within this company or there should be to compensate me accordingly.”

 

If you’re creating more sales or your marketing program is creating an excess on the backend, all of these things we all know have checks and balances in an organization. They’re very rarely doing things without some ROI attached to them so that they can track their metrics. You want to at least be familiar with a baseline of what those metrics are so that you can speak that same language in the circumstance.

Would you go in with a specific number in mind? You know what’s on the market and what they’re telling you that they’re going to give you. Would you go in and say, “Based on the market, here’s what I’m looking for?

Yeah. I would use it based on the market, your knowledge of the company and what you need. There has to be that factor in there, especially if you’re one of these people that are potentially on the cusp of like, “I’m going to leave this corporation if I don’t get compensated fairly.” You don’t want to do this in a threatening manner but you do want to say, “For me to feel like a valued member of the team and to continue to push to the same level that I have been to raise,” whatever that is, “This would feel like fair compensation to me.”

This would feel like fair compensation. At least it’s not said in a threatening way. I wanted to give people some language around that because sometimes it’s just that. It’s an emotional thing to talk about. If they’re not prepared with what they’re going to say, then they don’t say it or they say it the wrong way and it ends up being a conflict. That can be done in role-play. To have some of those statements are fantastic. We talked about the wins list and asking for more money. What else is a common challenge that you see that people have within their money mindset that we didn’t yet cover?

The other piece goes along with what we’ve been saying but being comfortable talking money. Be comfortable saying the numbers. People will get very tripped up on that, whether you’re an entrepreneur or you’re in a sales conversation. This client is interested in what your service or your product is. You get to that point and they say, “What would it look like to work with you?” People stumble and bumble around that. They feel awkward. When the client is questioning your legitimacy and whether you are competent, all of these things are not fair to be questioned but nonetheless, they are.

It creates doubt in the people you’re speaking with if you’re not confident and clear about what your rates are.

It’s the same in an employment situation. In that same conversation that we were talking about, people are usually pretty good right up until the number and then they get tongue-tied. One of the things that I talk about with clients is saying to them, “I want you to get to the point where you’re so comfortable that the number rolls off your tongue like your phone number.” Somebody says, “How do I get ahold of you?” You can spit that number right out.

 

My clients always laugh at me when I tell them to do this but one of the ways is every time you go to the washroom and you’re standing there washing your hands. All of us are drinking more water and all the things. We’re there regularly. Say those things until you are smooth and it’s comfortable. Say it to your cats, dogs, kids and spouse until they’re like, “Enough already.” You want to get to the point where you can say it to anybody. The mailman walks by and you’re like, “I charge this much.” He’s like, “That’s great. Thank you. It’s weird.” You said that confidently.

Then be quiet. After you say it, shut up.

Don’t keep doing that mindless babble that we do when we’re awkward.

That is important to be able to hear yourself say it and be confident in saying it. That’s a powerful item. There’s putting together your win list, knowing what the comparison is out on the market and being confident in saying it. Is there anything else that we’re missing?

When it comes to the money mindset, at the very beginning of that, what you want to be thinking about is, “What am I thinking when I start to think about money?” We spoke about abundance at the beginning. What is your mindset about your earning potential, how many clients might be out there or why that last person said no to you? You want to start to catch yourself. We all have a level of negative self-talk that is happening in the back and it’s almost happening below the surface and we don’t even notice.

The first step to managing your mindset is acknowledging where it currently is and what kind of things are being said. People often want to like, “I want to fix my money mindset. I want to fix my mindset in general immediately.” First, you have to know what’s happening. Catching those dialogues or gut reactions that you have in a circumstance will start to have you go, “Is that factual? Is that true that he thinks I’m not worth it and would never pay that much and it’s ridiculous that I even had the audacity to ask it?”

That’s not necessarily true but just paying attention to the way you speak about money and the way you think about money like, “Things are too expensive. I can never afford that. I wish I could do that but I have no way of gaining more income.” All of those thoughts that are running in the back start questioning it. It’s not factual. It’s just things that we’re telling ourselves to keep ourselves safe. If people can start to catch onto those details, it will start to transition on its own.

Pay attention to the way you speak about money and the way you think about money. Share on X

Paying attention. It’s amazing how powerful it is to be conscious about our self-talk and what it is we are staying and believing because we do have more control than we think we do.

It’s that self-awareness piece that can be a hard thing. When I first started in the coaching realm, my personal thoughts around all of the self-coaching and thinking about my mindset was, “This is very woo-woo. I don’t know if this works.” I wasn’t bought into it at all. Over the years, it is incredible how much control I have over what I’m thinking and then how much that is a direct line to the results I get every time. You start to be like, “I can tweak this to the way that I want it to be in my business at any given time.”

You did a little movement for those who are reading. She did a little dial movement. If it’s a radio dial, we can change the channel. We can change the channel on our thoughts as well as reframe it and look at it and tell ourselves a different story and look at it from a different perspective. All of a sudden, all of the beliefs, priorities and expectations all change with the perspective. That’s fascinating to me how with a simple switch we can have a different set of thinking, beliefs and what gets uploaded in that moment. It’s incredible.

One of the things that I noticed for myself, for instance, as things started to increase and I started to increase my rates is I was like, “Can I deliver the same service and ask for that much more?” That was a thing like, “I need to add more value. How am I adding enough value and so forth?” What I found for myself is we talked about some of these things. It’s the comparison. What are other people on the market who are delivering and getting paid for their service? If other people are paying them and you’re delivering the same result or better, then someone else is asking for it. You can ask for it. Know the value if you can put a monetary amount to it and then stand in your confidence.

I was surprised. Over the years, I had a philosophy of doubling my rates and getting to a place where I was getting paid for the professional experience that I’d created. It is our experience. People need to get away from this hour type of thinking. If they’re a service provider, you should provide the value of the service, focus on that and not the value of an hour because that hour, you’re bringing all that expertise that took you years, how many degrees and whatever it is that you got to get to where you are. That’s what people are paying for. They’re not paying for every minute. They’re paying for the result.

Second is you start selling yourself from a position of the result as opposed to from a position of, “This is what you get from a tangible thing.” For me, I can talk to people about, “With my coaching, you get a one-to-one session every week and it’s 45 minutes. It’s on Zoom and then you get to connect with me on Slack. You get to do that as much as you need to.” These are all the bullet points of what is included but nobody cares.

Nobody cares what the tangibles are. They care about like, “I want to make more money in my business. How do I do that? Do you know how to do that? Will you teach me? Can I learn it?” That’s what they’re looking for. They don’t care if it means we do a skipping exercise every single day up and down their street and then they must dye their hair pink, “Okay if that’s what I need to do.” Most people are like, “I will do that. I guess pink carries the thing.”

We are at the end of our session here. Sam, how can people reach you? Go ahead and tell us.

The best place is to come visit me over on Instagram. It is @SamTheProfitCoach. Slide into my DM. Send me a message and say, “Something caught my eye reading this show and I want to talk to you about it. I want to ask that question.” I am in there all the time. I want to be able to connect with you and put you in connection with the right solution.

Thank you so much for being here.

You are welcome. This was wonderful.

Thank you all for being here. This was an important conversation. Maybe we’ve talked about it before but a money mindset is critical. You understand your worth and value. You’re not afraid to ask for what you deserve and the experience that you’ve created. I hope this has empowered you. It’s given you some language, tools and tips to be able to use. That’s what’s most important. I hope this is going to be of great value to you going forward. We’ll see you in the next episode.

 

Important Links

• SHE Collective
• @SamTheProfitCoach – Instagram

 

About Samantha Varner

Without profit, business is just an expensive hobby. Sam Varner, founder of She Collective is on a mission to show business owners just how they can live full and robust lives while building massively profitable businesses. Using her CRUSH formula, Sam takes her 15+years of experience in public relations, sales and business development to teach driven entrepreneurs how to create wealth through business ownership. From speaking on stage, hosting her podcast, She Needs Grit, Sam is the ass-kicking profit coach for the driven entrepreneur.

 

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