How to Change Your Money Story for the Better

This week, Maggie chatting with Leah Neaderthal, a sales coach for women who run B2B consulting and coaching businesses. In this episode, they talk about the money story that finally allowed Leah to comfortably navigate conversations about money with her significant other, her family, her friends, and potential clients.

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Leah Neaderthal is a sales coach for women who run B2B consulting and coaching businesses, the founder of Smart Gets Paid, and the host of The Smart Gets Paid podcast. A three-time business owner who started her career in corporate marketing, Leah didn’t learn to sell by being a commissioned salesperson. She taught herself everything she could about selling, overcame “selling shyness,” and created a sales approach that feels comfortable, builds strong client relationships, and gets results. Prior to starting Smart Gets Paid, Leah built, grew, and sold three businesses. Learn more about Leah at smartgetspaid.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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To learn more about Maggie and her coaching and speaking services, visit www.maggiegermano.com.

The theme music is called Escaping Light by Aaron Sprinkle. The podcast artwork design is by Maggie’s dear husband, Dan Rader.

TRANSCRIPTION

Maggie Germano 0:05
Hi, and thanks for listening to the money circle podcast. I’m your host, Maggie Germano, and I’m a feminist and a financial writer, speaker, educator and coach for women. I’m passionate about making personal finance less scary and more approachable so that women can improve their relationship with money and take control of their finances. Every other week, I will interview an amazing, inspiring woman to talk about the issues that impact our money, our health, our independence, and more. We will touch on the societal and structural issues that we need to work together to change and the actions that we each have the power to take in our own lives. If you’d like to learn more about me and the work that I do, visit my website at Maggiegermano.com or follow me on Instagram @MaggieGermano. Thanks again for listening and I hope you enjoy.

Maggie Germano 0:55
Hey there, and thanks for listening. I’m your host Maggie Germano. And this week, I’m chatting with Leah Neaderthal, a sales coach for women who run business to business consulting and coaching businesses. In this episode, we talk about the money story that finally allowed Leah to comfortably navigate conversations about money with her significant other, her family, her friends and potential clients. If you struggle with talking about money in your own life, this episode is for you. Enjoy.

Maggie Germano 1:30
Okay, welcome, Leah. Thanks so much for being here today.

Leah Neaderthal 1:33
Thanks for having me.

Maggie Germano 1:35
It’s been a while since we chatted. So I’m excited to have you as a guest.

Leah Neaderthal 1:38
Yeah. When did we When did we work together?

Maggie Germano 1:41
Before you had your kiddo? So more than two or three years ago?

Leah Neaderthal 1:46
Oh my god. It’s like time is just like this vortex. I know. Like I remember it was before Noah, but I can’t remember exactly when and like now he’s to and. And the pandemic and it’s just It’s wild. And I know your your little ones growing really quickly, too.

Maggie Germano 2:02
Yeah, he’s already nine months old. So yeah, with the pandemic. I feel like it’s worked time even more where it’s like, Oh, I haven’t seen or talked to that person in two years. Because I’ve basically just been at home by myself.

Leah Neaderthal 2:14
Right, right. Right. One of those years doesn’t count. Actually. Almost two of his years in the county there.

Maggie Germano 2:20
Sadly, yeah. Um, so why don’t we start off by having you, you know, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Leah Neaderthal 2:28
Yeah, so I am My name is Leah Neaderthal and I’m a sales coach for women who run b2b consulting and coaching businesses. I which means I help women who are running businesses land more of the clients, they want, get more yeses and get paid dramatically more for their consulting and coaching work. And that’s the guys under which you and I got to work together as well.

Maggie Germano 2:50
Yeah, how did you find your way into this kind of work? I know you had more than one business. So how did you kind of settle into your current work?

Leah Neaderthal 3:01
Yeah, well, so like, a lot of people I actually got into this not through, I got in through the corporate world. You know, I started my business. I started my career in, in corporate marketing in large advertising agencies, I, you know, like a lot of us, I got the best job I could get. And then they got the next best job and all of that. And then I went in house to a tech company, to do also corporate marketing. And in 2010, I, my then partner and I quit our jobs to travel the world. And, you know, we were sort of stuck at a corporate thing. We had saved up money we had, you know, we just wanted to sort of escape. And along the way, you know, we were sort of backpacking and going super fast. And it was such a whirlwind. And somewhere between, probably like, I don’t know, Nicaragua, and Panama, we realized that we didn’t want to keep backpacking anymore. We weren’t seeing anything, really, that we were really experiencing. And so we decided to slow it down. We started it and we thought, instead of, you know, doing this whole world trip in a year, and then going back to, you know, spend the rest of our lives under fluorescent lights, what if we could start a business that allowed us to live anywhere. And so that’s how our first consulting business was born. It was a marketing website development firm. And we cut our trip short after about eight months, came back to the States. And I think as soon as my as soon as the plane touched down on like US soil, all of the entrepreneurial stuff that I didn’t doing while we were traveling, seemed to sort of evaporate and I was all of my corporate conditioning came back and was like, You need a 401k you need insurance. You need all of this stuff, right? And I was, even though our only job was to get corporate it was to get clients. I could not do it. I was so panicked. I was so paralyzed that I actually would recognize Another corporate job. But I realized that I didn’t want to, I really didn’t want to work for somebody else, I wanted to work for myself. And if I was going to do that, I had to actually learn how to get clients. And so I taught myself, I read 65 books, I tested everything with my own clients, and anything that felt salesy, I ditched, and anything that I felt comfortable, I kept, and I developed a selling methodology that feels really good, and works and gets you paid a lot more. So that’s sort of the long and twisting road to how I got to where I am.

Maggie Germano 5:34
Yeah, that’s so interesting. And I think I hear that a lot where nothing was kind of a straight road to where someone ended up, especially someone who’s a business owner, it ends up being like, this is something that I needed when I was starting out, or this is something that like, through my work with other people, I realized was something that people needed. And it sounds like that’s very similar to what happened with you, where you had to teach yourself how to pitch yourself and get clients and set your pricing and all that. And so you realize that’s something you can offer to other people?

Leah Neaderthal 6:08
Yeah, well, actually well, so I because I was very, you know, into the corporate thing, right, like I. And the very first job I actually are in the very first business I actually run is one that I don’t really talk about all that often. But it was a Chicago cycling community, I was living in Chicago, I’m a big cyclist, I didn’t have anyone to ride with, even though there are 1000s of people, like, you know, cyclists in Chicago and I started a business called the chain link, which is still up and running the chain. link.org was a community for Chicago cycling, just so that we could bring everyone together, there wasn’t sort of one hub for everybody. And really, the reason I started it is because I wanted to find people to ride with. And I accidentally created this company, you know, this business is this community that has, I think, close to 15,000 people in it now. And but it’s really just on that it’s kind of what you said, it’s like when you solve a problem for yourself, you’re you might also be solving it for other people, too.

Maggie Germano 7:11
Yeah, and I think that’s like the best way to do it too. Because you know, that it’s something that’s needed, because it’s something you needed, and you’ve been through it. So you know how to talk to other people about it, like the people that might hire you, or who are looking for someone like you, you know, what they’ve been through. And so you’re going to be that much more approachable and understanding in that work as well.

Leah Neaderthal 7:36
Yeah like, I know, the struggle, the struggle is very real. I know it, I experienced it, you know, everything from, you know, not knowing how to follow up with somebody and sort of staring at a blank email saying, Well, I don’t want to be pushy, and I don’t want to be too salesy to having actual calls scheduled with potential clients, and sitting there a few minutes before being like, I wish they would cancel. Is it too late for me to cancel? And I just was so nervous. So I know what it’s like when, when you don’t feel good, or you know, when you don’t know how to do this work. And you know, when you but you also know that it’s the thing standing between you and the clients you want to work with?

Maggie Germano 8:20
Great, because if you’re running a business that depends on clients, you obviously need to get clients in order to have a business.

Leah Neaderthal 8:27
Exactly. You need to get clients in order to make money in order to do all the things that you know, that you want to do in your life. So it that’s why I mean, it’s, it’s such a shame that so many women struggle with this fundamental skill. And I and I did too and so but, but it really does unlock a lot of this when in your in your business in your life when you learn how to sell and can make the money that you want to make.

Maggie Germano 8:53
Yeah, absolutely. And I think a lot of what can be tied to that fear of selling or that, you know, fear of pricing in a way that can help us support yourself is kind of our history with money and and like how we think about and talk about money. And that’s what we’re talking about today. So I wanted to start off by kind of asking you, you know, how, how was money sort of approached or discussed, like as you were growing up?

Leah Neaderthal 9:22
Yeah, I Well, first of all, I love this whole topic, because number one, I’m a personal development junkie. And I love sort of self exploration and learning things and sharing them with other people. And also I like diving into this with my clients as well. So so how is money? talked about in my family? Well, I, you know, before I say anything, I’ll say that I think that like all of our money stories are created by people who had the best intentions, you know, but as a child, you just don’t know how to interpret the intentions, right? And so in my family You know, we grew up, I grew up very comfortably. We never wanted for anything. And one of and of course, we could, and we could do the things, you know, some of the things that were real luxuries, you know, I went to summer camp, we had, you know, a lot of extracurricular activities, all these things and so, but it was a really important part of like, My, how money was talked about in my family, it was, it’s totally okay to have money. But don’t let anybody know that you have money. Right? Which I am probably guessing that if you’re a parent or grandparent, it’s probably like, a generally good lesson to tell people you know, like to tell your kids like, don’t just go talking about how rich we are, or whatever, right. But as a young child, what I took that in at doing the way I interpreted that was, you know, don’t ever let anyone see or know that you that you have any money whatsoever. And so that was a really important, like, formative belief that I carried with me, probably, you know, into my late 20s.

Maggie Germano 11:10
Ya know, and I’ve heard, I’ve heard that, where people feel like, either embarrassed or guilty about having come from money. And I’ve heard the other side of people who are embarrassed and ashamed of not coming from money. So I feel like it’s like, there’s this wide spectrum of like, no matter where you’re coming from money is this, either this bad thing to talk about, you know, you can have it, we can talk about it, or like, if you didn’t have it, that’s your fault. And you should be like, ashamed and embarrassed. So it’s really interesting how, how wide that spectrum is, and how the feelings can end up being kind of the same?

Leah Neaderthal 11:47
Totally, I mean, I like I think this is why I love this podcast and the story, the conversations you have, because literally no matter where you come from, everybody’s got some type of like, functional to dysfunctional money story that’s worth exploring.

Maggie Germano 12:03
Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. And so how did you, you know, you said that you brought that kind of thought process with you into your 20s of like, don’t talk about it, don’t let anyone know, how did that kind of impact your approach within relationships? Or within your career? How did that how did that like, either silence or, you know, secrecy around that kind of impact you?

Leah Neaderthal 12:32
Yeah, it? I, I think if I had to look at it now, it impacted me quite a bit. Because, you know, when I left college, and I went to college in Philadelphia, and all of my friends went to New York, and I moved to Chicago. So I left all my friends, I was making all these new friends. And I really had to, it’s almost like I had a secret. And listen, when I say I had a secret. It’s not like, you know, I don’t have we certainly did not come from like private jet money. Right? But we, we were comfortable. And but it was it was this, like, you know, this narrative that was sort of this monkey on my back. And especially with all these people that I was meeting for the first time, and I wanted to build a community and I wanted to make friends. And so I felt like this constant like reading the room a little bit, to see what was okay to talk about what was not okay to talk about. Right? So, by that time, my parents, well, my dad had retired and my parents really love to sail. But not everybody gets to know that my parents love to sail. Right? Or, and so and so as I went on it, it always felt like something that had to be measured. Right? It was always like this measure of relationship. And especially for somebody like me, who I also, I had experienced that in the past, because I came out at 24. Right, and I came out of the closet. And I remember how in the ramps that how I had that same sort of like, you know, measuring and reading the room, right. And that’s uncomfortable. And so it just felt so strange to sort of have have come out, you know, and sort of released that whole side of me and still have this one thing. That’s the legacy thing that I didn’t feel like I could totally, you know, talk about.

Maggie Germano 14:34
Yeah, that’s really interesting, because it it probably made it really difficult to just be yourself in all different circumstances because like, it sounds like you felt like you had to censor yourself. Like you weren’t going to necessarily talk about the camp that you went to or talk about what your parents were up to. And, and yeah, it sounds like there’s just a lot of things to kind of be thinking about instead of just being present.

Leah Neaderthal 14:56
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I’m a total overthinker anyway, So this just made it a lot worse. And you know, the things that you’re naming, you know, like I said, it’s, we didn’t own a private island, you know what I’m saying, but somehow this loomed larger, even these like things that they’re sort of fairly, they’re within the range of possibility, right? They loomed so much larger, right? And so I made them such a bigger, much bigger deal in my head. And yeah, that I did censor, you know, quite a bit. And I censored about what I was doing in my own life, you know, I had gotten a fairly good job for somebody right out of college, and then I got another good job. And you know, it also. So it made me a little bit, I guess, ashamed of some of the struggle that I was seeing some of my peers go through in our jobs right out of college as well.

Maggie Germano 15:53
Yeah, I’ve definitely seen that too, of like, you know, seeing other people struggle, and then the fact that you’re not struggling means that like, You’re bad, or like you, you’re doing something wrong, when like, you’re not the one causing the other person struggle. It’s not like you, you know, the the job that you have, or the job, hopefully, that your parents had was like, contributing to the harm of someone else who’s struggling. You’re just coming from different circumstances. And that can be frustrating, but it shouldn’t be this like, shameful thing.

Leah Neaderthal 16:29
Right? Well, and I, I feel like this was really made plain to me when I worked with, I was talking with a coach who had us really working on our money stories. And she gave us this prompt, and a prompt said, rich people are blank. And we were to fill in the blank, you know, in our own journal or whatever. And I wrote, you know, you said, it’s like you said, to go with your, your gut, you know, your first reaction, and I wrote, rich people are insensitive, which is really, when I sat back and looked at it as like, that’s really interesting, because that’s different than some of the narrative that we have in our culture about what it means to be rich, right? Rich people are mean, rich people are evil, etc. But what I wrote was kind of what you said, rich people make somebody else feel bad. Right? So me, in my 20s, having this corporate job, like the existence of that, somehow in my brain would like make somebody else feel bad. Right? That’s a big burden to carry.

Maggie Germano 17:35
Yeah, definitely. And you carrying that burden doesn’t change the circumstances of somebody else at all? Certainly not. No. And I feel like someone who’s struggling would probably be annoyed to hear that someone who has a great corporate job is feeling so bad about it.

Leah Neaderthal 17:53
Right? Like, nobody wants to be paid. Nobody wants to cause somebody else to censor themselves. Right. But I, you know, you know, well enough that like, money stories don’t exist in reality. Right? It’s just this like story that it only exists in your head. And I think when we really step back and look at it and say, Well, is this really true or what not? It starts to just shine a light on like, I don’t wanna say how silly do it is because my stories are meaningful. But, you know, Jen, like, Is this really true?

Maggie Germano 18:34
Yeah. And when was that moment for you? When you decided like, Okay, this isn’t working for me anymore. I need to change kind of how I’m thinking about and talking about money?

Leah Neaderthal 18:45
Well, I think I fit it onto two levels. And I would say, you know, the coach that I worked with, was that even that question rich people are, was a pretty formative question. And, you know, I mentioned earlier that, like, I’m a total personal development junkie, so I like this stuff anyway, you know, so it really sort of dove into it. But the two ways that I see it, what was that moment? Threshold? Was you actually asking, like, is there a specific like, moment moment?

Maggie Germano 19:16
It doesn’t have to be like, a lightbulb moment. But like, what kind of prompted you to like realize, or I guess, to start taking steps to make that change to start viewing and thinking about money differently?

Leah Neaderthal 19:29
Yeah. Have these notes I like I made notes on your questions that I’m like, I don’t know if that is really apply anymore. So as part of the, you know, going down this rabbit hole of exploring my own money story, you know, I think that one of the things I encountered was, you know, some people would call it like visualization or or manifesting or whatever. And I subscribe to that like a little bit. But one of the moments or one of this, or tenants that I came across was this idea that you cannot attract what you also repel. And so if I am, here I am, I’m like a, you know, ambitious woman, I’m a, I’m a business owner, I want to, of course, like make enough to provide for my family and live the life that we want. But if I’m also, like, uncomfortable with accepting that, that abundance, then it like the universe doesn’t know what to do. Right. And so I realized that essentially, I had been this money story was acting to almost like confused the message for whatever I wanted to, like, whatever vision I wanted to create in my life. And, you know, so that’s sort of how it played in my life. But then, you know, we’ve been talking about, like, how it played out in my relationships. And I think, honestly, like, probably meeting my wife was, and getting so close to another family that had a different Money Story. That combined with some of the personal development that I and personal growth I was doing, really just caused me to say, alright, well inherited, is it the only way? Right? Is it the right way? Is it the only way and just be open to? Yeah, just because we did it this way doesn’t mean that we I still have to do it this way.

Maggie Germano 21:37
Yeah, I think that’s a really important piece to kind of take away is like, just because it’s always been a certain way, just because you’ve thought about things a certain way or behaved a certain way, or just because your family kind of approach money in a certain way, doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. I mean, that’s how we talk I talk about money all the time is like, just because you’ve struggled with your finances in the past, or you’ve had trouble with debt or overspending doesn’t mean that, like, there’s literally nothing you can do to change it, it doesn’t always have to be that way, if you want it to be different. So I think mindset is a huge piece to that can change.

Leah Neaderthal 22:14
Absolutely. I, I that was so it was made so clear to me. And something that happened actually, during the pandemic, my wife and me, because another part of the money story in my family is that if you’re going to spend money, it has to be really, really worth it. It has to be very pragmatic. My sister, and I joke with my mom that every time she would get us like a coat, you know, we were sort of growing up as girls, and she would get us a winter coat. And it always had the question was like, will it fit a sweater? Right? Of course, like practically, yes, you’re gonna It’s a win. It’s very, you’re gonna put your jacket over your sweater. But I think it was a it was almost like, it had to be much bigger than that, because you had to grow into it, right? Like you couldn’t, and you couldn’t just buy something just because you wanted it. Right. Now, again, I think that’s a fine lesson to teach a young child, you can’t just buy something just because you want it and you see it and you want to like put it in your chapter card or whatever. But you know, the way I took that as a child was you everything has to be super pragmatic. And so earlier in the, in the pandemic, my wife was shopping, and she wanted me to get some pajamas, right? Like just cute pajamas, like, you know, shorts and top or whatever. Nothing like racy just like normal, cute pajamas. And I was like, why? Like, what’s the point? You know, in my world, pajamas? Were your old college, old college T shirts. Old. What is it? Like flannel pants? Right? Like you wear them for years. It has holes in it, you know, it’s super soft. But like, it’s definitely like the throwaway stuff, you know, or like that. And so it literally was like, What’s the point of getting like my cute pajamas. And we actually had like a fight about it. Because my money story said that that’s not worth spending on just because you want it. And we actually i We’re big fans of couples therapy, we love our couples therapist, and we took it to her and it was just so eye opening. And when I finally did decide, You know what, it doesn’t matter. This does not have to be the most pragmatic thing in the world. I can, you know, get a pair of cute pajamas just because they’re cute. And I don’t know it really changed something for me. I’m still sort of processing it clearly.

Maggie Germano 24:35
Yeah, I was gonna say it. Things can change over and over again as as you get older and you have new kinds of like just you can have shifts and changes in your money story and money mindset like forever. Even just that small thing like oh, I can buy cute pajamas for no reason. Other than wanting cute pajamas.

Leah Neaderthal 24:56
Other than Yeah, no reason at all other no reason You know, it’s, yeah, it’s so eye opening. And I think that has extended to a lot of other things, you know, not that. Not that I’m like on this sort of buying binge, but I don’t, I don’t scrutinize myself the way that I used to. And that has been really freeing, I can make a decision on whether I want to buy something or not. Without the guilt, and that that sort of narrative really, at play.

Maggie Germano 25:29
Yeah, the word freeing was the word that was going through my head a lot as you were talking like how, you know, taking that scrutiny away, taking that guilt away, it just can make it so that like, you’re not feeling so bound by these like, unspoken rules that you’ve kind of given yourself. I mean, especially if you’re in a position where you can afford it. You’re not like, you know, going out and like putting yourself into crazy debt for no reason which, like, I mean, everyone has different circumstances, there’s different things that lead people to those kinds of places. But like, if you have it, you can afford it. Why not? Let yourself do that.

Leah Neaderthal 26:10
Exactly. And yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry, I’m certainly not going to go into debt over pajamas. But and I think what you’re saying is, I like the way you said this, it’s about it’s very freeing, and it’s not the freedom to spend. It’s the freedom to decide without scrutiny.

Maggie Germano 26:31
Right. And without that guilt, like just knowing that you’re, you’re allowed to spend, and so you don’t have to, like, do this thing that makes you feel good, but then feel bad about it afterwards, which, which takes away the niceness of being able to do that for yourself. Exactly. Yeah, I like that. So what were kind of, if there are like specific steps, or changes that you made to kind of get to a place where you felt more comfortable talking about money, in relationships, but also in your business? Because that’s like, the sales piece is a huge part of your business and a lot of other clients and business facing businesses. What are some of those, like actual steps you started taking to kind of change that mindset for yourself?

Leah Neaderthal 27:22
Yeah, so I think starting the business was, you know, it really took Well, let me back up, because when you say, being able to talk about money, you know, this was you guys. Like, I used to giggle, used to giggle when I talked about money. And you would think like, oh, you know, yeah, okay, little girl, that’s cute. She gave us no, I did it until like my mid 20s. I like could not talk about money. Without like, smiling, laughing, it was so uncomfortable. Anyway, like laughing is my, you know, response to just comfort I guess. So. You know, to be to be comfortable talking about money is one thing, I’d say like, for me, that was like level one, stop giggling and then to really get to be comfortable, like asking for money, in the sense of, you know, asking, in terms of selling your services to another, your potential client. And for both of those actually, you know, starting a business was really formative and and really got me over an important hump. Because when you’re running your own business, and it’s the money is yours, you know, you can’t sort of ignore it. You can’t you have to be comfortable with it. You know, like you literally can’t, certainly can’t giggle. One of the books I read a while ago, as I was learning, you know, all as I was sort of probing this stuff was by Wayne Dyer. And he always says that you are to teach people how to treat you. And I think that in the business, if you feel discomfort, if you feel if you can’t ask for the business, if you can’t ask for money, if you can’t talk about money, it really does teach your clients how to think about you. Right, and how to treat you. So that was a you know, I think about that phrase all the time. I say it to my clients all the time. And so if so, you know, when I think about it like that, talking about money, asking for money asking for the business, what have you isn’t just about that moment. It’s about how is this working relationship going to go with my client? How am I showing up right now? Am I showing up the way that I want to be seen and if there’s a disconnect there, then something’s got to change. And for me, it was, I wanted to be seen as an expert, as a competent business owner as a, you know, premium service provider. And that just didn’t jive with hedging on talking about money, you’re certainly not giggling. So, when I saw it as sort of this long game, and not a long game, necessarily, but when I saw it as more than just the money, that’s when I could, you know, relax into it and, and get more comfortable with it.

Maggie Germano 30:37
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And, you know, like, what you were saying is, if you’re giggling or pulling back, when talking about pricing, or trying to convince someone to pay you hire you for something that might end up putting a question in their mind, like, are you worth that money? Or are you good enough at your job to pay you the amount that you’re asking for? If you’re even uncomfortable? Asking for that much money? I could see how right?

Leah Neaderthal 31:07
Well, and I think we see that a lot in, you know, a lot of women will say, Well, you know, the price is x or my rate is x. But if if that doesn’t work for you, then something’s something something right, fill in the blank there. And it’s one of the first things that we work on in my, my program, because when we talk about actual money, because you’re opening the door for that question mark. Right. So when you talk about money in this, in the case of your business, or I would imagine, like in the case of asking for a raise or negotiating salary or whatever, it needs to end with a period, not a sort of trailing off and keeping that door open.

Maggie Germano 31:50
Yeah, that was a really important thing that I learned from your program of like, don’t leave it open to negotiation have like, this is how much you charge. And if they can afford it, that’s great. If they can’t afford it, then that’s also okay, they can, they can come back later or find someone else that works better for their budget. But also, just because for me finding someone who saw the value in the work that I was doing enough to pay, because then that means that they’re bought into what we’re doing and aren’t going to kind of flake on the work. So there’s like a to two layers of it of like, you’re willing to pay me for what I’m saying. And then you also you see the value enough that you’re going to be dedicated to the work we’re going to do together, which means it’ll work out better for both of us.

Leah Neaderthal 32:38
Absolutely. And I’ll just add one thing to that, you know, a lot of times, the women that I work with, before they come to me, they are taking on clients, but not getting paid what they want or paid enough. And it’s that, you know, they become resentful. So, of course, on the client side, if you’re paying this much, then you know, you’re going to show up better, you’re going to do the work better, you’re going to have better outcomes. But on the provider side, right, like on the woman business owner side, we have a lot of demands on our time, we have a lot of demands on our attention. And any one of us could find something else to do, you know, get a job a job, and, and not have the sort of pressure of being a business owner. So we have to make that time feel really good, right? That the work that we do has to feel really good. And if you’re not charging enough, then you don’t show up to work as well either. And that maybe not in the first week or the first month or even the first year. But over time that happens. And so that’s why it’s so important to you know, understand your worth, know your worth, ask for it. And, and the sentence in a period.

Maggie Germano 33:58
Right, because you don’t want to feel resentful of your business, eventually, because you’re working so hard on it and not bringing very much in or feeling resentful of your clients. Because I know that in the past, when I used to give people a discount, those are always the clients that wanted more and more and more, and then I would get more frustrated with them. Because it’s like I gave you a discount. And you’re asking me to go beyond the normal like scope of what I do with clients. And that definitely was a pattern that I was seeing, which also made it easier to stop doing that because it was like, oh, it’s always the clients that I find the most frustrating. But like you were saying you can always it’s easier sometimes to just get a job with an employer because you don’t have all that extra pressure to you don’t want to end up feeling that resentment towards your job or to towards your business because the whole point of running a business is it’s something that you wanted to do. It’s something that you have control over so hating it or Feeling like you’re not getting paid enough, makes it not really feel worth it doing at all.

Leah Neaderthal 35:07
We’re gonna work with our, they’ve been in some type of career for some time, right, and then they start their own businesses and you, you want to feel good about it, you want to feel like you’re an expert. You know, it’s like I didn’t spend, I didn’t go to evil medical school to not be called Dr. Evil, right? It’s like, I didn’t spend nine years in PR or whatever, to to not be paid enough by clients who demands, you know, more of my time. So you want that you want that relationship to be good. And, and because money can communicate value money communicates expertise, money communicates a lot. And, and so if you can start in a good place where you are charging what you want, getting paid where you want, it makes for a much better relationship.

Maggie Germano 35:57
Yeah, agreed, I think because everyone’s standing starting off on the same page of like, what something costs, what’s its worth, and what they’re getting for it. And so everyone feels good about it.

Leah Neaderthal 36:08
Exactly.

Maggie Germano 36:10
So is there anything else that you haven’t mentioned so far, whether it is about kind of the importance of changing your money story to kind of fit where you want to be in your life? Or how you talk about money within like a business? Is there anything you want to make sure listeners take away today?

Leah Neaderthal 36:27
You know, I would say, Get curious. There’s no one way to explore a Money Story. But it’s so important to just start getting the, but the first step is getting curious about it. So when you have thoughts of that seem to, I don’t know, come from somewhere else kind of like that thought about, well, don’t say this, because it’s going to make somebody feel bad. The way that was for me, just start to observe them, you know, don’t try to judge yourself or, or change yourself right away, the first step is just to observe. And if it helps just write it down, because the money stories are such a deep part of our belief system that we often don’t know that, that we’re that they’re playing out in any way. So that’s the first step is if you want to have a healthier relationship with money or with your own money story, just get curious. And the second thing is, actually talk to your family about it. If you have a relationship with your family, where you could talk about it, it might be a little uncomfortable. But my parents and I have actually had some amazing conversations that illuminate not just why I have the money story that I do, or my sister has many story that she does. It’s why my parents have the money stories individually that they do. And we learn about that you actually do learn about your history and your family. And so that can be really eye opening, because I think we also inherit a lot of the money stories that our parents inherited. So I see it as not just a way to sort of get more comfortable with with money and your own money story, but just have a conversation with your parents and let the stories come out. I think it’ll be eye opening for yourself and your relationship with them as well.

Maggie Germano 38:29
Yeah, I think that’s great advice. I think both of those are just great. Next immediate steps to take I think that’s really helpful. Um, and, and is there anything going on with your business that you want to promote and make sure listeners know about?

Leah Neaderthal 38:47
You. And some of the other women enzyme inspired me. And now I have my own podcast, called the Smart gets paid podcast. So if you’re listening to this, and you are a podcast person, go ahead and add that to your following podcasts and Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts and would love to see you over there. And, you know, I’m always, you know, active on LinkedIn. So I’m always sharing something related to either business or selling, or pricing or money or all of this over on LinkedIn. So connect with me, just find me.

Maggie Germano 39:22
Great. And I will link to your LinkedIn and your podcasts in the show notes too. So folks have easy access to you. And how can Is there anywhere else people can find you your website anywhere else

Leah Neaderthal 39:33
Yeah, just check out my website. Smartgetspaid.com

Maggie Germano 39:38
Great. Well, thank you so much for being here today. I agree that I could talk about the Money Story conversation forever and the like just talking about money forever. So I appreciate you taking your time to share your story and give your expertise.

Leah Neaderthal 39:53
Thanks so much for having me,

Maggie Germano 39:54
of course.

Maggie Germano 39:59
Thanks again You’re listening to the money circle podcast. If you want to learn more about my financial coaching services, my speaking and workshop offerings, or just to read my blog visit Maggiegermano.com. To get in touch with me directly email me at [email protected] You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter @MaggieGermano. I look forward to hearing from you. Bye bye

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