Know Your Worth & Set Your Salary Like a Boss!

Boss Life – Tips for Entrepreneurs Influencers and other Big Bosses

How I became a boss with unlimited earning potential – and how you can too!

By Jessica Tha Goddess – January 4, 2021

I have been an entrepreneur for as long as I remember. My first business venture was started with my childhood bestie, Soad. We would walk to the Peanut Plaza (because it’s shaped like a peanut, literally) and buy a bag of day-old donuts from the donut store. Then we would walk back to our neighborhood, set up a table with a pitcher of water, and offer people free water with the purchase of a donut. We sold each donut for the same price as we purchased the entire bag for – so after the first sale everything else was profit. We would use our cute little 8-year-old smiles to convince adults passing by to invest in a ‘delicious’ donut. Often people would give us the money without ever taking the donut – we were just so darn cute. At the end of the day Soad and I would split the money and bada-bing bada-boom we were in business.

Sometimes I made more money with our little weekend donut ventures than I did lugging papers door to door after school on the weekdays. I got my taste of entrepreneurship and I was hooked.

In the years to come there would be many more fun little businesses I would try along the way. Some did pretty well, while others fell flat – either way I was learning, and the foundation shaped me into the savvy business lady I am today.

In 2004 I was still working full-time while running my part-time business as a Marketing & Business Development Consultant.

After going to school for Corporation Communications and taking a variety of Business Development courses I specialized in helping others start and build successful businesses. I also specialized in Communications, Marketing, and Corporate Training. All while simultaneously building my career from the ground up in Community Development.

I remember around that time one of the clients asked me to do a strategic plan for their new company. We were drafting financial projections and the client thought my targets were ambitious, I did not. I understood the strategies that would lead to achieving the success I confidently projected. The client asked me what my own financial goals were. At the time I was earning a modest salary as a Communications Manager at a NGO. I told him how much I wanted to earn a month and he almost fell off his chair. To me, that was my starter projection. To him, I was off my rocker.

After that conversation I quit my job and went full-time on my own. I never missed a pay cheque, and while I did have times that were tighter than others, it didn’t take me long to exceed the modest projection that cause my client to gasp. Also, to my client’s surprise, he too met and then exceeded the projections I set for him. Years later my client let me know that he was still using the ‘5 Year Strategy’ I created for him a decade ago. Never underestimate the power of confidence and a good plan!

I am not saying entrepreneurship is easy. I have had my ups and downs. What I am saying is that we are entirely capable of achieving the success we desire for ourselves. This is something that is totally within our power, and thus we should not allow anyone to comment on or lower our expectations for ourselves.

At the time when I told my client what I wanted to earn I was a single parent, living in housing, working a job which probably paid the most I ever earned but was still modest by comparison. It probably looked like the most insane decision to then quit the best thing that ever happened to me to go out on my own. However, in my heart I was finding my way, beating to my drum, adding value for people who trusted me to help them build their businesses, and making more money than I ever did in my little office.

That said, life is not all about money. The benefits that came with me going out on my own were far greater than financial rewards. I was able to walk my son to school, coach his basketball team, bring him to guitar lessons, be home when he returned from school, save him from a latch-key existence, and be there for all his important moments. This meant the world to me. This was priceless!

Looking back, I would have also prioritized my own health and wellness, my relationship with self, and balance more; but I was able to balance far better than I would have sitting in traffic two times a day.

You make your own reality. I have had several people in my life question my value while trying to extract that same value from me for their own use. I have had people say that I dream to big or set my sights too high. Honestly, my only error has been to let those people into my mind. Self-doubt is a dangerous disease that will erode God’s true gifts and the abundant potential we hold within.

My Boss Tip – Live your truth. Know Your Worth. Set your rate. Decide your own working conditions and standards. Stand firm in your convictions – and remember if you are out there looking for work and no one will hire you…hire yourself! I have helped a lot of people who were deemed ‘unemployable’ or who were laid off to re-invent themselves and improve their lives – shedding stigma and societal limitations by going it on their own. It didn’t work for everyone, but for the people who had an authentic idea that they were passionate about, a willingness to learn and fail and then learn again and grow, and for the people that would not give up or let anyone tell them that they ‘can’t’…those people far surpassed the mid-wage workers who refused to hire them. The only person who has the right to decide your value is YOU!!!

The next time someone doubts you just hold your head high, remember that God gave you gifts no one else has, that you have your own special purpose in life, and that that person was not invited to the meeting about your gifts so how could they possibly know. You have the insight. You focus on you. Grow your unique gift, set your price, and thrive past it – you got this!

xoxo Jessica Tha Goddess

To receive other inspiring content please join YevOne’s mailing list. We are working to build a community of likeminded people who are committed to improving themselves and their lives one step at a time. Back Yourself and join YevOne today.