I want to share the inspiring tale of a woman (I’ll call her Jane) who discovered the stunning power of women joining with other women to take their financial lives higher.
I’ve never met Jane. But recently, she emailed me to say a good friend started an Overcoming Underearning® Book Club, that she joined. The club of five women meet monthly, at 7:30 am for what they dubbed, “OU Power Breakfasts.”
They read a different financial book each month. I am proud to report the first was mine — Overcoming Underearning®. Next was On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance by Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar.
Jane shared: “We have assignments for our breakfasts, like writing our Contracts with Ourselves and our Wish Lists to share with the group. We also share our successes in the group in person and via email. We often include some variation of, “underearning is no longer an option!” in emails!
“I feel AMAZING afterwards. It gives me such a boost throughout the day, knowing that I have done something really great for myself and spent time with supportive, uplifting, inspiring friends before going to work.”
But the group gave Jane more than good feelings. It gave her guts.
“I have a job where I’ve done several extra assignments over the past few years,” she explained, “but have never gotten paid extra for them. I was initially told there was no extra compensation for them and I never asked again. I was happy for the exposure.”
After she turned in her latest extra assignment, however, her supervisor asked Jane to do more revisions. The request followed her first book club. Bolstered by the Power Breakfast, she refused to do more because she wasn’t getting compensated.
Guess what happened?
“My supervisor then said, ‘We can compensate you!’ and within a week all the email approvals had been done to process me getting paid.”
Like most people, she had just assumed a bad economy precluded any extra pay.
“In this climate of cost-cutting I initially did not think that this was going to be possible, but once I verbalized it, I realized how much work I had done and that I deserved to get paid and felt confident that I would. This was a turning point for me in terms of now getting compensated separately for the extra work I do within my company, outside of the responsibilities of my job.”
But the story doesn’t end there. Her credit card debt, once over $10,000, “is now under $1,000 and I am very close to paying it off altogether, and when I do, I’m going to have a party!”
There’s nothing more inspiring than being around women empowering other women. If you’ve had any successes with similar groups, I’d love to hear about them!!! Tell me about it in the comments below.
If you’re looking for support in your financial life, my online community, The Wealth Connection, might be just what you’re looking for. I’ll be opening to new members soon. Click here to add your name to the waitlist!
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