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Are you an entrepreneur? While the startup, paperwork, and hustle is never easy, often the hardest part is asking to be paid what we’re worth. My guest this week is Brandi Riley, and she’s tackling this issue head on. Brandi is a blogger at Mama Knows It All and founder of Courage To Earn, an online community for creative female entrepreneurs. Brandi is a thought-leader and powerhouse in the content-creation industry. She is using her knowledge, skills, and passion to inspire women to pursue their creative purpose and get paid for it. Join me as I talk with Brandi about going after your worth in both business and life.

3:31 –  Brandi 101

• Brandi started blogging when her daughter was almost a year old. She had no idea she could earn an income doing it, she was just looking for a way to get her feelings out.
• Once she joined a few Yahoo blog pages, she realized she could earn an income from blogging.
• After working for a number of years in social media, marketing, and freelance, the one thing that stood out in all of her experience was that women were not talking about money.
• Brandi started Courage to Earn as a challenge to digital content creators to help them figure out ways to earn more money. 
• Shortly after her mother-in-law passed away, Brandi realized her mother-in-law could have left her stressful, low-paying job to pursue her talents as a seamstress if she’d had someone to help her begin.

8:15 – The “How To”

• Courage To Earn is a place where women are empowered to learn. Brandi strives to help women with the emotions that are tied to asking to be paid what you’re worth.
• The Courage to Earn community holds women accountable to each other without the ugliness that can be associated with internet communities.
• Consistent transparency is a pillar of Courage To Earn. Not only does that mean that the community talks about opportunities, they share all the details that come with each opportunity.   
• Brandi also has a team of women supporting her to help make sure that the Courage to Earn community prioritizes collaboration over competition and abundance over scarcity.
• Being aware of our mindset helps us determine what’s for us and how we can celebrate both our own victories as well as the success of others.

14:47 – Recognizing Your Worth Is A Process

• While working a full-time job that was her passion, Brandi couldn’t afford to pay rent, bills, and childcare. While her boss gave her a raise after she asked for one, it was troubling that he didn’t understand why she needed it.
• Recognizing your worth is a process that doesn’t happen overnight. It became clear to Brandi through a series of events over time that she had to be the person looking out for financial health. 
• Even if we don’t get what we want, we can learn to ask for it regardless of what we think the result will be. It’s not always cut and dry, but we can also grow our negotiating skills over time.
• It’s more productive to understand why a certain issue makes us uncomfortable, rather than being upset by the person involved with the situation.
• You can still be upbeat and positive while asking for what you’re worth. Talk about what you think you want so that the you’ve presented an opening for your needs to be considered.
• Moving forward, Courage To Earn is focusing on global impact by creating opportunities for more women to find jobs, hiring more women for digital support positions, and holding more in-person meetups for women to cultivate their relationships. Ultimately, Courage to Earn will be a go-to resource for women to learn.

41:38 – Getting To Know Our Guest

Hear Brandi’s thoughts on recent trends, what song she’d choose as her theme song, her biggest pet peeve, and more. You’ll love hearing the details of what it means to Brandi to run a business with purpose.

Memorable Quotes:

• (19:28) “I realized I can be happy in my work, and still get paid what I’m worth.”
• (19:53) “They weren’t looking to just throw money at me because I was such a great person. That’s when it became clear to me that I had to be the person to look out for myself financially.”

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