Talking About Money Book Club: We Should All Be Millionaires, by Rachel Rogers
“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” ~Henry David Thoreau
Hello, Talking About Money Community, I’m sending sunny vibes your way. 🌞
In the latest edition of the Talking About Money Book Club, I want to discuss We Should All Be Millionaires, by Rachel Rogers. Shout out to my head shot photographer and new friend Kevin Thai for picking it for his own entrepreneurs’ book club (disclaimer: I read the book but didn’t attend the book club discussion, which I am aware is the reverse of what normally happens at book clubs).
While I am typically someone who willingly picks up and reads self-help books, and who gravitates towards self-help books focused on money (what else am I going to read?), I will admit that I needed to warm up to a book with “millionaire” in the title.
Why, you may ask, did that word make me shift in my seat?
Even after working in the field of financial capability for all these years, I still tend to gravitate towards frugality as my preferred mode of personal money management. I can give you loads of reasons why: I am the granddaughter of a farmer and “don’t throw away anything - you never know when you might need it” is carved into the bark of my family tree. I’m of Scottish ancestry, so thrifty is part of my DNA. I was raised by a mom who had her own share of workplace discrimination, so the fear of “that $1 in your hand might be the last one you ever earn” has a permanent residence in my brain.
Dear Community, please know that I continue to work on myself. I was open to the messages that Miss Rachel had for me. I did enjoy this book and her thesis that readers should focus their energy and hone their efforts on generating income. Here are three (of many) takeaways from the book:
1. Women who earn more income have more agency over their own lives, and in turn, have more power to create meaningful change for other women.
As a self-described frugalista, this was a message that I needed to hear. This passage rang true:
In 2018, only 1.7 percent of women-owned businesses made more than a million dollars in revenue. That’s insane. Imagine if 10 percent or 20 percent of women earned that much. The potential of women entrepreneurs to spur economic growth has not been fully realized. Imagine what the world would look like if thousands of femme bosses and businesses were hiring, donating, giving back, and creating products that support women and families.
You’ve got me there, Miss Rachel. Imagine a world where more money was in the hands of women. Imagine what fundraising would look like for your nonprofit, where more grant makers were women, and they had a better sense of your clients’ strengths and gifts and were willing to making grants in alignment with your values. Imagine if there were more women like MacKenzie Scott in the world, humbly and generously handing over part of their wealth to communities who knew exactly how to use it.
And consider your clients if there were more women-owned businesses in the world. Maybe more of your clients would work for them. They would receive the fair and just compensation that they deserve, like a living wage, predictable schedules, and paid time off. Heck, what if your clients were able to start their own businesses and become part of the millionaires that Rachel Rodgers wants to see?
2. Setting and maintaining boundaries “protect your time, your money, your effort, your labor, your love, your happiness, and your overall well-being.”
Friends, before I read this part of Rachel’s book, I thought that I had pretty good boundaries. I am not afraid to say “no” in many situations, and this is a skill where I have gained more aptitude as I have grown and evolved. What I realized when I read this part of the book was that as a professional working in the nonprofit sector, I still operate in a culture that does not have a good track record of respecting boundaries. You might feel this way too.
I’ve been in meetings with nonprofit (or government) colleagues where someone has more-or-less said, “If you truly believed in the mission, you would (lower your rates, work nights and weekends, etc.) in order to make this happen.” They go right at your values in order to coerce you into doing what they want you to do. Have you ever had someone say that to you?
In the moment, you might feel backed into a corner and that you must “go along to get along.” You might feel that you need to defend your values, and by doing what they say you will defend your commitment to the cause. While your colleague might have gotten what they wanted from you in the moment, in the long run this is not sustainable. You cannot perform your best work or be your best self when others are taking advantage of you.
When you do operate in accordance with your personal boundaries, you have more energy to put to good use, either at work, in your household, or with some initiative that you are invested in. When you have more energy, you can put it to use in earning more income, so that you needs are met and so that you can invest your time into making the world a better place. So yes, boundaries are important, and the stronger they are, the better for everyone.
3. When you charge more for your labor, everyone wins.
This third takeaway struck me, and it might stay with you too.
Being a consultant within the nonprofit sector, on more than one occasion I have heard a fellow consultant say, “I don’t want to charge too much for my service, because I want more people to be able to work with me.” They might think that their potential customers can only afford so much, and they don’t want to leave anyone behind. Similarly, I have witnessed aspiring small business owners already devising sliding scale pricing – before they have even hung out their shingle! – because they don’t want to have to turn any customer away.
But charging too little for your labor (and this includes those of you who work for employers, too) hurts more than just you. When you earn too little, it puts a strain on your entire life. You might need to pick up a second job to make ends meet. You might work long hours for the same pay, and then have to scrimp and save within your household to support your already-frugal lifestyle. You might miss out in spending more time with the people that you love. And when you are broke, tired, and worn out, you are unable to donate your time, money, and energy into making the world a better place.
Conversely, when you are paid handsomely for your talents and skills, there is so much more that you can do. You can contract with household professionals (and pay them fairly) for providing their top-notch service around your house. You can hire emerging professionals and give them a great first job. You can serve on a board and contribute your wisdom to an organization that can benefit from what you have to offer. As Rachel says,
Making money and making the world a better place are not mutually exclusive.
These were just three of the many lessons that I learned from Rachel Rodgers in We Should All Be Millionaires. While I admit that it would be hard for me to completely depart from my frugalista ways, I do have a newfound appreciation for the enhanced pursuit of higher income, not just for myself, but for all women. Because when women have more money, everyone wins.
