Call 1-818-572-2910 as Bernadette is taking your Career, Biz and Life questions!

Hello and welcome to Shedding the Bitch Radio, where you can discuss, debate, and get advice on how to discover and shed the bitches of fear, insecurity, self-doubt, and negative mindsets so you can realize your dreams and life purpose and create and accelerate the riches you want in life. Join us here live every Tuesday at noon Eastern and dialogue with us at 818-572-2910. You can also chat with us at blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch or share your stories on our website at sheddingthebitch.com. Whatever the bitch is that's holding you back from living your life to the fullest, it's not worth giving up the riches in life that you deserve. So call in now and let Bernadette Boas know what's holding you back. 818-572-2910. Good day, good day, good day everyone! Welcome to April! How about that? Oh my gosh, we're like 3 full months into the new year. Life has to slow down. I have a lot to do. It just needs to slow down. I hope spring came to you in a beautiful, fun, loving way. I don't know if you were watching the news and saw what went on in Atlanta. It wasn't a very good April Fool's joke if someone was playing all of us on it. On Friday evening, right around, right before rush hour, We had a massive explosion right underneath one of our major highways that fortunately, it took kind of 45 minutes to an hour to really take hold because in about an hour time, the actual highway, and I'm talking Atlanta, we have 5-lane, one-directional highways, so 10 lanes both ways, and it took out one major side of our highway. Which fortunately, and thank you to all the first responders and to all of those in Atlanta that ran to the scene to help, there wasn't one incident, one injury, one death. And if you can only imagine, not only this major explosion going on underneath the highway,, but then the whole highway collapsing, and they were able to get everyone out safely before that happened. So kudos to everyone. Thank you very much. Thank you to all of you who reached out to me on Facebook, uh, in regards to just making sure that I was safe and sound. Um, fortunately, I stay close to home, although it's only about 2 miles from my house.. But fortunately, I don't have to jump on the highway too often. But that said, I did yesterday, and yet they have done a great job in, you know, managing and kind of rerouting traffic, because they have 300,000 people that go up and down that stretch every single day. So just imagine what it did to our neighborhoods and what it did to our kind of smaller major thoroughfares. So we're dealing with it. We're dealing with it. And it really comes to show just what we need to do when we are faced with struggles and challenges and things that are just purely out of our control. And so I just will shout out to all the Alannans, stay patient, stay calm, understand that they're working their little tushies off to get this highway back up and running., and the best thing that we can all do is just support each other as much as we are trying to get from one place to another. I'll just throw it out there though, I'm just not sure any of us has such important lives that we have to risk other lives by cutting people off, by road rage, by just getting kind of all amped up and angst up and causing some issues out on the roadway. So deep breath, everybody. It is spring, and today is our Ask Bernadette episode, which is your opportunity once a month right here on Shedding the Bits Radio to come and get your burning questions answered. If you're dealing with something, if you're just not sure of something, if you just need a little bit of expertise or a lot of it, whether it's about your job, maybe a boss issue, maybe a teammate issue, maybe your business, maybe your relationships. You know, right here on Shedding the Bitch, it's all around helping you to shed all the things, all the life issues, the challenges, the things you face each and every day, so it doesn't cause you the bitches of fear, insecurity, doubt, negativity, and all that kind of good stuff. So we want you to post your questions, stories, or challenges. You can put them out on Facebook, you can put them out on Twitter, send them into LinkedIn, you can email me directly at BernadetteBoas@SheddingTheBitch.com, and we will get them addressed immediately upon receiving them, but at the same time, we'll bring them right here, and we can even do it anonymously, 'cause a number of you ask, and a lot of you ask, about that, and we will then at least get you the information that you need and share it with everyone else that might be dealing with the same issue. All right? So that's the first Tuesday of every month, and you could be sending your questions in all month long, and then I'll respond to them and then bring them right here on the following Ask Bernadette episode and drill into them even that much further. And you have an opportunity even live right now if you're listening to the program and you have a burning question yourself, you can always always call 1-818-572-2910 and reach me directly. Deborah Parker of Parker House Virtual Services is online. She's our social media guru, and she's out there, and if there's anything that she sees come across, she's going to make sure that I'm aware of it. And I'm too on the studio board, so I'll be able to see if any of you chat in and/or are sitting in our queue and want to have a conversation. All right? So don't hesitate. Let's see, what else? It is Equal Pay Day, ladies and gentlemen, and so I'm going to throw out a question to you because we always give you a rich question every episode to kind of contemplate as you're hearing the discussion. Now, today we don't have an expert other than myself, yours truly, but at the same time, think about this question because I'm actually going to address it based on something I saw on LinkedIn that came to me. But what can you be doing?— as a female or a male, what could you be doing to close this pay gap and kind of stop the conversation? I mean, we're all human, we're all equals, and we deserve to be treated and to be paid and to be hired into and to be advanced, blah, blah, blah, equally. And we deserve that equal pay for equal work. So what is that one thing that you could be doing? And again, like I mentioned, I'm going to address that question later on in the show, and you could be thinking about it now, and then maybe I could provoke some ideas for you, because I— every one of us, male, female, older, younger, in the workplace, not there yet, entrepreneurs or corporate, we all have a role to play in making sure that we're all treated as equals and that we're all earning what we deserve based on our— based on our skill and our contributions. All right, let's see what else. We have some great guests lined up for April. I've been promising you that. Last month was a lot of conversations about some specific business skills that especially women, they don't necessarily focus on. We talked about negotiation with Ed Burdough. We talked about decision-making with Gleb Sapirsky. We talked about selling. We talked about marketing. And this month we have another lineup of great guests. We have Sylvia Lafair, who's going to talk to us about what we need to do to leave the junk from our lives out of the workplace so we could be as productive and as present and as effective as we need to be in our jobs and in our businesses. And then we're going to talk to Kathy Bass. Kathy is a longtime friend of mine, and she has just spent— like myself, the last couple of years she's spent working on a movie, educational, entertaining type of piece of media all around the journey of the entrepreneur and the struggles and the triumphs entrepreneurs have. So we're going to talk to her all about that, and she's going to provide you some tips and advice based on her own journey, but those of— also those from the interviews— I can't talk today— the interviews that she did for her film. So you're going to want to tune in for that. And then we're going to talk to Abby Vega, and she is another longtime friend and colleague and peer and entrepreneur/corporate ex. Who has dealt with struggles of her own, and she really is raw and upfront about the fact that she has it all. If you look at her, you would say to yourself, what issues would this woman have? And yet, don't judge a book by its cover, she has her own struggles and she puts them into her own book, and she's gonna bring them right here to Shading the Bitch Radio and share those with you, because the one thing I always want you to understand is we're all in this together and we can all relate to each other's stories. It may not look and feel the same way, but I have yet to hear of a struggle or a situation, good or bad, successful or not so, that each one of us can't learn from. So a great lineup of some women and some guests this month. So be sure to go out to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch and be sure to follow the program so you get all the updates and all the information regarding the shows. All right, let's see what else. I want to make sure I'm set up on the studio ready to take your questions, and we will be— okay, we're going to be good. So also Facebook and Twitter, Shed the Bits. We make it easy for you to find the community that then you can engage with. And if you want something more exclusive, more private, more safe, if you feel that you don't want to necessarily put it out in the world in Facebook or Twitter, then we also have our Facebook Shift to Riches private group. You have to ask to be joined, and we will make sure that we see that and add you to that private group, because then you certainly can get in there and discussion with any of the members that are in the Shift to Riches community. All right, all right, we're going to take a break. I'm going to take the breath, and we're going to come back and dive into these questions that you have regarding your career, business, and life, and what you can be doing right now and how I can help in regards to helping you shift from bitch to rich. We'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business, available on Amazon ShuttingTheBitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors TSR Consulting, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to TSRConsulting.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium size businesses. Email Deborah Parker at deborahparker78@gmail.com. @gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at mediarelations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everyone. If you're just tuning in, I mentioned this is Ask Bernadette episode. This is your opportunity to ask the burning questions you might have about your job, about your boss, about maybe, you know, starting a business, growing your business. Maybe it's about marketing or how to sell, how to pitch. Maybe it's about a relationship in your life or a conflict that you're having or something. We want you to get the answers to your questions. Now, I should have mentioned upfront as well, should I not be the expert, and I will not answer a question if I don't feel that I'm going to do you justice. So if I cannot, then you know I have a broad experience expansive network. And I might just suggest on this program that I can't answer that, but I want to get you in and hook you into an expert within my Rolodex. So I make that commitment to you because I won't want to respond to a question that I just don't feel will give you justice to that question. But I definitely have— you name it, I got it. Expansive network of experts that I can hook up to you in order to get that question answered and then share it with our community. All right? So our first question is all around— I love this— all around new bosses. And what I mean by that is this gentleman has a situation that he came to me with. It has to do with he is at a VP level. He has a senior vice president. Who recently got introduced not only to his team, so now he's working for this new individual, but also to the company. And therefore, there's this kind of blind naivete that this boss has on basically how things have been done over time. So the, the premise of his issue is this boss kind of came into a multi-day meeting and kind of wasn't thrilled with how the meeting was going and how the agenda was laid out and kind of the facilitation of the meeting and attempted to influence it and change it. And actually, the word I should be using is impact it. In the middle of the meeting and kind of in front of everyone. Now, you know, I just, as he was explaining this to me, I just kind of replayed a number of situations in my past life where I certainly can relate to this question, not only being kind of the party to that new boss coming in, but also being that new boss that came in and tried to kind of push, force myself, my authority, my influence, my power in a situation prematurely. And I'll use that word, prematurely. So he just basically wanted to ask and actually get confirmation as to whether or not how he handled it was the appropriate way. So what did he do? He pulled her aside at a break and basically kind of raised the point to her that this is the way it's always been done. Not to say that's right or wrong, but it is, and we're halfway through it. You know, would she be okay if she kind of sat back, observed, and then they can have a conversation afterwards? She wasn't thrilled— or I'm sorry, he wasn't thrilled with that response. However, at the same time, he kind of recognized that his employee, his leader, his VP needed that and kind of agreed with it. So the meeting went on. Afterwards, he waited for him to come and kind of have this brainstorming session afterwards about how the meeting went and where he agreed or disagreed with the process and allow his new boss to then kind of insert his new direction or his new approach and recommendations. And all of that sounds great. All of that sounds great except for one word in that whole explanation, and that is he waited for his boss to come to him. Everything else I thought he handled just fine, and yet I had to say to him, why would you wait, as opposed to why wouldn't you sit down, document, knowing that he already had some doubts and some concerns about how the meeting went. Why would you not, or have you considered documenting kind of what worked, what didn't work, what are your recommendations, for changes and what next steps would you take in order to do that, to make those changes? So, what you need to think about, leaders, managers, maybe you're new to the business world, is anyone that you're reporting to, they're looking to you for thought leadership. They're looking for you to lead. They're looking for you to take initiative. They're looking for you to be proactive. They're looking for you to insert your ideas and impressions and suggestions for change. You don't need and shouldn't need to wait for your boss to do that for you or to suggest that to you. So I thought he handled everything appropriately, but I would have extended that input, that response that he had. To make sure that he was being the one who was proactive in making suggestions and acknowledging what was working and what wasn't working. And I should add, never should you hang on a statement of, or a philosophy of, this is the way it's always been done. Because if that were me, that would be the first thing that caused me to say something needs to change. If it's something that's been in place for a long time, the team dynamic has changed over the last 5 years, let alone the last decade or longer. So that would have been a first clue that prior to this boss even coming in, probably things needed to be looked at and needed to be considered for change. And this was the perfect opportunity to do that. So that would be my suggestion is approach it confront it, ask for respect in letting you finish it out and see it through completion. At the same time, then I would definitely make sure you, along with your boss, was looking at it from a post-execution perspective and looking at what worked, what didn't work, what could be different, what could be changed, and what would next steps be. And that, I think, would have put a nice ribbon around that whole interaction. Now I will add, as an additional note, is he was right and he had a place to be frustrated by his boss coming in and inserting himself into the meeting. That said, him approaching it and acknowledging it and confronting the boss with it That was all fine and good. Should that boss then afterwards want to change up the whole thing despite that it's the way it's been done all along, and that individual, that VP, raised his concerns, raised his difference of opinion, raised his suggestions, raised his ideas, but his new boss never took those into consideration and then kind of just formulated his own his own change, well, then it's up to that VP to either get in line with it or then make a decision or make a choice to do or go somewhere different. But that new boss, they will have obviously the say in what and how things transpire. However, as any employee, let alone a manager or a leader, It's up to you also to voice your leadership, voice your ideas and your opinions. That's what your bosses are looking for. All right? Okay, let's see. I am going to take a look at the next question, but in the meantime, we're going to take a brief break, and when we get back, we're going to be talking about IP and how do you protect your ideas. Whether you're an entrepreneur, maybe you're a solopreneur, or in the corporate workplace. This next question is all about how to protect your IP. We'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business, available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors, TSR Consulting, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate-sized clients. Go to TSRConsulting.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium-sized businesses. Email Deborah Parker at deborahparker78@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at mediarelations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday Tuesday at noon Eastern Time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everyone. Alright, our next question It's all around writing, and it's all around intellectual property, copyright, those kind of things. But let me kind of simplify it. So the question is, as a creative, as a writer, this individual, this woman has an idea for a television show, and she's kind of drafted out her notes and whatnot and has put it into a form of a treatment. Which is basically an outline used to pitch a television show, and it can even be used for a film. And a producer is very interested in it and would like her to send him the treatment other than what they've discussed in person or on the phone, and she hasn't left anything behind with him just yet. And though she's asked him to sign an NDA, he's— refused to. He just says that's not necessary. And she's questioning whether or not she should be sending him kind of her intellectual property, her idea, her concept, and not fear it being stolen, and not feel as— fear as if he'll just kind of run with it and never kind of acknowledge that it was her idea. This is such a tough area of law, and I'm not going to speak to the law side of things. That's what lawyers are for. I'm going to come at this from a writer myself, and because of the fact that I'm a writer/coach, I get this question a lot. I get people who will reach out to me for my own opinion, and that's what it is in this case. It's my own opinion, my own advice. As far as Anything that you create, I'll start with this, anything that you create, you certainly want to kind of copyright and get it acknowledged by whatever the appropriate forum is. So when it comes to entertainment, when it comes to media, you can certainly submit things and get them registered with the Writers Guild Association, for instance, WGA. There's different regions, West Coast, East Coast, wherever you're located. So I did kind of propose to her making sure that she at least does that. Now you can take it one step further and you can submit it to the Copyright Office and make sure that it's copywritten, copyright acknowledged through the Copyright Office. And again, I personally, also a little bit suspicious, a little bit paranoid, will spend the $35 or whatever the case might be and get it also submitted over there. When it comes to nondisclosures, which I even walked around when I first started getting people interested, even prior to writing my script, after I wrote my book and before I wrote my script, people were interested in it, would go out to LA, talk to them, go up to New York to the Book Expo, Boas talked to them, no one would sign an NDA. And they just said it's just not what they do. And simply because of the fact that they claim that someone's idea cannot be copywritten, that it's probably somewhere in their stack of ideas, scripts, treatments, whatever the case might be. There's probably a form of that. Therefore, they won't, you know, agree to not kind of leverage a form or an aspect of that idea because it's probably come up somewhere before. So NDAs just are impossible to get anybody to sign. So what I mentioned to her is what I was even advised as I have continued to go through this process, and that is just make sure it is— kind of acknowledge that it's registered with WGA, Writers Guild Association, that it is copywritten. And after that, you just have to trust the world, and in this case, trust this individual that they are on the up and up. And that brings me to my second big point is it's up to you to do due diligence on anyone that you share your idea with, whether that's formalized on a piece of paper or that's even mouthing it. They will tell you a lot within industry, not any particular industry, but in industry, that you just don't necessarily go around and verbalize your ideas, especially if they're at a very early stage. And they are very generic to where somebody else could have pulled that idea out from a hat somewhere. So you do want to be conscious of who you're talking to, when you're talking to them, what stage of the process that you're in with whatever concept or idea or even tangible material that you might have. You do want to be a little bit cautious and smart and do the due diligence. Google the individual. Research them. Ask other people if they're familiar with them. See what work they've done. You know, you can go to IMDb, for those of you in the entertainment industry, you can go to IMDb, which is— don't ask me what that IMDb stands for. It's Industry and Something Database. But basically, it will share— it will tell you every producer, actor, director, business executive, anyone that might be involved with either writing or some degree of media who they are. And if they're not there, then definitely you need to dig a bit deeper because you should be able to find them. If they are publishers, if they are literary agents, there are directories and databases for basically everyone in those creative fields. So you should be able to find them if they are an active, legitimate individual, an entity, business entity. So it's up to you to do your homework to then add another layer of security and comfort as far as when you go to share your information. Now that said, I also mentioned to her that it wouldn't hurt her with social media nowadays. People pitch right online. People pitch through Twitter. People pitch through Facebook. People pitch through email. So you don't want to cut off your nose to spite your face as far as holding on so tightly to what you have that you don't get it in the hands of those that can actually take it forward for you. But just make sure that you have put the things in place in order to protect yourself and to feel more comfortable with what it is that you have. All right? But good luck, you know, being in that space and especially being at a stage that I'm at, which is very similar where I'm sending my script and putting it online and pitching it, the logline out there. I just had to let go of having that concern myself and just expect that people will be on the up and up and yet recognizing that not everyone is. So good luck to you. I'm so excited, and I want you to come back and tell me how it's going. All right, let's see. We're going to move right on to— because it's kind of in the entertainment space, but this is actually a question, again, it comes out of the fact that people are aware of my expertise, and they're aware of kind of what I do for a living, so they will all of a sudden ask me questions within those spaces, like writing, coaching, consulting, and in this case, it's public speaking. So the question was from a gentleman, was he— his company is asking him to start speaking in broader groups, in broader clients, in broader platforms to support the marketing and the branding of the company. And therefore, he's looking to ensure that when he does, that he is as polished and as compelling as possible. So what are those first steps? And yet then he kind of like 2.5 paragraphs down in this post to me, he then said, "I also have a little bit of stage fright, and so is there any kind of tips that you would have to just kind of overcome that and get better with that?" But his main emphasis of his question was really on what can he be doing to really enhance his storytelling, so to speak. So, let's start with the first one because, as you all know, and this question has come up before on our Ask Bernadette episodes, as you know, public speaking, if it's not first anymore, it's right behind death. But I think it's first, and then it's death, that people are afraid of public speaking. And I'll be honest with you, as outgoing and gregarious and as much of a speaker I am today, I was for a long time too. And it turned out, and so this is what I told him and I'll tell all of you, when it comes to your fear, your fear is not getting up in front of a large group of people. And talking. It really isn't. Your fear— excuse me, especially I'm videotaping, so you're going to see me picking at my nose because I have a hair stuck on it— but your fear is not getting up in front of a large group of people. Your fear is looking as if you don't know what you're talking about or making a fool of yourself or blacking out, blanking out as well. Your fear is really around your level and degree of expertise and/or experience. Let me explain what I mean by that. The first thing I would say is the way to get over your fear of public speaking, period, is just to speak. Just get yourself in front of crowds, small, large, family members, friends, companies, organizations, conferences, just speak. Trust me when I say one day you're just going to find yourself walking out on that stage or in that conference room or in a ballroom, and you're not even going to think twice about your nervousness. That said, there's people like Barbra Streisand who will acknowledge to you that until this day, you know, she's in the back of the stage kind of all worked up and all frantic about going out and performing in front of a large group of people. You're never— you know, it's going to be up to you as to that degree and as to how you handle it. But obviously, even for her, it doesn't stop her from doing it. That's just the body experience that she has working up to it. So you just want to speak. Speak to as many groups, as many organizations as possible, and you'll find that the actual physical movement of going onto a stage in front of a large group of people will not be the problem. Now, what will continue any kind of nervousness or anxiety or insecurity is whether or not you really own what it is you're speaking about. I learned this a number of years ago, about 5 years ago. I was up speaking in front of groups, but I was going through this whole feeling of red rashes on my chest and my mouth drying. It didn't stop me, but I just wanted to get rid of that angst. And what I learned, what I realized, was that it was because I really wasn't bought in and sold, and I didn't feel passionate about the subject matter that I was speaking on. So it's very much like an actor, you know, you'll talk to them and they'll say, well, Until they really can embody that character and really believe in what that character's challenge is and what their goal is, can they really put on a good performance. Well, I'll translate that into public speaking. Once you find the subject matter that you really feel passionate about, that really is kind of part of your soul, until then you will be anxious. You will be nervous. You might be apprehensive. You just are not comfortable and not secure in what it is that you're speaking on. Now, you might be an expert in something, and yet if you don't feel grounded in it, if you don't believe in it, if you feel disconnected, not congruent with it, then it's just going to come off as if you're just spewing words and not necessarily sharing a story or educating or training someone., and you'll have that anxiety. But once you do, and it takes you working through your messaging, you working through your story that you're telling, you working through the content that you might be training on or workshopping on, then you'll, as you work it and as you practice it, then you'll find that the anxiety goes away, and you'll find the nervousness to go away. Until then though, be okay with it. Just focus more on you wanting to feel good about the content, about the belief system that you have around that content. So that one time I was mentioning 5 years ago, I was up and I was talking about business planning, how to write a business plan. And I kind of all of a sudden realized that it really wasn't about the how-to of a business plan that I got excited about. And so I was kind of all still very nervous and still very anxious and my mouth was dry. And then someone asked me a question. And they asked me a question about goal setting. And they asked me a question about how I go about doing that. And then that went on to and led into me talking about my journaling. Well, all of a sudden, and I can still feel that transformation today as I'm even sharing this story with you. All of a sudden I recognized that I was connected. I love setting goals. You all know that if you've even listened to one of my programs. I love setting goals. I love having something to aspire to and to, you know, kind of work toward. And I love journaling, and I believe that you have to journal. So all of a sudden I'm, you know, my passion was evident and my excitement was evident about wanting to share that. With that audience that all of a sudden I just kind of— my whole body physically just relaxed and every anxiety that I had from that day on just kind of dissipated because I realized that I was speaking on subjects that really weren't in my heart and weren't in my core. And so I just totally switched kind of what I would go out and position myself around when it came to speaking. So that's what I would advise any of you out there, whether you're in corporate, you're on your own, maybe you've written a book, or maybe you have to do it as part of your job and you have to get up and speak. Recognize— don't focus on the nerves and the physical kind of response to public speaking. Focus on whether or not the content that you're speaking on is something that you can get passionate about. Because once you can get passionate about it, even if it is calculus, or even if it is something about science, or whatever it is that you might be, your world might revolve around, just make sure that you can kind of take ownership inside and out of that content, and everything around public speaking will dissipate for you. I promise. All right, and I asked that gentleman too, and I'm going to come back and share it with you. I asked him to share with me, he has an engagement, an interoffice engagement in the next several weeks. So that's why he was reaching out and asking me. And I'll share that back with you because I think it's important for you to not only kind of hear from me and the experts that we have on the program about their own transformations, but also new ones that you have participated in as a result of these Ask Bernadette episodes or maybe my Facebook private page where we have these discussions. So I hope that helps any of you thinking about wanting to take on some public speaking in your work or in your making a career out of it if that's what you choose to do.

All right.

All right, we're going to take a short break. When we come back, we're talking— what are we talking about? Oh, we're talking equal payday. Yes, we are. We'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch Rich in Life and Business, available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors: TSR Consulting, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to TSRConsulting.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistants and social media support for small to medium size businesses. Email deborahparkerhouse@parkerhouse.com DebraParker78@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at MediaRelations@SheddingTheBitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to BlogTalkRadio.com/SheddingTheBitchRadio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everyone, this is Ask Bernadette, the episode that really focuses on your questions, stories, and challenges that you might be having, whether that be in your career, your own business, or in life. And, uh, we address them here the first Tuesday of every month. So be sure to follow our program at Shedding the Bits Radio on BlogTalk, and you'll get all the information and updates in regards to our Ask Bernadette episode. And you can post your questions, stories, or challenges on Facebook or Twitter all month long. I'll make sure you get those responses and get that coaching that you're looking for immediately, but at the same time, we're going to take it right here on that first Tuesday of each month so we can drill into it a little deeper than you can in 140 characters on Twitter or on Facebook. All right? Okay. I told you at the top of the hour that I wanted to talk to you about equal pay because someone was asking me about it through LinkedIn. And today is Equal Pay Day, ladies, gentlemen. And so it's a day to really think about and consider your role and what you can be doing in order to kind of change the trajectory, hey, and even of just overall inclusion and equality for women in whatever they want to do. So the question that I really got was, Bernadette, what can I do? What part can I play? She happens to work in a large corporation. And yet at the same time, it impacts her as much as it impacts anyone else, whether it's in your own business. And quite honestly, whether it is about your daughters— men, ladies— your daughters, because what is it, you know, what are we teaching them? What are we telling them? What are we building them up for? If we can't even come together on recognizing the fact that women, when they contribute equally to men, they should not be making 79 cents on every dollar that men are making. They should be getting paid equally. So I have a lot of conversations as well with men when it comes to not only their role in trying to change this for women, but gosh, I mean, just when I think about men and their daughters, them being fathers, and yet they're also these individuals, you know, in companies that are making these decisions, these bad decisions about how they pay women versus men. So what can you do as individuals, male, female, old, young, in your own business, in your whether it's a company, a corporation that you're working for, or even if you're at home. Well, one is first have conversations with your girls, with your boys, about the equality of men and women, boys and girls, the fact that there is no difference between them. There's no difference between the races or the religions or anything else when it comes to human rights. That we all need to be treated equally. It starts at home, quite honestly. I have 6 brothers, 5 sisters, as you all know. My parents were from kind of the Depression era. They were much older parents. If there was a time where my father could have had a very traditional, old-school, out-of-date, antiquated belief system, around how women should be treated, how women should be paid, how women should be advanced, how women should be positioned, it would have been him. He would have certainly kind of been given a pass as far as having 6 girls who kind of just got into, into line behind the men. But that wasn't my father, and he certainly doesn't have 6 daughters at all that get in line. He has 6 very liberated, very— I won't use the word ambitious, but very creative, very innovative, very smart, very open women that really do fight for what is right and fight for them being treated equally in any area of life, in all areas of life. So I'm very fortunate. So what can you be doing? First, start at home and have conversations with your kids, boys or girls, about how each other should be treated, how others should be compensated, how others should be advanced. Then as you get into the workplace, and those of you who are in the workplace or have children, you should make sure your girls are asking for what it is that they deserve and what it is that they've earned the right to have. Now, I certainly don't support giving advancements or giving monies just because. I certainly support the fact that you should earn what you are skilled and what you are placed to do equally. So should someone go into the workplace and they're a girl going for a you know, up against a male. They should be treated the same. They should be, you know, kind of vanillaed, looked at for the skills and the talents that they're bringing to the table, and then be compensated for whatever that position holds. So you can make sure that you are either teaching your girls how to do that, or as women, you should be asking for what it is you feel you deserve. If you ask and you don't receive it, there's nothing to stop you from continuing to ask or to move on and look for those companies, look for those businesses that respect equal pay for equal work. And you take a stand by not just accepting it, but by kind of fighting it, by actually standing up to it, and by going out and seeking what it is that you want. And what it is that you believe you deserve to earn as a result of it. Too many of us, and I've been guilty of it in the past, too many of us just accept it. And that is really kind of what is also causing this slow progression to move that needle from 79 cents to, you know, 85 to then 90 to then 99 and then 100. We have to be responsible. For it as well. And like I said, if you don't get what you want, you can continue to ask and fight and look for where you might be able to find it. You can also engage others. You can also make sure that your companies, your human resource departments, your policies and procedures reflect equality. For jobs and for salaries and for advancements. And you should get involved in understanding what those policies and procedures are so it's not something that you're fighting against. Because when you join a company, you have an opportunity to really understand all of those aspects of that company and then make the decision whether or not you accept them or not. And too many of us, we take a job We don't really dig into kind of where is it we want to go and what does that mean and what does that look like and what do they have in place to support it. We simply accept the job and then worry about it later. Well, you have an opportunity to actually do all that homework up front and make the decision. And once you make the decision, it's your decision as to whether or not you're going to accept it or not. So what else can you be doing? You can kind of pull together a group. Form a mastermind, form a women's group that really kind of bring women and men on the subject of equality and diversity in the workplace together so then you can all be a voice for the other women and the organization as a whole. And maybe you can help influence change as a result of this group or mastermind that you've put together. And then men, you have a role here. Because it's not the women that are necessarily— I'm not saying that all women are writing policies to support each other. That's a whole different subject we could get into. But men, majority of the history is based on kind of the role that you've played in the policies that are set, in the boys' club, in the way companies are run and structured. And formulated. So you have an opportunity to get in the bandwagon of wanting to support women, wanting to support your girls, your daughters, and making sure that they have better rights and better situations and better positions to grow and go into as they expand in their own career and throughout their own life. There's a role for each of us to play. We just have to kind of find what resonates and then do our part to make sure that we're moving this needle. And if you can talk about it, great. If you can write about it, great. If you can formulate teams and organizations and associations around it, wonderful. If you can make sure you're mentoring and coaching other women, other girls, Fabulous. And if you can then also be educating and coaching boys and men in your life, even better. But we all do have a role to play if we want things to be different. So Equal Pay Day is April 4th, today, all day, and decide what you can and want to be doing around the whole subject. And we will see change as we move forward. All right. I hope that answered the question for you. Let's see, anything else? I'm looking online, looking in the studio. I want to thank everybody for joining us today. We have some great shows coming up, like I mentioned. We have Sylvia Lafair next week, who's going to be talking to us all around kind of leaving your junk at home. So to speak, and ensuring that the things that are impacting you in your home life are not brought into the office and creating even more havoc, not only for the people around you, but even for yourself. And what can you be doing to kind of minimize those struggles that you're having? Then we're going to talk to Kathy Bass about entrepreneurship and the struggles and the triumphs, and that's relatable whether you work in and you're an intrapreneur within the corporate world or you're in your own business. And then we're going to talk to Abby Vega about the SWEET formula of happiness. So I look forward to having you right back here next week, Tuesday at noon Eastern time for another episode of Shedding the Bitch Radio. Have a rich and prosperous week, everybody. Thanks. Thank you for listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. Join Bernadette every Tuesday at noon Eastern as she helps you shift your bitches to riches. And the dialogue is always going on at sheddingthebitch.com. See you next week.