RICHtip Tuesday on Shedding the Bitch Radio

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 angst, attitude, 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 sheddingthebitch.com. Whatever the bitch is that's holding you back from living your life to your 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. And yes, you are indeed listening to Bernadette Boas on Shedding the Bitch Radio. How are you? I hope you're doing well. Um, we are here in Atlanta, Georgia, and fortunately got through a night of pretty heavy storms. Uh, yet they don't seem to have been as, as severe as they were expecting them to be. So that was a beautiful thing. But I do want to send out a quick, uh, shout out and thoughts and prayers to all of those along like the Midwest coming east that definitely got brutally hit by the tornadoes and the storms. And many people have lost their lives, lost their homes, lost, you know, all their possessions. And yet at the same time, thank God they haven't lost their hope and their prayers and their faith. And all I want to do is to let you know that the Hall Shed and the Bitch community and myself have you in our prayers. And we'll be thinking about you because the storms aren't over. And unfortunately, tornado season is just kicking off. So I just wanted to make sure we got that shout out to all of you who aren't, aren't obviously listening to this just yet, but at the same time, just know and feel the energy of all of our prayers coming your way. But it is now somewhat of a lovely day, though as the evening progresses, I guess it's it's going to get bad again. So just everyone stay safe. Everyone just kind of have a plan. Actually, I sat around last night just figuring out exactly what I would do because they were expecting some pretty severe tornado, uh, activity even here in Atlanta. And I'm somewhat downtown, which rarely gets hit, but yet again, several years ago we did and it did quite a bit of damage. So, uh, no, none of us take it for granted any longer. But anyway, changing the tune of all this, you know, lovely stuff, today is Rich Tip Tuesday on Shedding the Bitch Radio. So I am posing back to you the questions, the challenges, and the stories that you put out onto Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn, maybe you sent them to me directly, all through the month of April. And as we do each and every Last Tuesday of the month, we then take all of those questions, stories, and challenges, bring them right here onto Shedding the Bitch Radio, and provide kind of a deeper dive into your questions because you can't necessarily do that on a Facebook post or obviously a 140-character Twitter post. So, that's what we do, but at the same time, we're taking new questions, stories, and challenges. So, we started being live out on Facebook. So I am out as we speak, and I'll be checking throughout the program for any comments or questions that you want to share. And maybe you don't have an opportunity to get online or to call in 1-818-572-2910, but you definitely have something that you would like to get some free advice, tips, and sometimes some tough love around. All right, so— excuse me, I'm just gonna— Now what we also do, and what I'm currently doing— oh, excuse me— is videotaping these. So what we'll do is you'll kind of notice some transitions from one question to another, because what I'd like to do is I like to create little, like, 2 to 4 minute videos of your questions with the answers, the tips, and the advice, in order for you then to kind of get a better idea, or you can download it at any particular time in the future for you to look at that one particular question, story, or challenge, because maybe you relate to it. Maybe it is— it's a situation that you're having. And you can always go out onto our YouTube Shedding the Bitch channel and find all of our past Rich Tip videos that we've also done. And I am going to pray to God that this little hack doesn't continue. So before we dive into all of that, I want to also just kind of keep you up to date on a few things. We are headed into Mother's Day, at least Mother's Day, couple weeks, but we can never, we can never spend enough time kind of cherishing our mothers. And as you all know who have been listening to the program for a while, over the last 3 or 4 years, I take the show on the road and because each week during Mother's Day I actually travel with my sisters and my mother and go to the beach and kinda hang out there. And what we'll do is we'll broadcast right from there as well as video right from there and include my sisters and my niece actually, and my mother. Many of you may know this time last year I lost my mom, so last year was a blur, quite honestly. I'm not even sure if I broadcasted or not, or if I used a a replay because it wasn't an easy— it wasn't an easy beach trip, as much as I would have loved it to have been. It wasn't an easy one, and therefore I'm gonna make that up not only to all of you, but also to my sisters and my niece and to myself, because I made that week a pretty stressful week, not only for myself but for other people, because my head just wasn't there, my heart wasn't there, it was elsewhere. So we'll be broadcasting live this time next week, and we're going to be honoring mothers. And so the whole program is going to be about you having an opportunity to do a shout out to your mom. Maybe you have a question for her, maybe you have a challenge with your own mother, maybe you're a mom and you're having some, some challenges. I have 5 beautiful sisters and a niece, and a second one is also— a second niece is going to be joining us. I don't think she'll be there for the whole time. But so there's a lot of wealth of information from a lot of moms that will be in that one room. So feel free to join in with us right here on Shining the Bitch Radio and call into us just like you can today to 1-818-572-2910 and kind of share Mom's Day with us. I absolutely love doing this particular program and love involving them as well as you. And again, like I said, I'm not a mother myself, although I feel like I am to all of you sometimes. Not, not motherly, but just you're my, you're my community. I have tons of nieces and nephews and I have friends' kids and of course my own four-legged best friend Charlie who's chomping away at a bone right now. So, so, you know, I definitely appreciate motherhood and yet at the same time revere all of you that are mothers because that is not an easy job. But anyway, so that's this time next week. Of course it's Tuesday, which means Friday is Rich Tip Friday again on Facebook. So go to our Shedding the Bitch Facebook page, pose your questions, stories, and challenges all throughout the week. I will address them each Friday all throughout the day, or as many questions I get from you. And like I said, at the end of May now, we'll take your questions just like we are today and bring them right here onto Shedding the Bitch Radio. So go to Facebook, go to Twitter, LinkedIn, or send me an email if you want. Some people just are connected with me there as opposed to Facebook, but connect with me on Facebook. Even subscribe, be sure to subscribe to our Shedding the Bitch radio channel on BlogTalkRadio, and that way you'll be kept up to date on all the programs that we have and the upcoming guests and all that kind of good stuff. Okay, so the last set of announcements, I want to do a shout out to a special friend, business colleague, and sponsor of the program, Leslie Kubin of FranNet. FranNet is a franchise consulting company. They hook you up with franchises. Now, this isn't a commercial, but at the same time, I, I want to do a shout out. I worked with Leslie back in 2008. She actually helped me find my first franchise that I had, my first business that I had bought. I've since then moved on and Ball of Fire Consulting and Shedding the Bitch is kind of my life now. But Leslie Kubin is one heck of a top-notch woman as well as a leader in her field of franchise consulting and with FranNet. So she was sweet enough and kind enough to share the latest article that I wrote. It was about what entrepreneurs can teach Corporate Pros about entrepreneurship, about innovation, about just what you need, what you should be doing in corporate that the entrepreneurs kind of have a, have a head up on. And she was sweet enough to share that on her blog this week, and therefore I shared it out on, out on Facebook, out on Twitter, out on LinkedIn, and I want to be sure that I'm sorry, I thought I had this prepared. I wanna be sure that I also make sure of where you can find it on her blog post. And Leslie's blog is LeslieKuban.com, and that's her Logic Does Not Apply blog site or blog. And she does great articles regarding business, regarding franchising, regarding being an entrepreneur, regarding just being a leader. As a whole, and therefore she provides some great tips and advice for you. So take a look at her blog, LeslieCuban.com, and she is part of FranNet, the organization who is one of our sponsors this week in our Leader Tips weekly newsletter as well as on Shedding the Bitch Radio. So I want to thank them very much, as well as Total Communications Coach Go to TotalCommunicationsCoach.com, you can learn more. At the same time, she is— Joan Curtis is an author, and I am very excited to be supporting her in launching her latest and greatest book. This time it's a mystery suspense book, and it's fabulous. It's called The Clock Strikes Midnight. So go to Facebook and like her there on her fan page, The Clock Strikes Midnight, and do a shout out to her as well. Lastly, TSR Tax. Though tax time is behind us, you might have been one of those people who put a postponement in or a delay, or maybe you just haven't finished. Therefore, TSRtax.com, Debbie Snelling and her team are great resources to use both from a personal and a business perspective. Plus, she's a great consultant around everything that, to do with tax and accounting and your business. So check that out as well. So Rich Tip Tuesday right here on Shedding the Bitch Radio. You can call in 1-818-572-2910 and provide me your question, story, or challenge. Talk to me personally, get some free advice. And it all always amazes me. I'm offering you my expertise. And I'm offering you some free advice and tough love from a woman, from a fellow professional, from a leader perspective, and I'm an entrepreneur, and a corporate perspective, from just surviving this one life that we have to live. So, take advantage of it. Pose your question out on Facebook, out on Twitter, out on LinkedIn, however you want to, or give us a call, and I would love to be able to provide you some some free advice, tips, and maybe, just maybe, some tough love. And I'm out on Facebook on the Shayna Bitch page, so if you have any questions that you want to pose, I'm gonna be watching that as well throughout the program. All right, so this is gonna be one of those transitions. This is simply so I can get the video properly situated for you as well. And we're gonna be addressing your, your Rich Tip questions for the rest of the program, okay? Alright, Rich Tip question from Shelly P. And this is in regards to— she is a stay-at-home mom with 2 kids, and what she would like to do is to learn a new skill, and graphic design is that skill that she wants to learn. So basically her question is, what options do I have to learn a new skill being a stay-at-home mom, though I have little money and time? I don't have any time to go back to school, and I have very little money to spend in regards to getting training. And this is what I shared with her, and you can always go to our Shading the Bitch Facebook page to actually see even the detail behind these tips. What I would recommend, Shelley, is First place I go, and I am a learning junkie, I know that there's a lot for me to learn when it comes to developing, growing, and managing a business, even managing my life. So the first place I go to is Google, and I simply say— in your case, I would simply say training as a graphic designer, free tips for graphic designers, free applications graphic designing, free resources for graphic designing. I would just put every keyword imaginable into Google because between YouTube and Google and Wikipedia and tons of coaches and consultants and experts out there wanting to share their own expertise and advice, they offer a ton of free resources. Free training, free workbooks, free downloads for you to be able to actually learn how to take on the, the skill of a graphic designer. All right, so that's probably the very first place I would go. I'd also go there because if you're not certain, if you're not convinced— and this applies to anything, anything, to anybody— if you're not convinced regarding a skill or training or a learning that you want to acquire, the first place to go is online and do research and see if it is something that you want to do. So therefore, even Google, uh, the day in the life of a graphic designer, the day in the life of a scuba diver, the day in the life of a corporate manager, whatever the case might be. That is the simplest way for you to kind of get an understanding as to what's involved in a particular job. What would you be doing on a day-in, day-out basis? And kind of learn first whether or not it's something that you and your personality and the way that you like to work, the way— the time that you get up in the morning, whether or not all of that would fit into that type of role. All right? So that's the first thing. The second rich tip I would provide you is beyond the training, then go and seek out other graphic designers. And see if there's any one of those that can provide you some complimentary coaching. Maybe you have currently a piece of knowledge or a service that you can provide them back in barter. So you can't afford to pay them, they can't afford to go out and get what— maybe whatever skill set that you have. Even if it's babysitting, say it's a, a guy or a girl graphic designer and they happen to have kids, you're a mom You need them, they need you, swap. All right, so I'm really big on bartering as well when it comes to learning or acquiring a skill or training or an application or a service or a product that you need. Okay, lastly, I would seek out internships. Now, I, you know, it doesn't matter. Don't look at internships as, well, it's free or it's not free. You know, this is going to be up to you. What are you willing to somewhat pay or not pay in order to get the training and the education, the skill set that you want? So you might just choose to find a business out there, especially if they're, you know, beyond the small, beyond the small into kind of they've been around for a couple years, they know that graphic design is an instrumental part of their business now and needs to be. And therefore they want to have someone on board, and they're willing to kind of compromise on your skill set. And either they have somebody already on board that you can shadow, or they can kind of go it with you, go along with you, and learn on the job with you, and are willing to do that because you're willing to do it for free. Maybe you're willing to do it for $5 an hour, something ridiculous. Whatever the case might be. But all you can do is ask and find out, and then even increase that to ask if someone would be willing to actually pay you to learn on the job. I'll never forget, I had an out-of-school young consultant come and work with me, and at first I resisted it, at first I fought it, and then we took it to the client, and the client was like, 'Absolutely not, I'm not paying for someone you know, and out of school, right out of school, never been in retail, never been consulted, um, consultant, never really have any, you know, real core experience. And I said, well, what if we don't charge you now, but in 6 months we evaluate it and then we go from there? And they said, absolutely. Well, this girl I knew was going to be top-notch in a very short period of time. So 6 months later, she worked for free for 6 months, 6 months months later, we were able to charge for her. So don't take that for— don't take that for granted, uh, that people and companies don't need your type of willingness to learn, your type of willingness to sacrifice maybe a decent salary in order for you to learn a new skill. All right, and then beyond that is going to get into paying for training, paying for, um, going back to school, maybe paying for applications that you learn, which is my next rich tip. Just do it on— do it for yourself. I tend to be a big DIY person. I do a lot myself before I go and invest in something. So there is a number of free graphic design applications out there, and if they're not free, they are pretty inexpensive before you get up to, you know, kind of the more, the more formal several hundred dollar applications. So start with the free ones, start with the very cheap ones, and learn how to do it yourself. And again, as you're learning the application, there's tons of resources on their own, you know, help desk, and/or you Google as you're working it and see what you could do. I would say about 70% of the graphics that I use, that I do, and that I have for my business, I've done myself. And I am not a graphic designer, I have no intention to be. For me, it was just easier that way. All right, so you have a kind of a ladder of opportunities. You can go and start Googling and learning it on your own. You can go and see if you can shadow or intern with someone. You can, you know, increase that to actually investing in education, or you can even just go about doing it yourself and learning through osmosis and through trial and error and through successes and failures. All right, so I hope, Shelley, that answered your question. And the Rich Tip for today being around what you can do to learn a new skill on little to no budget and little to no opportunity to go back to school. Alright, thanks everybody. So we're going to continue on with Rich Tip Tuesday right here on Shedding the Bitch Radio, but we're going to take just a little pause right now. And you are listening to Bernadette Boas. Call in with your questions, stories, or challenges: 1-818-572-1111. 2910, and/or post them on our Facebook page, Shedding the Bitch Facebook page, and I will be watching throughout the program and we'll take them as we go. And if not, then I have a whole notebook here of questions from this past month. Okay, so Charlie seems to want to say hello. Hey bud, how you doing? Okay, so Ridge Tip question from Penny T: What do I do when a boss throws a new project on my desk and I still have the one he gave me last week? What do I do, and which one should I work on first? Well, there's a number of things going on here, Penny, that you need to look at. The first is, what did you do the last time? How did you set that up with your boss as far as when he gave you an assignment, what did you then follow up with him on to get expectation or his expectations of when it needs to be done, what type of priority is it, what if an emergency came up? Because if that did not happen the last time, then you have an opportunity to start fresh on this particular project. Now it's even more important because you have two things from him that you need to kind of balance priorities and get expectations set so you don't underdeliver. The first thing I would do is go to him. Very simply, just go to him and kinda say, hey Joe, you gave me this project last week and now you're giving me this, this project. Which one is more important and which one has higher priority of it needing to be done. Now, a lot of times the immediate response, and the immediate response from someone like yourself or someone that is dealing with this issue, is going to be, oh well, they're going to say both of them are priorities and both of them have to be done immediately. Well, this is when you need to kind of be able to negotiate and, um, strategize with the individual, because that's not logical. You can't do two things at once. Multitasking is somewhat of a phenomenon because you can't work on two things at once. It's impossible. So you need to get him to, to prioritize and to provide you some deadlines and some risks that would allow you to understand when both of them need to be done. So say he does say, well, both of them need to be done by the end of the week. Okay, well, at least you know now what the priority and the deadline is. Now, the follow-up question I would say is, all right, well, if I have an emergency and I'm not able to do both of them by the end of the week, which one's more important? And that definitely elevates the priority for you. All right, it definitely provides the fact that there's a number one now and there's a number two. So should anything come up— and you're hoping that it doesn't— but should anything come up you know that the worst-case scenario is you need to get that number one thing done, okay? So you ask those questions, you now know there's a deadline and there's a priority, and then you can follow up and just say, you know, what risks or what issues or implications, you know, what can you expect that I might have with these projects? Again, to kind of filter out what might just come up and get in, in your way. What if your boss comes into my office? This is what you can be saying to him. What if your boss comes into my office and lays something on my desk? What do I do then? Now most likely he'll say, well, I hope you would come to me first before you do anything. But at the same time, you know that pressure. You know, the big boss is standing over your desk looking at you and saying, I need this done immediately. You also need to have the confidence and the security to say to the gentleman or the woman is to say, well, Joe gave me these two things, and what is, what is most important? So again, you're always kind of using everyone around you to set priorities, establish deadlines, expectations, and risks. So then you have a fair expectation as to what it is that you need to do. And if you're unsure, uncertain, or incapable of having that conversation, then there's a bigger problem that we're not going to deal with right now. Because you need to be able to have those conversations. Your boss needs to be able to be open to listening and having that conversation with you because you're just trying to do the best job for them. And no boss is going to set you up for failure, and you don't want them to. And if worst-case scenario, you need to say that to them. Look, I need this information. I understand how busy you are. However, you don't want me to fail in delivering these projects to you. You want them to be done on time. I just need 5 minutes of your, you know, your brain dump as to what the priority, the deadline, and the expectations are. And that would solve your problem immediately. But you have to do it immediately. You just can't take it on and not say anything because then they're going to assume, and you know, no one likes to assume, but they have the right to then expect that you're going to get it to them at your earliest convenience. Alright, alright, so for Penny, what to do when a boss throws multiple projects at you, and it basically comes down to prioritization and setting expectations and making sure you have that dialogue very proactively, very upfront, very collaborative— collaboratively with whoever it is that's giving you those assignments. All right, excuse me. So you're listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio. This is Bernadette Boas, and I'm taking your questions, stories, and challenges around business, career, life, whatever that you have been posting online, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, directly to me at BernadetteBoas@sheddingthebitch.com. And I'm drilling into them even further right here on our Shedding the Bitch Rich Tip Tuesday program, which is the last Tuesday of every month. So moving on, but you'll have to excuse me, let me— and keep in mind, we are videotaping this, so what I'll do is I'll take each of these rich tips individually and create individual videos that I'll throw up onto our Shannon the Bitch YouTube channel, and you can go and download them at any point to just get 3 to 4 minutes of a potential tip that might benefit you with whatever situation you might be dealing with or whatever question that you have.

All right?

So, if you sense a weird pause or transition, it's simply to be able to do to do that splicing without you having, like me, coughing or gagging or having one of those froggy throats on you. So bear with it, if you would. All right, you are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio. 1-818-572-2910 if you want to call in live. I am also on Facebook and watching as we go throughout the program in case you want to go right there and pose your question there. I would be more than happy to take them. And what I do is, because once in a while I've gotten somebody to actually throw it out on Twitter during the program and then questioned why I didn't address it. I only have one hand. Well, I have two, but you know what I mean. So I am predominantly focused on Facebook and our Shed in the Bitch radio studio channel and watching if any live callers want to call in and talk to me there. So, excuse me, so I will be looking on all the other social networks following the program and then would address them on Friday's show. And then of course then that rolls into next month's show, if that makes sense. Alright, okay, excuse me. Alright, so our Rich Tip question from Jerry T: When do I know to trademark a brand, logo, or a slogan that I'm using for my business? So Jerry, I am not a lawyer. And I would certainly reach out to a trademark and patent attorney to also kind of dive into this question. At the same time, from a business consultant, strategist, and a business owner herself, I can certainly provide you my guidance and my experience in regards to this. Alright, excuse me. When— if you feel that you have a brand, a logo, like a design, or a slogan that is going to be valuable in the marketplace, it's going to be valuable to possibly a competitor, it's going to be valuable to your business value, meaning the value of your business goes up if you have a piece of intellectual property, what they might call as IP or an asset, that kind of creates value in your business. So for instance, if you were to sell it or you were to acquire a partner, they look at that slogan, brand, or logo and they might see value in it. For instance, Google's logo is hugely valuable to their overall, their overall worth and business entity, just as Facebook is, just as certain slogans are for businesses, which I'm drawing a complete blank on right now. However, you have to determine from doing your research, going out and doing due diligence in the marketplace as to whether or not whatever it is that you have is valuable. So I'll give you a few for instances. I definitely picked up several years ago that even my book title, though you can't trademark a book title, Shedding the Corporate Bitch, even though that's not trademarkable, the fact that I was going to be turning it into a brand or an entity called Shedding the Bitch and it had a value of 78 to 80 other titles that I could slip into that brand, I immediately went and got it not only trademarked, which I'll tell you in a minute, but registered trademarked. Which means I have an R. Now, my slogan, Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business, I also have trademarked. I also trademarked just Shift to Riches because I use that as a brand for my programs. All right, make sense? So, if you find that there's a value and a worth because someone else's business might see a purpose you know, and a competitive advantage if they were to swoop your brand logo or slogan up, then certainly be sure to either get it copywritten, trademarked, or registered. Okay, now just from a non-professional, non-legal expert, all I would tell you is what I learned, and that was if at best make sure that you put the TM at the end of whatever it is that you're using. You can't use an R. It's illegal to use the R. That's, you know, official. That's legally binding, so forth and so on. But you can put the TM. Now do a search on when do you use the C, when you use the copyright, to see the differences there. I don't want to pretend I'm an expert there, but you can also be using a TM. So for instance, I have not formally registered the trademark for Ball of Fire Inc. or Ball of Fire or Ball of Fire Consulting, but I use the TM on all of them because it claims ownership. I can prove ownership should somebody else decide they want to start using that. And then they have what they call a poor man's copyright, and that is the first place— because that's what your lawyer is going to ask you— is give me the first evidential proof of when you started using this brand logo or slogan. And that's what they use to then process, you know, the binding registration. So, the poor man's copyright, as they call it, is when you actually, whatever it is that you're using or you've written up or your slogan, you put it on a piece of paper and you date it and sign it and you mail it to yourself and you never open up that piece of mail. You just kind of put it in your file. And then should anyone use it and come up and decide to use it somewhere in the future, you could pull it out and kind of have proof that you are actually the original owner of that slogan, logo, or brand. Alright, but please go to a professional and they're not gonna charge you to give you advice on kind of learning about the definitions. And again, Google. I mention that a lot. Google, you know, the definitions of each of these. And, but at the same time, get an expert to also provide you some guidance as well.

Alright?

So that's our Rich Tip in regards to Jerry's question around when should you trademark a brand, logo, or slogan. Alright, you are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio, and this is Bernadette Boas, and I'm taking your questions, stories, and challenges and digging deeper into them and providing you some tips, advice, and some tough love, maybe, and making sure that you have what you need to either solve that problem or pursue that question that you have or take that next step that you, that you might be stuck in. So if you have any of your own live, you can call into me at 1-818-572-2910 Or you can go live to our Facebook page, Shedding the Bitch Facebook page, and post it there. If I happen to miss you and it's after the show or it's out on Twitter or LinkedIn during the show, then I will make sure it's addressed on Friday and then on our next program. And I'll also make sure I send you a personal note referencing that I did receive it and that I will be addressing it. All right, excuse me. I know you shouldn't pause on, on the radio as opposed to the video that you might be watching. However, excuse me. So moving on, this is Rich Tip Tuesday, and I have a question from Christian that says, I face reluctance to people paying for my services. So, a little bit of some background. This is from Mosaic Hub. Christian posed this question and he was basically kind of providing us backstory that he wants to start a consulting practice coming out of corporate. He actually used the phrase, "I have a decent background in corporate consulting," and he now wants to go out on his own. And he wants to, you know, be paid for his consulting services, and yet he's coming up against reluctance to people paying for his services. What does he do? So here's some tough love, Christian, and this is how I responded to him as well, is one, when he used the phrase, um, I have somewhat or pretty good corporate consulting background. I basically slapped his hand verbally or online. I basically said, well, certainly that type of terminology, that type of communication, that type of belief in himself is not going to get people to pay what consultants are traditionally paid. He can certainly probably get something but it won't be what he's worth or valued. So one, he has to kind of change his belief system and his own translation of what his expertise and what his experience is because if he even starts conveying that online to even individuals, experts like myself, then that's setting an immediate perception to me. I certainly would question hiring him. And therefore, other companies, other businesses, other individuals may also hesitate or not even consider hiring him. Alright, so that's one important thing I need you all, all of you to understand is if you want to go out on your own and you have an expertise or you're going to learn that expertise and you have something to give, something to share, something to sell of value, then you need to believe in it and own it in order to then appropriately position it and get the value that you want. Again, he can certainly get something for what it is that he, that he has to offer, but it will be minuscule compared to if he truly believed that he's an expert, that he has a great deal of value and a great deal of expertise to give and to share. Then his value would go up. All right, he's going to be working really hard with the belief system he has currently. He has to get out of that belief system and really own what it is that he is an expert at, and then along with that, align the value and the pricing that he's asking. So beyond that, if he's receiving reluctance— and this goes to anyone in business, whether a business of your own or you're in corporate or working for for some other company and say you're not getting the sale, maybe you're in sales, you're not getting the next job or the next promotion or the next project and you're getting reluctance of any kind, it's because you are not communicating or demonstrating value. Period. End of story. Alright, and this is what I told Christian. Christian, people pay for consulting services. People pay a lot of money. Money for consulting services, alright? And therefore, you need to look at what it is that you're offering, how you're positioning and offering it, as we just previously said, and then what pricing are you at. Is it fair to market value? Is it fair to your worth? Is it fair to what you're gonna deliver, what you're gonna overdeliver to your customer? I have been very open and honest with individuals that I am not the least or maybe even the average consulting/coaching rate. I tend to be on the higher end. That's really because I believe and I know what I deliver and how I deliver and I overdeliver and I know the worth and the value of that not only to the individuals I'm working with but also to their company. So I price myself accordingly and value myself accordingly. So anyone reluctant to hiring you or paying you for your services is because they're not hearing, seeing, or believing in the value that you have to, you have to offer, and/or you haven't proved it. Maybe you've worked with someone, you didn't deliver, and now you're asking for another another gig with them, or you're now going on and moving on to another project, but you didn't even properly deliver the previous project. So your price is now being, being challenged. That it really means your value is being challenged. So forgo the, the excuse and the belief system of the fact that no one will pay. For your consulting services or for consulting services. They are paying for consulting services. Now you have to figure out why is it that they're resisting your consulting services or your prices. And if you can look at both of those things and really understand how you're delivering, what it is you're delivering, and what the value of that delivery is, then you can Price it and position it and communicate it appropriately and you will find the clients. Now, of course, you have to go out and find the clients, but that's a whole different question. Your question was really around reluctance from people to pay for consulting services, and I'm telling you there's no reluctance out there. Not that there isn't for all— for some companies, but companies are paying for consulting services. There's great value in engaging a third-party consultant. Consultant. And if you have what it is that they need and you're going to solve a problem that they have, then they will pay you for it. You just have to figure out what that is. Okay. All right. Thank you, Christian, for, for that Rich Tip question. And moving on, this is Rich Tip Tuesday on Shining the Bitch Radio, and I'm taking your questions, stories, and challenges and providing you some advice, tips, or in Christian's case some tough love regarding it, simply with the goal of allowing you to master whatever it is that you're struggling with, get unstuck, get realistic maybe, or just simply get some new learning and some new advice as to how to address a particular question, story, or challenge that you have. So that's what we do here at Shit and the Bitch, and that is so you can then go and create that rich life that you deserve. Okay, so you're listening to Bernadette Boas on Shedding the Bitch Radio. Feel free to call in 1-818-572-2910. Chat in with us as well. If you go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch, there's a whole chat function there that you can also chat with me, and I am watching that. And then of course there's Facebook, should you want to go to Facebook. And pose your question, story, or challenge there. Okay, so, alright, our next rich tip question. This rich tip question comes from Mallory, and she's asking about recommendations or reviews such as on LinkedIn. When is the appropriate time to ask someone to write a recommendation for you. And Mallory, very simply, the tip I would provide you is when you've delivered a service or you've over-delivered on a project or you've exceeded expectations for someone, whether it be on a job for your boss or for a special project that you were on or for for a team that you were working with, a promotion you received. Maybe you're working with external clients from your company and they have kind of given you accolades for the work that you've done for them. Maybe you sold something big that was unexpected. Maybe you are working for your, for yourself and in your own company and you've overdelivered for a client, for, on a product, so forth or so on. Even with a vendor, it could be with your coach, it could be in any aspect of, of your business, of your career, when you have achieved, accomplished, or overdelivered on something, and that person, you know, is extremely grateful and you have added value to their business career or their life. And at that point in time, you have all the right to go to them and say, "Hey Sally, would you mind writing a recommendation regarding the service, product, or work I did for you?" Alright? The challenge I find a lot of people have, especially women, as much as I hate to say this, but since since you are a woman, but especially women, is they don't even ask. You're asking when is the right time. At least you're asking, you know, and you're kind of just, you know, questioning if it's the right time to ask. But if you can overcome even asking, then you're one step ahead of everybody else. And trust me, because I've done it myself, if it's not the right time Or if it's not the right place in the project or the deliverable, maybe you're not even done yet and you're asking for a recommendation of your work, then they'll tell you. And/or their silence will tell you. I have often— I'll have people on LinkedIn reach out to me, I don't even know them, and they'll ask me for a recommendation. Not one of the endorsements LinkedIn has. I don't even respond to those either if I don't know you. But the recommendation, which means I have to sit down and I have to write a description of the work that you've done— how do I do that when you haven't even done any work for me? So, and the same goes with how can you— how can someone do that for you when you're not done the project? So, you know, Implicitly, you know when, when the right time is, and that is when you are completed, when you have done a really great job, when the other person has acknowledged that you've done a good job, you can simply turn around to them and say, hey, would you mind writing a recommendation for me? And write it on LinkedIn, write it on Mosaic Hub, write it out there for your website, whatever the case might be. So when you know that you have added value, you have done something over and above, when you have exceeded expectation is the right time to ask for a recommendation. The main tip that I would want to provide anyone and everyone listening to this is to ask. I can go out on any number of people's LinkedIn profiles and see very few recommendations, and yet this is a bonus tip for everybody. You are ranked in queries within LinkedIn. So when people are doing searches, say, for a systems engineer, you're only going to come up into that ranking, into that query, if you have certain things within your LinkedIn profile completed. And one of those things is recommendations. I think it's when you hit 12 recommendations is is when you kind of get to the next level of relevancy in queries. So if you've only had 2 right now, you're really not showing up if a company, a recruiter, a potential manager is looking for your type of expertise. You're not coming up because you're not up there in those rankings as a result of your lack of recommendations. So if anything, I love the fact that Mallory is asking about this because she's willing to go out and ask for those recommendations. She's just questioning the right time to do that. I want to challenge any and every one of you to just at least ask. And like I said, if it's not the right time, they will tell you. If it's not appropriate that you're asking this particular person, maybe at this particular time for a recommendation, they will tell you. And if they're not verbally telling you, their silence or their non-response to your request is telling you that it's the wrong time. So at least ask.

Okay?

Alright, Mallory, I hope that was helpful for you and for anyone else that has been questioning how to go about or when to go about asking for recommendations from people that you work with. The key is, is to be sure that you ask. Alright, alright, so that was our list of questions for this past, for this past 4 weeks. I didn't use all the questions, and you can go on to Facebook on our Shedding the Bitch page to kind of find out why, simply because some of them aren't translatable into a conversation like what we're having. So if you want to see all the questions that have been posed, go to any of the Fridays over the last 4 weeks and you'll see the questions. I didn't omit— I think I only omitted 2 of them.

Um, that's 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.