025. How to OWN Your Value and Why It’s Critical to Your Growth

Welcome. I am marketing expert and business coach Melissa Kellogg Lueck. And this is the Doing Business Like a Woman podcast where we are exploring and teaching you how women are reinventing the way business is done and money is made to help you create greater impact and financial freedom one business at a time. Well, hello, hello my friends, and welcome to the podcast. I am so glad you are here. You got me today. This is a solo episode and we are going to talk about owning your value and why it is critical to your growth. And I am so excited to get to talk to you about this today because I think this is one area that has, for me made all the difference in me really scaling my business. And it's also something I've struggled with for most of my career and my journey, I guess, as an entrepreneur. And it's something that I see most often in women that I talk to, clients that I work with. And it all stems from not owning our value and thinking that we are just a fill in the blank or just whatever it is. But when we really can own up to the immense value that we have the potential to offer and the change that we can make in the lives of our clients, in our communities, in our world, then everything changes. The way we think about ourselves, the way we design our business, create our products and services, the way we perform our work, it changes everything and it really helps us to make more money, but more importantly, create the impact and leave the legacy that we want and to really feel that purpose. So that's what I want to talk to you about today. So you know, this is a very big topic, I think, and so I want to just boil it down to you today and make it as simple as possible. I'm teaching it to you in a new way. I don't know, you may or may not have heard me talk about some of this stuff before, but I'm teaching it in a whole new way today that has come to me over the past few weeks and I really feel like I'm just kind of a conduit for this message. But also this message has been so transformational for me. So I hope that you can take this big topic and deep. It's really not that big, but I guess it's a deep topic and make it your own and really learn and just take it in a way that is simple and easy because it can be, and use it to really take yourself, your growth, your business to the next level. So that is my wish for you with this podcast episode today. And so why does it matter to own our value. And here's why. Because owning your value will help you show up from a much more valuable place, which helps you create more value and make more money. Because we know that value creates money. So when you are increasing your value, you will also increase your revenue. Part of increasing your value is owning the value that you already possess. And because the way we think about ourselves and the way we think about our business, that is what creates the energy that we show up with in the world. It's almost like an odor. An odor is something you can't see, but you can definitely sense it, smell it. Your thoughts about your value create that odor that you take out into the world or that energy that you take out into the world. I would ask you, what is the odor that you're taking out into the world? Right? What is the odor, the energy that you're showing up with? And if you think that you're not that valuable, or what you have to offer is just the same as everybody else, or, you know, not really that helpful and nobody really wants it that badly, then that's the odor that you take out into the world. And that is not going to create as great results as maybe that you would like to create. So also, without owning your value, you basically create a job for yourself. For those of us that are building our businesses, you can have a business and do work, but do you want that work to be meaningful? Do you want that work to be valuable? And it's kind of, for me, I think about it as the difference of having a job and that or actually having a mission. Right? And not that your work that you do has to be your mission in life, but the work that you do and the value that you create can be two different things and they can be the same thing. Right? So I'm kind of getting off on a tangent there, but what I want to say is that without owning your value, you're basically going through the motions of doing a job, which I often see is likely a sign of under earning, where you're not making enough money and overworking to make that small amount of money that you're making. Right? So your next question might be, how do I know if I'm not owning my value? Well, I would say most of us at all levels, right, the process of owning your value is kind of a step by step process. So I think we're all at some place in owning our value. Some of us own it more than others. And so I think we all have room at every level for improvement in Owning our value. But some of the great indicators of not owning your value are the following. You're not getting the results that you want in your business. And so, because as we know, if value creates money, then if you're not making the money that you want, you're not necessarily creating the value that you want to be creating. And part of that is owning the value that you already have. Okay, so how also can you know if you're not owning it? I would say that folks that aren't owning their value, to them, sales and marketing feels very heavy and hard and sleazy. Because if you don't understand and own your value, you feel really uncomfortable and icky about talking about the work that you do, right? Because you don't see its value in the world. Next, if you are changing your offers or feeling like something's wrong with the offer that you are putting out into the world, so you want to change it, like change the price or change the length or something to make it. You want to change something about your offer to make it easier to sell. That to me is a great indication that you're not owning your value. Because if you truly were owning and understanding your value and working on owning your value, you would know that changing your offer isn't going to make it more valuable. It's changing your thoughts about your offer that make it more valuable. Right. And so I would suggest that you think about, like, what are your predominant thoughts about yourself as a blank, whatever service you provide, Right? What are your predominant thoughts? And this is always such a great way to see if you're really owning up to your value. Because a lot of the thoughts that come out are like, well, you know, I'm not really very good at what I do. I could be better, you know, imposter syndrome type thoughts, like, I'm not as good as so and so, or I'm just starting out, I'm doing pretty good for being new. You know, thoughts like that. So. So that's always a great way to find out if you're owning your value. Also, you can ask yourself, how do I feel? What is my feeling about my ability? Like, when you think about your abilities as the service provider, whatever your services, whatever your business is, when you think about your abilities as that service provider, what are you feeling? Are you feeling kind of like inadequate, icky, not enough, uncomfortable, shy, things like that, then that is also a great indicator that you're not owning your value. So how will you know when you really are owning it? What does that mean? What does that look like. So when you really are owning your value, you are thinking and acting from a place of, how can I help my clients get what they want faster? Like, your focus is really on your service, your clients, your potential clients, rather than, how can I make more money now? Because I have to make more money now rather than from that place of scarcity, right? Owning your value and trusting in your. Your value and the. The immense contribution that you're making is such an abundant place, right? Like, it's. It's abundant. There's always enough there. You are enough. That's how you know you're owning it. You'll also be inspired from your why or your mission and from the change you want to make in the world. So it's very, like I just said with the. The point before, it's very, very much focused on the contribution that you're making, the change that you're making, the service that you're providing, the value that you're providing, right? Rather than focus on, where am I not enough? How am I an imposter? How much do I suck? Right? And so your money and your clients will come from the creation of value and the value that you're creating, not from lots of hustling. Like, yeah, you could go out and hustle and make money, but you'll not be making as much money as you could if you are really owning your value and you'll be hustling more than you have to. So you might be asking, how do I do this work? This is. This is the good part, because like I said to start out, we could. We can all do this work. And I actually, I do this work every day in some shape or form, and I'll talk more about that in a few minutes. But how can you do this work to really begin to own your value or go to that next step in owning your value and why. And why you want to do this work, right? Because. So step number one is I want you to define what is value for you. How does it apply to the work that you do? So, yeah, we could look up value in the dictionary, but how do you define value? And so this is work that I've done over the last, oh, gosh, going on a year, probably, and it's been so fascinating to really examine and ask myself, what is value? What does that mean? Like, why is a diamond valuable? Why is, you know, why do people pay hundreds of dollars to see Beyonce in concert? Like, what is the value that. Is that those that a diamond and Beyonce offer, right? That people Will exchange lots and lots of dollar bills for. And so just kind of explore that. It's really such a fun exploration. And then you can say, well, how does that apply to me? Right? How does it apply to the work that I do? The next step is understanding and accepting your value. So the, the first part of that, of this work, this is really the meat of the work, right? Is coming to a place of accepting first of all that you are 100% valuable and worthy as a human being, just as you are. When you were born, you were 100% value valuable and worthy of love, right? Just as you were. You didn't have to earn that. I mean, you probably earned it because you were so cute, but you didn't have to. Even if you weren't that cute, you are still like most of us were not cute when we were born. We had misshapen heads and were bald and, you know, all the fun things and. But yet you were, even at that moment, 100% valuable and 100% worthy just as you were. Is that tiny little baby. And this is the same for you now, right? It's not about this work is not about proving your worth or your value. It's about owning the value that you already have and then spreading it from a place of love, right? So what do you love? There's some other great questions to answer and to journal on. What do you love in regards to the work that you do? And this is how I discovered that I really wanted to be a coach because I had been doing, doing, doing, hustling, hustling, hustling, doing work, providing marketing services. And it was okay, but I didn't really love it. And so when I really examined and stopped to think, what do I really love to do? I really love coming alongside entrepreneurs, coming alongside women and walking on this journey with them to build a business to really own their value and see how precious they are and build a business and earn money from that place of love and acceptance and value. So you can ask yourself the same question. What do you love in regards to the work that you do? Maybe you don't actually love the work that you're doing, but maybe it's loving being around people or loving not being around people or loving that you can do it from anywhere or loving that you can raise your kids and be at home with them and have a business, right? So what do you love in regards to the work that you do? Next, I want you to ask yourself, who do you love serving and working with? That's part of Your value too, is that you really love the people that you're working with. And how do you love providing your service? That's part of the value that you offer. And what would you love to create in this world? Right? That's another great question. And what would you love to change in this world? And the. When you answer these questions, it's all clues. It reveals your unique value, right? It all comes together. So then step three in doing this work is to ask yourself, if you really owned your value, what would you think about your ability to provide your service? And when I ask this question, I think of a client of mine that is a virtual assistant. And this is work that I do with my clients. We do a lot of work on establishing value and really owning value and then, and then going out and communicating that value to grow revenue, right? So I was doing this work with a client that's a VA virtual assistant, and she thought her value. When we started working together, her value was in launching email campaigns and building landing pages and inbox management and project management and, you know, the, the menu list of items of tasks and things that she could do. She thought that's where her value was. But as we talked about it more and more, and she really began to understand how she does all those things different than anyone else and that she does them, who she does them for. She works primarily for entrepreneurs and small business owners that would much rather be out selling and growing their business and not doing back office crap. Right? And so her value is not that she knows how to build an email template and press send on the email. Her value is that she is actually doing those things and taking care of those things for busy entrepreneurs so they can go out and do what they do best and make more money. And what is the value of that to them that is immensely valuable. That could be the make or break for their business growth. Because if they're stuck doing back office stuff all the time and things they don't want to do, they're not outselling, they're not out providing their service and serving their clients and growing their audience and all the things that we need to do as entrepreneurs to be successful and grow a business. So when she came to a place of really seeing that and owning that, her business has grown exponentially. Because not only is she, you know, doing all these things, you know, that I talked about earlier, but she's doing them from a place of really thinking and asking, how can I help my clients get the results, get what they want in their business easier, faster, and as she does that, she makes more money, right? So that's why it's so important to own your value. And number four, I want you to ask yourself, if you deeply owned your value to your clients and your potential clients, how would you show up differently for them? What would you be doing? And I know for me, when I answer this question, it really inspires me to think about how I can help my clients get better results, right? And my focus is on them and helping them get what they want and innovating and coming up with new concepts and coming up with better ways of explaining the concepts that I already have. And this podcast episode and everything that I am sharing with you today has come out of me asking or me owning my value and asking myself, how can I offer more value to my audience, to my clients? Because I think of you as a listener. Whether you're paying me or not, I think of you still as my client. And I care about you in that way. I want to see you succeed. And so I spend time thinking about you and how I can help you get what you want faster and easier. And then I come on here and share it with you, right? So that's part of me, like, owning my value and owning it and then expressing it, right? And then putting action to it. Because, yes, we can think we're valuable, but it's until it flows through into our actions and the way we're showing up in the world that it actually creates results for us. That's the work, my friends. This is how you own your value. This is how you create more value, and this is how you make more money, make a greater impact, leave your legacy. And I want to tell you, this work is not one and done. It's a process of daily practice. It's like working out, building muscle. It's like brushing your teeth. It has to become a habit to think in this way. And when you do this work, when you answer the questions that I just gave to you, and you come up with thoughts and things that you want to be thinking about yourself in owning your value, you need to practice those thoughts on a daily basis. And as you do, it will become easier, it will become more natural, and it will create massive results for you and your business. And I know that to be true because I've done that myself. This is work I've been doing over the last six months. And because my coach challenged me back last August to really own my worth and own my value and discover what that means to me. And when I did that in the Fourth quarter of last year, I earned more than I did in the other three quarters of the year. I became a fully booked coach at that point. Right. So. And I've seen this happen with my clients, too. So I know that this is such important work. And when you own your value, it will translate into results. If you own it and then let it flow through to your actions, right? It will create those results in your business. So you can ask yourself each day, what do I want to own about myself and my business today? And if I owned this 100%, what would I need to be thinking? Right? And then what would I be doing? If I owned my value 100%, what would I be doing? I love that question. It's so good. Gets me fired up. Right? And so then this naturally leads me to want to share with you, really, the next step of my simple process, which is growing your visibility. Because once you own your value in this way, and then you want to get out there and communicate it, right? Because that's how you attract clients, you attract more opportunities, you attract more business. And so that's what I'm going to talk about next time is once you're owning your value or once you're taking that next step in owning your value, what do you do with it? How do you grow your visibility? So tune in next time, we'll talk about that. And we're going to take a deep dive in how to grow your visibility to begin to really explode your results. So I would love to hear from you how this lands with you about owning your value and what it means to you and what value means to you. And of course, I would love to do this work with you, and I know that I can help you create massive results just from doing this work. But I do so much other work with my clients, too, because it's not just this. It's letting this flow through into your strategy. Right? And so that is the work that I do with my clients. And if that is work that you would like to do, I invite you to reach out to me. Let's talk about it. Let's get on a call. That's your first step. All right, So I wish you a wonderful week and I will talk to you very soon. Thank you. Bye. If you like this podcast, then you have got to sign up for my free on demand video training, Grow youw Sales, Doing what yout Love, where I teach you in depth, my simple process that you can implement right away to harness your mindset and your skills, to grow your story sales, to whatever level you want. So go grab that now. The link is in the show notes, and I'll see you next time.