This week, I was reminded why Proposals for the Feminine Economy resonates with me.  I was on a call with my business coach feeling discouraged about my own business forays. She suggested a mantra – “I am a successful business owner.”  As I was trying this on during my morning practice the next day, I knew I needed to define “successful.” The definition I’ve come up with is confident, committed, open to new clients and collaborations, self-sustaining, abundant, and growing.  This definition gives me a feeling of lightness, hope and helpfulness towards others.

These principles are what Jennifer emphasizes in her book. As a society, we see business success through a lens of masculine values and results. She suggests that we instead strive to view business as a creative environment and value our business using more feminine metrics, like care, mutual aid, sustainability, and needs-fulfillment  Her book is filled with beautiful illustrations, one of my favorite being the wheel of values in a feminine economy. A couple other examples of masculine vs feminine economy that have stuck with me include the differences in employing competition vs collaboration or consumption vs resourcefulness.  

This book is about transforming our relationship with money and work, which are aligned with my own philosophies.  I love her manifesto “100 Ways to Make More Money” and have several favorites. I particularly love these two because they are the basis of why and how I work with my clients:  “See fiscal empowerment as a revolutionary act” and “Become conscious – know why you do what you do with your money.”

Lastly, I very much enjoy her thoughts about cultivating an abundance consciousness.  Again, it is easy to define abundance through numbers when thinking about businesses, and particularly for me as a profitability coach. She reminds us to “feel how rich you are already” and to remember that “money isn’t the only form of wealth”. These are the lessons I try to remember when I define the success of my business and the success I am helping my clients to experience. I highly recommend checking out this book and Jennifer’s website in general. You can also read my post on the feminine economy for more information on the concept. I hope you find it inspiring!

☮

Angela