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SALT LAKE CITY — You moms are valuable. You have a unique blend of gifts and talents that have been given to you to bless those around you — everyone from your family to your community. At MOMentity, we teach the importance of knowing how valuable you are, but this goes deeper than a sense of self-worth.
Recently I was speaking with a group of moms I mentor about our financial value as moms. It's not necessarily what our paycheck (or lack of paycheck) says we are worth, but what we feel we are financially worth. As stay-at-home moms, even as work-at-home moms, we often place our financial value much lower than it actually is.
Just this month Salary.com released the results of a survey of more than 6,000 moms revealing what their top 10 most time-consuming jobs were and how much time they spent on each activity. The numbers were crunched and an estimate of what mothers would make if they were paid an annual salary was displayed in infographics.
According to this 2013 survey, a stay-at-home mom juggles 94 hours of work each week, which could constitute a salary of $113,568. Working moms have 58 hours of work at home each week totaling in a mom-only salary of $67,436, added to their actual salary.
As we discussed this, one of the moms said, “I have never even thought about having financial worth. That has never even entered my mind. It’s a new thought.”
Have you thought about your financial worth? We need to understand our financial worth just as we understand our self-worth. We have a financial value both inside and outside our home.
We may not feel needed in our home and families all the time, but generally we know if we stepped away we would be missed. What about the value you have outside your home? What is the value you have in your business or at work? What is the value you have in your community or on committees you serve?
When it comes to money, do you struggle with the thought, “who am I to think I deserve this?” I hear women say that all the time. Here are three ideas to consider and help you accept your financial worth:
Your skill set is valuable.
Your talents and knowledge are unique and valuable. You have a right to receive money for your skill set, even if you don't receive a paycheck as "Mom."
Often entrepreneurial women don't see their value either. They make a product or provide a service and want to undervalue it because they are afraid they are not worthy in the first place to sell. They fear they are asking too much from people by having them pay for something. In reality, people value things they pay for including your goods or services.
Money is necessary to do good things.
I know many women grow up in Christian homes believing that “money is the root of all evil” and there is never enough. However, money is needed to serve more and reach more.
You can be a good steward of money. You want to provide for your family. You want to grow your business. You want to serve your community. I believe money makes you more of who you already are. It doesn’t change our thought process – it just changes our opportunities.
You set an example for your children.
Even when we don't have the strength to change for ourselves, we often have the strength to change for our children. What example about financial worth do you want to set for your children, especially your daughters?
Show them by example that their value, their self-worth, goes beyond what they see in the mirror or feel in their heart. It also includes the service and commitment they offer to their family and community.
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Nicole Carpenter is the founder of www.MOMentity.com and the creator of Define Your Time eCourse. She is a communications consultant, writer and speaker. She and her husband are raising four children, 8 years and younger, including twin toddlers.*
