Holy smokes, people have been producing phenomenal content this week. Every week as I assemble this roundup, I think, “Ah! This Friday Five is crazy good!” but this week, really–crazy good. It also just so happens that I’m bringing you wisdom from five amazing women. I hope you enjoy their clever, creative, and brave articles that can help you make even more magic in your business. 

1. Women, Money, and Knowing Our Worth

I started reading A Practical Wedding (@PracticalWed) when I was wedding planning because it was, well, so darn practical. I keep reading it because Meg Keene, the woman behind APW, has a knack for hosting really great conversations about partnerships and equality and worth. Earlier this week, a fitness entrepreneur named Kathleen (kathleenicanrah) wrote a stellar guest post about knowing your worth in a very concrete way. How to have discussions that give you a sense of what your peers are earning, and how to frame conversations so you’re more likely to get paid what you deserve. Make sure you don’t miss out on the amazing discussion in the comments, too.

{Between owning a personal training business, working my way to partner, and earning my MBA, I’ve learned three big lessons/tools about setting and negotiating my monetary worth. The good thing is that these ideas work if you are negotiating a salary, or a rental fee for a wedding or a prenuptial agreement. (This is the point where I ask for more prenup posts because… yeah.)

1. Anchor: This is the hardest part to get right, and it’s also the most important. The gist is this: whatever number gets said first is where the conversation happens. If you start the conversation at a hundred dollars, you will NEVER get a hundred and one dollars. (And you are pretty likely to get fifty dollars.)}

 

2. When Freedom Isn’t Enough

Starting a new business is tough. It can be physically exhausting, emotionally unsettling, and financially terrifying. So what should you do when you’re building your amazing new business but still need to pay the rent? L’Erin (@lerin), the gem behind Sister Fire, wrote a gorgeously honest piece about getting creative about earning the money you need to invest in your business. Really, though, the post is about true freedom. The kind we all want a little more of in our lives, I think.

{Cultivating my own brand of freedom ain’t cheap. It ain’t easy. And it sho nuf ain’t for the faint of heart.

It requires unrelenting faith and the willingness to do what needs to be done so SisterFireand I both reach our highest potentials. This means investing a pretty penny in brilliant coaches, illuminating business trainings and learning how to create an e-course that is going to BLOW YOUR FRIKKEN MIND (details coming soon!).

This means transcribing interviews about telephone services because it gives me the freedom (and cashola) to focus on what really matters.

Cultivating freedom requires funding SisterFire until SisterFire is able to fund me.}

 

3. Own Your Gifts Please

Jen Louden (@jenlouden) wrote such a loving and wise post this week, as soon as a friend of mine shared it with me, I knew I wanted to share it with all of you. She challenges us to find out where our talents lie, and then use them unabashedly. I’m working up the nerve to do the exercise she describes here, and I hope you find the courage to do it, too. 

{What if the only thing that stands between you and the life you want – the savoring & serving that calls to you – was seeing how brilliant you already are?

Now wait a minute. I know reading that could have raised your “new age be gone” hackles. It would mine. But let’s focus on the how in the above sentence. As in how are you brilliant?  How does your uniqueness show up in the world and – here is the kicker – are you seeing it?}

 

4. Fear of the Idea

As the force behind Brand Twist and a former VP at Virgin, Julie Cottineau (@jcottin) knows a thing or two about branding. In this post, she offers three simple tools for dealing with the following dreaded situation. 

{You (or someone in your organization) comes up with a new idea, and after an initial stage of euphoria and excitement, you are left with a sinking feeling of “Oh, sh*t”.

Your enthusiasm dwindles as you are filled with anxiety about what to do next. How do I turn this idea into action? How do I get it out of our heads and into the marketplace?}

 

5. How to Legally Steal Copy That Converts Like Crazy

The lovely Pace Smith (@pacesmith), half of the team at the Connection Revolution, wrote a piece on Copyblogger not long ago unlocking the key to (drumroll please) stealing great copy without being a jerk. What? Yes. You’re going to want this. 

{I’d like to share a process with you that’s straightforward, completely legal (and ethical), and won’t cost you a penny. We now use it in our business for every product we create, and it’s created fantastic results for us.

So let’s get started.

Step 1: Survey your customers

Let’s start by creating a survey. Google Docs forms work well and are totally free.

Write a one-paragraph overview of your product, then ask your customers just two questions:

“Given what you know so far, make a guess: would you buy this product?”

and

“What problem do you expect this product to solve for you?”}

If you found these articles useful, please share them with other small business owners and entrepreneurs. I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments, and, as always, let me know if you’ve written a piece you think would be a good Friday Five feature. I just might spread the word about your brilliance.