I recently had the misfortune of “donating” my time and experience consulting to a BILLIONAIRE, who picked my brain for months, got a detailed proposal out of me, and then killed the project. At that point, I asked him for a consulting fee to compensate for my time, and he refused. “You should have laid out upfront costs upfront.”
My anger is at myself. I knew from the first meeting that I should have demanded a fee, but I was—and this is unusual for me—uncomfortable talking about money with him. A mutual friend had introduced us, and I confused friendship with business, whereas he did not.
Women are famously inept at asking for what we deserve—a raise, a long-awaited promotion, a rest, equal pay for equal work, help around the house, help at the office, or yes, even an orgasm. I thought I’d moved past all that, but no.
I write books about empowered women, yet in that instance, I disempowered myself. In these situations, I’ve been known to ask, WWKD? What would Kleopatra do? What would a woman who boldly asked two men to wage wars on her behalf, do right now? This time I failed to ask, but lesson learned.
If you sometimes fail to ask for what you need or what you’re worth, try learning from the master. No, obviously not me. HER:
Hope you’re having a lovely summer asking for whatever it is that you desire!
