Well, I can’t make it any easier than this! Our events calendar is now up. Every month I will offer a one hour teleclass on some aspect of improving your relationship to money, for a whopping $37 bucks. (These calls are free to my current Financial Recovery Coaching clients.) I’ll teach for 40 minutes and then we’ll discuss your thoughts for the rest of the call. Or just download it if you can’t make it live. But I hope you’ll join me! June 23rd, 10am PT/ 1 pm ET.  (How to escape the “Money Life Drain” is on July 1st. Check out the calendar for other ones. I’ve got a really cool one on shopping and brain science in Oct. And then there’s the one on Noble Poverty etc etc. I love this stuff!)

From Underearning to Prosperity—the Four Keys  June 23rd, 10am PT/ 1pm ET
Underearning is the pattern of earning below your potential.  So are you earning at your potential? Or are you struggling against an “internal income ceiling”? In this powerful teleclass, Mikelann explores the psychology of why women undersell themselves and what to do about it. From expecting less money than other people, to difficulty in asking for what they really want, women who “underearn” deal with complex emotional issues around making money. Learn four crucial skills to earning what you are really worth and start making more money today!
We’ll cover:
•    One way to make asking what you want easier
•    How women under-price themselves and what to do about it
•    A powerful strategy to conquering the “good girl syndrome”
•    The importance of getting in touch with your “resentment number”.
Come away feeling empowered to earn what you are worth! You really can conquer underearning. Register.

Is your “inner good girl” killing your business and causing you to underearn? Would you like to fix this without killing her? (Really, I don’t want to kill the woman. She’s actually very nice!) I’m doing two radio shows about this topic this week, so tune in if you can.

Tune in Wednesday, March 17th, 3 to 4pm Pacific to the Sisters of Sizzle radio program. I’ll be talking with them about how to earn your worth, from about 3:30 to 4pm. Go here: http://www.contacttalkradio.com/hosts/kloter-pagano.html and click on “Listen Live”.

Tune in Friday, March 19th, at 9am Pacific/ noon Eastern, when I will appear as a guest on the Femme Finance Radio Program. Deb Whitlock is interviewing me for a juicy hour on how we can conquer underearning—without killing our “inner good girl”. Go to www.ImThankful.com/radio and click the “Listen Live” buttons. (If you’re near Seattle, tune to 1150 am—KKNW.)

When I am interviewed, I commonly get asked “Why do women earn less than men?” Jeepers. It’s a huge question, and a very charged question. Talk about stepping into the fire! And I’m always frustrated that people expected a single answer! At any rate, I took on the challenge and recorded this tiny three minute video with my response.

I talk about two reasons, though there are more. So check it out and tell me what you think. The bottom line is that I do think women don’t ask for what they want as often as men do (and the research backs me up!) though the reasons behind this are also very complex. All the same, it causes us to underearn. I also mention a whopping second reason- “our relational nature”—we are so focused on other people that sometimes this really hurts us financially. It’s a version of that “good girl” thing, where we want people to like us, hate making people uncomfortable and sometimes give too much away… Comments?? Do you agree or disagree?

I recorded this four minute video to teach you a super powerful– but very simple– technique. I call it “Practicing the Pause”. Use it to protect your time and make more money. When people ask you for your time, “practice the pause”. When you are tempted to discount or undersell yourself in the moment, “practice the pause”. And tell me how it works for you!

TIME TO EARN MORE?

If you would like to earn what you’re truly worth and step into greater abundance, please see Mikelann’s Unlock Your Earning Power toolkit.   Identify what has been holding you back, learn the skills to ask for more and start earning at your true potential. For both self-employed and salaried women.

Letter to service providers: Please charge me more money!

Okay, here is a really crazy post. I may even secretly hope certain people don’t see it! But… I get really nervous when my service providers don’t charge me enough money. Why? Because I know it can’t be sustained. Because I know that my service provider is walking the long and bleak road to self-deprivation, depletion and resentment. While other customers may deceive themselves into thinking they are getting a good deal when their massage therapist charges them an outrageously low amount, I wonder to myself, “How does she live on what she makes?” And I know she can’t stay in business over the long run.

Charging appropriately coveys confidence. Confidence is attractive! It tells me that you believe you are good at what you do. I work hard, and when I see a service provider, I want to relax and trust that they can deliver their service competently. Let me rest in your capable hands.

Besides, if you don’t charge me enough money, I may doubt that you can really help me. You don’t want me thinking, “I hope this isn’t a case where ‘you get what you pay for.’” Low fees tell me you must be brand new or you must not be very good. To be fair, this is not always conscious on my part. I’m only human. (Although I do assume expensive cheese and wine must somehow be better. High prices do convey that message, whether or not it is true.)

But the biggest reason I want you to charge me more money is because I know what other people don’t always realize. If you don’t charge me more money, you will disappear. And that would be a huge bummer for me. Like most women, I use a fair amount of service providers and I build relationships with them. I don’t see people I don’t like and trust. I like my hair dresser, my chiropractor, my therapist, and my waxer. In my business I have relationships with my virtual assistant, my editor, and my web developer. The list goes on and on! If they don’t make enough money, they’ll go out of business. Then what will I do?

If you don’t charge me, and everyone else, more money, will you make enough to continue being a business owner? Are you really charging me enough to pay all your business expenses and then pay yourself enough money to live on? And are you really living or are you merely surviving? If you don’t have enough money, you will become resentful, depleted and depressed. This will spill over into your work. And eventually, you will simply have to close the doors and do something else.

I don’t want to lose you. So PLEASE make sure you charge me enough money.

Marc Pearlman, host of Your Money Matters Radio, interviewed me for his radio show this week. So click here to listen to a thought provoking one hour show on Underearning– what it is and how to fix it. It was interesting having a man interview me on this topic. Marc is a money manager and brought up various aspects that apply to both men and women. We discussed the common ways people underearn– including the active and passive aspects of underearning. We also dove into pricing, the boom-bust nature of underearners, how to get out of the money fog and conquer underearning, and various psychological aspects that cause underearning. I also shared my own story of my personal internal income ceiling. (The recording is  also available 24/7 on Apple iTunes Radio Talk, so search for Your Money Matters Radio, Marc Pearlman and Mikelann Valterra, if I’m no longer the current show listed on the website.)  What are YOUR thoughts? http://www.yourmoneymattersradio.com/

http://www.yourmoneymattersradio.com/

Check out this article in the Sacramento Bee— Do women undercut their financial future? Claudia Beck interviewed me on my view on underearning. As always, this is a sensitive issue. Of course there is outside discrimination and reasons why women may earn less than men—reasons beyond their control.  But “underearning “is about the role that we play in this.

Here is a small excerpt:

Despite the strides women have made in the workplace in the last 30 years, Valterra believes they still carry around a lot of emotional baggage attached to money. “We don’t want to be pushy, we don’t want to rock the boat. … In 2009, that hasn’t changed in female DNA.”
In her view, women need to worry less, speak up more and become skilled at negotiating their salary.

Check out the comments on the article. I touched a nerve and had to add my own comment. Of course I don’t think money is more important than people! Good grief! As I said in my comment after the article, the point of talking about underearning is NOT to make people feel bad—we are all doing the best we can do. It is simply to raise awareness that we need to stick up for ourselves and make sure we earn the money that we deserve to earn.

Money is not the key to life. But if you make enough money (which is completely relative) you have one less thing to stress about.  I know that many women are very stressed about money right now (and men too!) But if we attend to our own earning issues, we will have less stress over our lifetimes. As uncomfortable as this issue is, let’s keep talking about it. (And by the way, men are still more likely than women to negotiation their salary, even in a recession.)

Ready to experience me live? On July 14th, I’m presenting an evening seminar in Seattle for women who are ready to step into prosperity.  I will address how to stop underselling yourself and earn what you’re really worth.  Here is some of what I’ll cover:

• Identify the five hidden forms of underearning (and how they may be costing you money!)
• Explore the concept of “noble poverty”—is it holding you back?
• The impact of the “money fog” on our earning ability
•  How women under price themselves and what to do about it
• Two powerful negotiation strategies that conquer the “good girl syndrome” and bring you more money

Click here for more info and to register. If you are near Seattle, I would love to meet you in person!