Value what you do:

A few weeks ago my new neighbour, who works in the financial markets, asked me what I did.

“Oh just bits and pieces,” I said.

Afterwards, my husband who overheard the conversation said: “What did you say that for? You don’t ‘just’ do ‘bits and pieces’. You’re growing a business. You’re working in digital technology. You're creating and curating information. You promote a position and reflect issues of importance to people. More than 90,000 people every week read what you put forward."

He added: "You’ve got to stop selling yourself short.”

A few days later a former colleague, with whom I had not been in contact for at least 12 months, called me and asked what I was doing.

‘Oh nothing much,’ came the reply. ‘Just bits and pieces. Keeping myself busy.’

After the conversation, I realised what I had done. 

All too often, highly experienced working women - especiallyl those who transition from a corporate-type career to their own business - tell people they ‘only work part time’, ‘just do a bit of freelance from home’ or ‘run a little business’.

Why?

As ambitious, intelligent and talented women, the achievements of women who freelance or work from home are laudable. If you’re also a mum with children still at home, those achievements are even more laudable! 

Instead of apologising for what we do, we should be learning to value what we do. 

A book entitled Influence, the psychology of persuasion by Robert Cialdini demonstrates this point. He explains how a gift shop owner was having trouble selling some jewellery. When she went away on a trip, she left instructions for the price of the jewellery to be halved, but her staff misread her note and doubled the price. When she returned, all the jewellery had been sold. The lesson? That the customers perceived objects that were expensive as better and more desirable – and bought them.

That doesn’t mean we should all go out and double our prices - although that may be nice - but it does show that if we diminish the value of our own services and products by being too modest, or not insisting on professional standards or expectations, or by giving our services freely for causes other than those that are important to us, others are likely to see them as not worthy also.

So next time someone asks you what you do, tell them exactly what you've achieved, how many people you reach, what your plans are, or whatever is relevant to your endeavours. But do not use the words ‘just’, ‘little’ or ‘only’.