You Are The Boss – Sandbox To Success Episode 36

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Today in Episode 36 we’ll be talking about how you are the boss! We’ll discuss how to conduct yourself in just that manner.

You Are The Boss - Sandbox To Success Episode 36

You Are The Boss – Sandbox To Success Episode 36

You are the boss? Why is that such an important topic to do a podcast on? What am I talking about?

Well, this issue about being the boss, particularly with women, is so frustrating! Not just because of what other people do, but because of what I’ve done myself. Women bosses often get the stereotype of getting bossy or a witch with a capital B. In the blogging world, there are tons of great women! When you think of the great bloggers, however, you generally think of the men. The women fall into the Mommy Bloggers realm. Don’t get me wrong, there are a LOT of great Mommy Bloggers out there (Trisha Haas is one). There’s a bit of disconnect, however. The men (Pat Flynns’ and Darren Rose) get looked at in a different way than the women. They get looked at with a little more authority.

True, women are socialized in a completely different way than the men. Regardless, I find that a lot of people that start blogging (particularly mom blogs) start a blog of necessity to supplement their income. They are usually starting a blog to get their voice out there. They’re strapped at home with millions of things to do and just don’t have the opportunity to do a traditional job at that time.

Language

One of the ways we do a disservice to ourselves, as women, is language. Our language is very self-defeating. I’m “just” a blogger. I’m “just” a mom. The thing is… you’re the boss! As bloggers, we don’t have an overseeing entity. We have tricks of the trade and best practices, but in the end… you pick what you want to do. The under talking and over rationalizing things is bringing us down a level. Generally speaking, it isn’t the men doing this. They type with much more conviction than we do. As women, we need to be the boss and step up and take pride! Starting a blog or a business is a BIG thing! It’s more than what most people do! It’s a big deal! Own it!

Professionalism

This can be whatever way you see it. You don’t have to pretend and be pigeon holed into a little box. For me, I practice kindness. I believe we should treat everyone with respect. Professionalism is the way you’re projecting yourself, not just with language but also with your body. If you’re doing a video or taking a photo, stand tall and with confidence. Like other women, I’m sometimes guilty of taking photos like “ugh, I don’t like the way I look today”. The ones I feel most connected to aren’t just sitting there trying to find the “perfect” pose, they’re having fun in them! They show confidence.  

Don’t have confidence? I’ll share with you one piece of advice I was taught a while back.

You want to be a duck. When you see it on the water it looks graceful. What you don’t see is under the surface it’s paddling like crazy to get where it’s going! So you want to be a duck. If you don’t have confidence and feel yourself beginning to talk in that self-defeating way either don’t say anything at all… or start paddling under the water! Be the duck.

Choose Your Own Way

If you need permission to do this, I’m giving it to you now. As female bosses, we have the luxury of choosing our own way of how we want things to be. There are things like budget we have to take into consideration, but if you have something you want to do… do it! So long as it works for you and fits your brand, do it! On Thinking Outside the Sandbox we do income sharing. This means we pay our contributors based on our monthly income, and we give raises based on our increase. It’s great as  an incentive for contributors, and helps us pay what our site can afford. We aren’t following a corporate capitalism structure. We want a team environment where our writers feel valued and like they’re contributing to the success of our company.

Is the income sharing right for everyone? No. It works for us. Sometimes contributors’ come that don’t like this structure, and maybe decide not to work with us. Maybe they come back later.

Just remember, you are the boss. Let’s support each other as women and bloggers. We’re all doing our own niches and things and there is room enough for all us. Let’s leave just out of conversation and be professional in whichever way it means to us.  Let’s make our own way. We don’t have to do it exactly the same as men. We can build something for ourselves. Women haven’t been in the workforce that long. My generation is really the first that’s gone right from school to career. My mother paused her career to raise children, and then returned. We don’t have to do that anymore! We can make change and enact things even with our own little spaces, blogs, or voices.

This episode was presented by SubmitOwl.  If you’re like me and buy a hundred little domains and start websites, but don’t have time to submit them to all the search engines out there; go to SubmitOwl.com. You’ll pay a flat fee of $24.95 and they’ll submit it to all the search engines out there for you!

Until next time, thanks for listening to the Sandbox to Success podcast, with your host: Katrina M. Thom. If you like what you just heard, leave us a message at ITunes or Stitcher.  We would also love to hear what you have to say. Use the hashtag  #totspodcast to connect with us on twitter. Don’t forget to check out the show notes, which can be found at www.totsbusiness.com. Join us next time for another edition of the Sandbox to Success podcast. Have an AWESOME day!

The post You Are The Boss – Sandbox To Success Episode 36 appeared first on Thinking Outside The Sandbox.