I know, I know that title makes you want to arch an eyebrow in confusion but stick with me here. It was July 2014 and Drake released his summer anthem “0 to 100”. The beat was catchy, the chorus was easy to learn but what stuck out the most to me was a line in the first verse.
Know yourself, know your worth.
Five words that mean so much, but I didn’t realize just how many aspects of life they applied to until recently. Now I’m sure y’all have heard about or read the statistics that on average women make $0.79 for every $1 a man makes, and that’s just white women and white men. The statistics are even lower for women of color compared to white men. Black women average $0.60 per $1 and Latinas average $0.55. Not only are the figures shocking, but the fact that this is still happening in 2016 is crazy! Does this mean that women are doing 21%, 40% and 45% less work than their male counterparts? No, they’re doing just as much if not more but not being compensated for it; and often times it’s because they didn’t ask. I don’t know about y’all, but I didn’t learn about salary negotiations in school. Yes, I was told to never lowball myself, but wasn’t taught much about how to negotiate my worth.
In fact, I think it was a combination of a blog course with Neely and a random listen to that Drake song that made the light bulb go off. That line kept playing in my head and something Neely said really stuck out. She basically said that instead of giving your potential collaborator a figure (and most likely lowballing yourself) ask them what they have budgeted for the campaign. The woman is an absolute genius, y’all! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that sooner. From there you can start the negotiation process. Say you’re like me and you don’t have thousands of followers on Instagram, that’s fine! I’m currently hovering around 390, but my follower interaction is at about 20%! Yeah, 20% of my followers are taking the time out of their day to like and comment on my posts instead of just scrolling past them. That’s huge! There are bloggers out there with almost 20,000 followers and while their posts tend to get 400-500 likes and/or comments their interaction percentage is low. They might get more people to like a picture than I have following me, but that’s only 3% of their followers. The same can be said about bloggers who have thousands of followers on Bloglovin’ but no one commenting on their posts. What good is it to have the ear of so many people if no one’s actually listening to you? I used to be ashamed of my social media numbers, but now I say them proudly (and let collaborators know that I’m working on growing an organic following) when negotiating. I now know my worth.
Neely’s advice also translated over into the workforce for me. I was in a situation recently where my lack of experience was brought into question for a new opportunity and the other person was correct. I haven’t been a member of the work force for long, but what I lack in years of experience I make up in education, drive, technological skills and my ability to pick things up quickly. Once I pointed that out I flat out asked what I would’ve asked a collaborator on my blog. What do you have budgeted for this position? I feel that they gave me their max and because I knew my worth, I graciously declined. I don’t think this would’ve happened a few years ago. I would’ve accepted whatever they’d offered me, not knowing that I’m way more valuable. My skills are work ethic are worth more “x” amount and I’m now comfortable with saying that.
Sometimes it takes the nudge of a great blogger and friend and a lyric from one of your favorite rappers to open your eyes; but once they’re opened everything changes. So ladies do me a favor and know yourself, know your worth!