Ep. 58 - Women in Business: Finding Empowerment and Control by Building Your Own Business and Brand Story - with Amanda Thomas
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It can be a struggle to feel empowered in our work and personal life, a challenge that is often more difficult for women as we negotiate against ourselves and endure the self-doubt that can negatively affect professional momentum.
How does one build a passion-driven career that allows risk-taking but delivers the life and relationships we want? And who are the role models we can learn from?
Amanda Thomas is an entrepreneur, marketing leader, and host of a women’s empowerment podcast. She’s the Founder and President of Two Score, a boutique marketing firm that focuses exclusively on helping small- to mid-sized credit unions grow and reach their full potential.
In this episode Amanda shares:
What led her to building her agency business
How to direct your career path in the direction you want to go
Why you should take risks, trust your gut, and give yourself permission to do everything you want to do
Coming From an Outsider’s Perspective to Drive Personal and Professional Growth
Like many of the guests on the Strategic Momentum podcast, Amanda had envisioned a very different professional life to the one she ultimately chose. Though she focused on creative writing in her English degree, she fell in love with a marketing role she fell into at a local Credit Union —and she fell in love with its mission — which altered her entire career trajectory.
She benefited from working at a forward-thinking organization where the culture embraced trying new things and learning from failure. In fact, cultural fit was based off the notion of “if you try something and fail, it means you're really trying. And those are great learning experiences. And that's the kind of person that we want in the job."
This aligned with her can-do attitude and outside-of-the-box thinking. And because of this outsider’s perspective, coupled with a natural ability to adapt what was working well in other industries to the credit union space, she was able to progress up the corporate ladder, building and running multiple credit union marketing departments along the way.
Taking Risks, Trusting Your Gut and Building a Business Based One’s Own Proven Brand
As Amanda climbed the corporate ladder, there were still challenges to overcome — like institutionalized sexism. Despite demonstrating her value and being promoted to Vice President of Marketing, she learned her compensation was not on par with her other male counterparts. Further, her pay increase didn’t take hold until several months after she had been already performing at the VP level.
“...it was about $30,000 less than what I asked for. And I found out that it was $40,000 to $50,000 less than what the male vice presidents were making. And so, that's probably the pivotal moment of my career where I had to dig deep and be like, "Okay, I can stay with this company because it's safe. I do like my co-workers. I like my boss. But if I stay, I'm telling them through this decision that I'm okay with women being less valued than men."
This experience, along with concerns over her father’s health, led to re-evaluating her life and leaving the credit union. This turn of events led her to entrepreneurship, which she had already proven to have an aptitude for in her years of doing things differently in the credit union space.
She decided to forego the stability of her existing position and strike out on her own; she had successfully built her own personal brand in the industry she loved and believed she could succeed, despite the doubters around her.
Amanda had to adopt the mindset of being “comfortable with being uncomfortable every day” — and also had to realize that her gut and intuition had been the most powerful tools in her toolbox. These were the keys to thriving in her career path and growing a business.
Women’s Work Challenges and Finding Empowerment
Amanda acknowledges that, while some challenges are faced by all workers, her own experiences demonstrated, time and again, that women are being held back by a variety of external — and sometimes internal — factors.
Traits that are usually seen as positive in men often have a negative connotation when applied to female employees, regardless of their position on the corporate ladder.
This is on top of the internal struggles that many women face, as imposter syndrome paired with institutionalized sexism magnifies self doubt.
Amanda shares that it’s important to take control of the story you want to tell and be specific about the vision and goals you want in your life — don’t let other people's opinion of you become your own opinion of you. It’s by trusting your own gut and believing in yourself and your own brand that you ultimately reach that level of empowerment.
Amanda’s Career Advice
Do not let other people's opinion of you become your own opinion of you.
Make decisions, and surround yourself with people who help support that. Because if you don't, no one else will.
Give yourself permission (to try) if you don't feel like you're doing what you want to be doing.
Key Takeaways:
With external factors such as institutionalized sexism impacting the workplace, it’s critical for women to always advocate for themselves, particularly from a compensation standpoint. Otherwise, you're not going to be recognized.
Don’t downplay your ideas and be confident in the contribution and value you bring. When communicating, avoid that notion of “apologizing for wanting to be better.” (e.g. I’m sorry, but…”)
Fight through existing perceptions that one may have of you and make sure that it doesn't skew your outlook on your own ability because those opinions may not align.
“People let other people's opinions become their own opinion of themselves, even if it doesn't fit.”
Build other women up vs. seeing them as competition. There is enough success for all of us.
Identify your mission or goal, understand how you are different, and have confidence in the value you can bring to the table (while still staying true to who you are) — these are the keys to finding career happiness. Essentially, it’s you being able to craft your own personal brand.
Playing it safe is a roadblock on the path to fulfillment. Do not allow others to box you in, as a woman or any gender or identity.
Listen to your gut, align your instincts with your desired goals, and be unafraid to operate outside of the box so you can learn through trial and error along the way.
Figure out the life you want to have and be specific. Be an advocate for this life because “if you don't feel like you're doing what you want to be doing, if you're not doing everything, you're not living up to your potential.”
Be continually mindful of your vision and don’t be afraid to refocus or augment your end goal if you find that you have an updated vision of your future. As long as you are working towards your goal, you are on the path to career and life fulfillment.
Realize that life is going to happen to you, and it's what you do at those pivotal moments that really help shape success in any area of life.
Resources:
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