June 27, 2024

Let's bring some fun and lightness from Lala Land into the realm of money. I know money can be very serious. It's tied to our very survival. We probably all have some hang-ups about money and making it. Let's do our best to bring a different energy to money in July. 

The idea for this month is to bring a gaming mentality to money and a money-making project we collaboratively create and attempt to sell. We'll gather our collective resources - skills, talents, values, passions, and connections. Brainstorm ideas for the product(s) to create together. Figure out how to actually create and sell it/them and see what happens.

Making money seems to be a big hurdle for us quieter women. In getting this community started I spoke to many introverted women who struggled with making money. I definitely struggle with it myself. Our need for time to ourselves, for less stimulation often makes it feel like making good money on a regular basis is just not possible for us. Jobs are too draining because of all the time they take up and the requirement to be around people all day. As a bookkeeper, I struggled with that, even though bookkeeping can feel like a pretty solitary job. It still required talking to people and being surrounded by people all day. I definitely wasn't looking to expend any more energy trying to climb the ladder to earn more money.

But what if we could make good money in ways that don't drain us? What if we could make a game of it? Bring our playful, light-hearted selves to money-making projects? 

It's not a requirement to have fun through the whole experience. I imagine we'll run into problems we don't know how to solve and emotions we don't want to deal with. That is ok. We don't have to be laughing and having a great time every moment. But we can commit to doing our best to have some fun, share some laughs, and enjoy the creating and collaborating process. And to actually put something out in the world for people to buy, with real money.💰

To get us all into the gaming mentality at the start of our money-making game, check out these 2 TED talks - Gaming Can Make a Better World and The Game That Can Give You 10 Extra Years of Life . The speaker, Jane McGonigal, is a game designer and researcher and calls herself a huge introvert. She runs an online community called Urgent Optimists that I belong to. She makes a compelling case for the benefits of playing games. 

I think if we can bring a gaming attitude to money it will help us all overcome some of our hesitancies about making it. It can bring us closer together as a community. And hopefully, it can put some cash in our pockets💵💶💷👖👛

The kick-off event is Tuesday at 3 PM Eastern/8 PM BST. You can read all about it and RSVP here if you're up for this money-making challenge. Hope to see you all there 💸