005: Pamela Slim – An Empathetic Approach to Realizing Your Earning Power

Pamela Slim is a business coach and co-founder of K’é Main Street Learning Lab, a grassroots community-based think tank for small business acceleration. She is also the author of multiple works, including Body of Work, Escape from Cubicle Nation , and The Widest Net. Today, Jonathan and Pamela engage in a rich discussion on building empathy and trust with clients and the importance of having a values-based mission and vision. Pamela speaks to her earliest experiences with money, explains The Ecosystem Model from her book, The Widest Net , and shares what motivates and inspires her to continue the work she’s doing.

📺 Watch on YouTube

https://youtu.be/blbdJpoLPEE

Key Takeaways

00:56 – Pamela Slim shares how early lessons on money shaped how she views finances today

07:31 – Corporate coaching, a passion for grassroots economic change, and escaping Cubicle Nation

12:22 – How Pamela defines success with her clients/Helping people make better decision about earning money

15:16 – Common goals and fears Pamela has observed from the clients she works with

21:19 – Pamela speaks to her book, The Widest Net

26:05 – The metaphor of business systems and farming

28:32 – Why strong mission and value statements are essential to Pamela’s method

36:02 – The Ecosystem Model, explained

41:41 – The last thing Pamela changed her mind about

45:22 – One thing that Pamela wishes people knew about her

48:23 – Jonathan thanks Pamela for joining the show and lets listeners know where to connect with her

Tweetable Quotes

“I spent a lot of time abroad. In that path, I have always been and always will be very passionate about grassroots economic change. Not a top-down model where you parachute in a model from elsewhere or a bunch of money from elsewhere, but really harnessing the strength and skills from folks that are on the ground.” (08:28)

“My role, and what I tell every client when we start working together, is really to support and strengthen their leadership so they feel better, stronger, and more capable. I help them to be more secure in their decisions, more grounded in their own identity, more sure about their own point of view and their own thought leadership.” (13:10)

“The question and some of the concerns that come in are: what is my own capacity for earning? What does it mean to really increase my earnings? There’s never an issue about wanting to make an impact, but sometimes we have to explore a deliberate connection between how are you making your money, how are you marketing, how are you implementing your ethics and integrity and operating in a capitalist system, which we know has some big limitations, and yet doing work in a sustainable way.” (16:23)

“For me, The Widest Net is really about creating an unbroken net that underlies an overall community or ecosystem. So, no matter what happens, no matter how far somebody falls, there are other people who are there to catch. We are building a really powerful and strong foundation.” (21:42)

“If I can use my life force for the rest of my life to make people feel stronger, more confident, more capable, and with more choices around how they earn money, that’s how I really want to be spending my time.” (29:16)

“I get as excited and filled with dopamine as anybody else when you look at possibility. When I blend it with a lens on inclusion, equity, just certain patterns that, if there’s not substantial change and awareness and analysis, then it is unlikely that there will be any kind of shift in power and wealth. That’s a part that, for me, I would love if it becomes pervasive, extensive wealth for all.” (44:51)