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The Money Conversation Women in Business Still Aren’t Having

POSTED

7/20/2026

Life, Mindset

When was the last time you actually said your revenue number out loud, not to your accountant, not on a tax form, but in a real, honest conversation with another woman who gets what you do?

If you’re like most founders I meet, your answer is either ‘a long time ago’ or ‘never.’ And if you have said it, you probably softened it, apologized for it, or explained why it’s not enough yet.

I’ve sat across from women earning $80,000 who whispered their numbers like they were a secret. I’ve also met women earning $500,000 who shared the same hesitation, unsure if they deserved it, or worried that wanting more would make them someone they didn’t want to become.

This silence is everywhere. And it costs more than most people realize.

The cost isn’t just theoretical. It shows up in real ways.

What the Silence Is Actually Costing You

When we don’t talk openly about revenue, pricing, and the value of our work, three things happen (and none of them help you grow in a vacuum).

Without reliable reference points for what others in your space charge, you default to what feels safe. And what feels safe is almost always below market. Your pricing floor is set by anxiety, not by market intelligence or a clear-eyed assessment of value.
Second, you end up carrying tough decisions alone. Should you raise your rates? Take on that client at a discount? Hold your price or fold? These are easier to navigate when you can talk openly with people who understand the stakes. When money is off-limits, you’re left making big calls in isolation, often without the information you need, and the outcomes reflect that.
Third, you start measuring yourself against a standard you made up in your own head. The benchmark for ‘enough’ is private, usually inaccurate, and rarely generous. I see women performing at a high level who still believe they’re falling short, not because they lack confidence, but because they lack honest comparison.

This silence isn’t humility. It’s a structural disadvantage.

What Happens When Someone Says the Number

Recently, I facilitated a session where one woman asked a question that changed the entire energy in the room: a question about permission. She was not looking for validation. She was asking a precise, direct question about how to value a specific type of work she had been delivering for years without ever knowing whether she was pricing it correctly. To ask the question properly, she had to name the number she was currently charging and the number she was considering.

She named both. Without apology.

What happened next was one of the most useful conversations I’ve seen in a room like that. Three other women had been wrestling with the same question—alone. Forty minutes later, all four had a clearer pricing strategy than they’d started with.

But it all started because one woman was willing to say her number out loud. In most rooms, she wouldn’t have, and the others would have left still carrying the same question. One sentence changed four businesses that afternoon. That’s the real cost of silence.

The Cultural Layer: This Isn’t Just a Western Problem

If you’re building a business across cultures, or you grew up where modesty about money was expected, or even enforced, this silence runs even deeper. I grew up in the MENA region and money conversations are shaped by cultural norms, and the complex dynamics of being a woman who earns significantly. These norms are real. They need to be named, not brushed aside.

But those norms aren’t a reason to stay silent. They’re context for why breaking the silence takes more than just deciding to speak up. It takes community. It takes rooms where the conversation is already normal. It takes women who have gone first, and reference points that make saying the number feel less risky and more like a real exchange.

Those kinds of rooms don’t happen by accident, we have to build them.

The Quick Win: Name the Number Right Now

Before you close this tab, try this:

Write down the number you want your business to generate in the next twelve months. Not what feels realistic, but what you actually want.
Now, write down what you’re currently charging for your main offer.
Do the math. At your current rate and capacity, can those two numbers meet? If not, is it a pricing problem, a model problem, or a volume problem? Naming it tells you where to start.

That’s the work. And it starts by writing down the number.

If your marketing isn’t attracting clients at the price you need, the Marketing Clarity Audit will show you exactly where the disconnect is. It’s free and takes two minutes.

The Conversation Is Worth Having

Money isn’t a shameful topic, ESPECIALLY when you’re building a business. It’s how your business sustains itself, grows, and creates the independence and impact that makes everything else possible.

A founder who avoids this conversation isn’t being modest. She’s limiting her own access to the information and calibration that would help her make better decisions.

This conversation is worth having out loud, with the number named, in a room where people are building at your level and can offer something real in return.

If you want to have that conversation in a direct, structured, one-on-one setting, The Hot Seat is a 90-minute intensive to answer your questions and create a framework. Two spots per month. The conversation starts with the numbers.

You know what to do,

Rana