#35 - The Economy of Her

Over the next two decades, trillions of dollars will move into the hands of women through inheritance, entrepreneurship, ownership, and leadership. But this conversation isn’t just about wealth transfer. It’s about redesigning the systems that determine who earns, who owns, who gets funded, and who gets remembered when opportunities emerge.

In this energizing and deeply practical conversation, revenue strategist and founder Andrea Mac joins Gillian Stovel Rivers to unpack the hidden architecture behind women’s economic empowerment. Together, they explore why sales is still one of the most overlooked wealth-building skills, why access - not talent - is often the real barrier, and how women can intentionally redirect capital, opportunity, and influence to accelerate economic change within a single generation.

This episode is part economic strategy, part systems redesign, and part call-to-action. Because the future won’t change simply because women inherit wealth. It changes when women learn to generate it, direct it, and deploy it intentionally, and co-create The Economy of Her.


Key Topics:
💸The imminent transfer of $83 trillion in wealth and its implications on gender equity
⛏️How women’s increasing earning power influences communities and economies
💸Common myths about women’s innate financial skills and systemic design flaws
⛏️The significance of sales skills as a predictable, business-critical system
💸Practical methods for women to build revenue streams and negotiate effectively
⛏️The power of intentional capital deployment and ownership in business
💸Strategies for fostering diverse, inclusive networks that drive economic growth
⛏️The concept of female-centered economies based on reciprocity and community wealth
💸How AI can democratize access to resources, training & capital, especially for women
⛏️Actionable steps to accelerate economic progress within 40 years


Chapters:
00:00 - Why women controlling nearly 40% of global assets matters
02:48 - Understanding the diverse streams fueling women’s wealth growth
04:13 - Challenging myths about women’s financial acumen and systemic design flaws
05:55 - Why mastering revenue generation is essential before investing
06:32 - Sales skills as a predictable, non-personality-based system
08:22 - Addressing societal gaps in sales training, especially for women
09:48 - The importance of aligning personal values with revenue strategies
11:42 - Navigating household and partnership dynamics in wealth creation
13:09 - The impact of unpaid labor on career earnings and advancement
15:05 - The importance of flexible career paths and avoiding income stagnation
19:42 - Systemic barriers in deploying capital and the importance of proximity and networks
20:40 - Building ownership and agency for women in business and finance
26:13 - How to intentionally support women-led businesses and foster reciprocal ecosystems
30:40 - Steps to create an inclusive, female-informed economy
39:36 - Strategic focus on revenue as a catalyst for economic acceleration
43:51 - The role of intentional, scalable, community-driven financial systems
44:20 - The importance of women’s representation in capital allocation roles
45:23 - Using AI to democratize access and amplify women’s economic power
48:38 - Leveraging prompts and outcomes to optimize AI use for sales and growth


Quotes:
“Sales skills are not a personality trait - they’re a repeatable, predictable system.”
“Every referral, every vendor contract, every hiring decision is a capital allocation choice.”
“A female-informed economy runs on reciprocity over extraction.”
“The issue isn’t talent. The issue is proximity to opportunity.”
“Women don’t just invest differently - they circulate money differently.”
“If you want to compress 400 years into 40, start with revenue.”
“Connect your work to profit and revenue generation - that’s what advances careers and creates ownership.”
“Most people want to help you - you just have to ask clearly enough for them to know how.”
“Technology doesn’t care who’s holding it. AI is a massive unlock for women.”
“If we ignore gender perspective in AI, we’ll automate the same biases at ten times the speed.”


Check out Andrea’s work & more resources:
Andrea Mac on LinkedIn
Prequel - Revenue systems for professionals
Salesy - Practical sales growth tools
Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth, and Power - Book about the systemic influence of female wealth control
Claudia Goldin - Curriculum on Households & Earnings - Nobel Prize winning research on income disparities by Dr. Claudia Goldin


#flourish #wealth #wealthmanagement #investing #advisor #KnowThyWealthKnowThyself

Connect with Gillian:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillian-stovel-rivers-ma-cfp%C2%AE-cea-997094124/?originalSubdomain=ca   
https://x.com/GillianStovelR 
https://www.instagram.com/gillianstov... 
https://flourishfamilywealth.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

The Flourish Feed Podcast, a series of curiosity-driven deep dives into the nature of flourishing through wealth. I'm your host, Gillian Stoville Rivers, M A C F P C E A, Senior Wealth Advisor at CIA Sante Wealth Management.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

So, first, a female-informed economy is not, it's not a takeover. It's not, it's a think of it as like a design upgrade. It runs on different principles. So you were you were headed down this path, but I think a female-centered economy runs on reciprocity over extraction. Okay, I like this. Yes. It's the long view over the short view. It's community wealth over individual accumulation. And so there has to be this mindset around the greater good and your individual role in this female-informed economy. Two, as I mentioned, I think it it really starts with women hiring women. This is an underutilized lever. Every procurement decision, every vendor contract, every referral is a capital allocation choice. You're deciding where that money goes.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

There's a massive economic shift underway right now, and it's not being talked about nearly enough. Over the next two decades, an estimated $83 trillion will change hands, and a significant portion of that capital will move into the hands of women. By 2030, women are expected to control close to 40% of global investable assets. And yet, despite that momentum, we're still operating within a financial system that wasn't fully designed with women in mind. Access to capital, access to credit, considered for equal access to opportunity. As we've talked about on previous episodes of the Flourish Feed podcast, these aren't just financial issues, they're design issues. What is at stake here isn't just equality, however, it's economic potential at a global scale. And that's economic potential that affects everyone. Because when women have access to capital and actual coaching and mentorship for generating revenue through sales, they don't just invest differently, they circulate money differently, reinvesting in families, communities, and long-term outcomes at dramatically higher rates. So today's conversation is not about what's broken, it's about what's possible. What happens when women don't just participate in the economy, rather they roll up their sleeves, get clear on what the world actually needs, and begin to design it? My guest today is none other than Andrea Mack. Andrea is a revenue strategist, sales coach, and growth strategist with over 20 years in professional services, specializing in client acquisition, retention, and business development. She is the founder of Prequel and Salesy, where she builds practical systems that help consulting firms, advisory teams, and growth-focused professionals turn technical expertise into predictable, measurable revenue. The creator of the 6A Sales Framework, Andrea, has empowered thousands of diverse entrepreneurs with a particular focus on advancing women's access agency and economic equity. She was named one of 15 inaugural fellows of the Chicago Leadership Circle. She holds a BA from Dominican University and certifications from Cornell and IDEO. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Inc., Business Insider, and the ABA Journal. Andrea Mack, how the heck are you? And welcome to the Flourish Feed Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Oh, thanks so much for having me, Jillian. I am so excited to be here today. It's the perfect way to end my week.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Fantastic. Mine too. All right. Now we're in the middle of one of the most significant wealth transfers in history. Tens of trillions of dollars moving into the hands of women over the next 20 years. From where you sit, what is actually changing right now?

SPEAKER_00 3:50

That's a great question. And I think a perfect place for us to start. I would say there's a couple of things changing right now. Not only do we have this great wealth transfer ahead of us or has that's begun, but women, it isn't just about women inheriting wealth. Women now at this stage are earning it more. They're building it, they're acquiring it through exits. And so you've got multiple inflows all at the same time of this transfer of what we call wealth.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Okay. So when we're looking at these multiple streams of income that are coming at women either because they've inherited it or because they're generating it, or they're actually finally gaining access to capital, what is it that is inherently positive about the existing and traditional female mindset that makes that powerful? And maybe what are some of the pitfalls that we need to look out for from our own biology or the own our mindsets that we have?

SPEAKER_00 4:45

You know, that's a that's a great question. And I actually I don't love to dive into the biology side of it because I think that's a narrative that's been a little bit perpetuated. Like women don't have the financial skills or we don't have the acumen or we lead with our heart and not our logic. While I think some of those factors might contribute, I really actually think what's different is the systems haven't been designed, right? The systems have always been designed inherently for men driving not only capital and earning potential, but also what that means for political empowerment, what that means for perpetuating systems and narratives. So I really think that the positive side of women earning more, directing more, having access to more is that we know from research that the more money a woman has, the more likely she is to reinvest in her community, reinvest in her household, reinvest in other women. And so when we talk about the compound impact, we know that there's a positive trickle-down effect, if you will, of women, of putting more money in women's hands. Um, so inherently, we know that it's a good thing not only for women individually, but collectively as society, as communities and cultures.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

I couldn't agree with you more. And sometimes I felt like as I'm going through my wealth accumulation journey, I had this little internal joke, which was as soon as I have it, I feel like it's gone. And I don't mean that I'm spending it. I don't mean that it's leaking. I mean that I tend to find other ways to make it work for me so that it doesn't just sit there and accumulate. But the reflex of accumulating it wasn't necessarily a scientifically derived one. It wasn't one where I felt like I went to sales school. I went to a place where they taught you how to ask the questions and gave you the feeling of confidence and permission that you had the right to acquire and attract money. Before we started this call today, we were talking about neural pathways. We were talking about like doing something enough that it feels like a reflex. Do you think it's more of a reflex for us to do the investing part? But maybe the reflex to do the attracting part and the earning part is one that needs a little bit more schooling. Is that is that safe to say?

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Yeah. Let's let me let me answer that in a couple of ways. So think about how important generating revenue is to every business that you know, whether you're selling mattresses, cars, professional services, you're an accountant, every single business that exists needs some form of revenue generation or sales. Otherwise, they're not actually a business, right? It's a hobby. So when we think about the criticality of sales as a skill on the enterprise level, how many individuals do you know actually went to school or studied sales? So you've you're immediately beginning with like a paradox of need and skill or need and training. And then you ask yourself further, like, well, well, what sorts of training exist? The fact of the matter is, sales skills and generating revenue is actually a very predictable structure. It's not a personality type, it's not a soft skill. The ability to generate revenue and sales uh skills in particular are a repeatable, predictable system. So from where I sit, it's about making sure that there's access to those tools and resources. Because before we consider where we can invest and compound our ownership, compound our wealth, we really have to know how to earn it, right? We have to know how to earn it through a traditional employment. We have to know how to create repeatable, sustainable revenue generation if we are founders or doer sellers. So there's this key component that, in my opinion, comes before we talk about compounding it with investment strategies.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Okay. And when I said investing, although compounding is still possible in your community and in your family, I meant that investing for a woman means deploying it. It doesn't necessarily put mean putting it into the market. And that's what I was reflecting on when I was preparing for today was I'm really like I'm I'm pretty decent at attracting it, but I'm even better at deploying it. And I feel like that taps into maybe the scripts that I've been handed down, or maybe it taps into my feminine nature, which is make sure there's nothing lazy and then everybody is getting what they need. But I find that that the sales part of it, the fact that we don't necessarily have any training there, that's not really unique to women, though, is it? Or is it no? No. What would you say about that on a societal level?

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Oh, I just, I mean, I could talk about this all day long, right? This is like a separate podcast. I can't quite understand, to be honest with you. I can't understand where the disconnect is. When I look at sophisticated MBA programs, when I look at, you know, masterminds and Kickstarters and all these programs where people are putting attention, sales is always lumped into marketing. It's often lumped into another tactic. And when it as it relates to women, it's often behind things like leadership or communicating with authority. And when I think about the skills that are required to get to that autonomy, that predictable revenue, to earn what you actually want to earn, it seems like such a critical skill that we're missing. So I can't, I'm not entirely sure why. I think it's because we treat sales skills more as personality than we do a business strategy. Yeah. And so for me, I see that disconnect and I do see it as such a critical part for where women can win. So if we know there is a likelihood of deployment back into communities, and we know that the signs of healthiest nations are the how they're the equity that their women have. To me, it seems like just such a critical first step is to teach women one, how to earn, two, how to create predictable earning strategies for themselves, whether it's negotiation tactics on a typical employment scenario, or whether it's creating predictable revenue for your own business and the entrepreneurship path.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

It's hard not to bring partnership into the conversation when it comes to generating revenue. You've taken care of people over different generations. I've taken care of people over different generations. Are you starting to see a shift to more of the I can as opposed to the we can? So that the woman that you're coaching is looking at her revenue stream and her income stream as her own to be stewarding and wielding and taking care of? Or is it, are we still in a very much a partnership structure? Or is that is that a personal choice? Is there a trend that you're seeing?

SPEAKER_00 11:12

By partnership structure, just let me clarify, do you mean in the household?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

I mean in the household. I mean, I mean the the we versus the I. I mean, I I definitely have anecdotally clients who've always kept their money separate and they invest their money separate and they earn and they tax and whatever. And then I have others who have a very different relationship with money because everything is very communal. And I just I think that there's an interesting delegation maybe of some aspect when you do it together, as opposed to when you try to own every decision yourself. Have you had any real, I don't know, uh examples of of seeing that work or not work? And what what do you actually recommend for people?

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Yeah, that's that's a really interesting, complex question with an even more complex answer. So, first and foremost, I I know that you know better than I do that we each have a money story, right? My money, money is an energy, and money means different things to different people. So when we join in a partnership, whether that's a professional relationship, whether that's in my household, in my familial, whether it's a marriage, when we enter in a relationship, I think the first step is acknowledging or understanding that we're each bringing our own money story to the table. Like money is a different value for different people. So that understanding your partner's money story and where the value is placed is a really critical part of I think deciding how you want to make these decisions, whether it's integrated on your own, what path, right? Like, second, I would say that I want to acknowledge a big part of our stories. My my husband is actually a stay-at-home dad right now. He's a primary caretaker for our family. We have four children. Uh, when the third child was born, he made the decision to step away from his career. He is an electrical engineer. So it was, it's it's a big career, one that he studied for, one that he committed his life to. And we made a business decision together on one not only where there was a desire to who wanted to maintain their professional trajectory, but we also really considered where did we have the most earning potential without a ceiling. And so I have perhaps a skewed or privileged perspective when it comes to balancing that partnership and what it looks like to co-mingle money. Like my partner and I made this decision together that this was not only the best for our family, but it was also the best financial decision. So we made the decision on having one primary earner through a couple of different lenses. So for us, that works. And it also affords me a high degree of privilege to pursue my professional goals, to commit to earning, to allocate more time in a way that I want to acknowledge not everyone has, right? Like if you, it actually is. I don't know if um anyone on this podcast, and perhaps you'll put this in the show notes, but if you've read Career and Family by Claudia, Dr. Claudia Golden, it won the, I think the Nobel Prize a couple of years ago in economics. And it covers Dr. Golden's work on where actually is the income gap, where is the pay disparity? And while there are inherent biases and discrimination in gender discrimination in the system, that Dr. Gold, what Dr. Golden uncovered is that it's actually the income disparity, the earning disparity actually has it rests a majority on that household requirements and unpaid labor at home, whether that's taking care of children, taking care of family, that that unpaid labor and the demands on time often fall on a woman. And when we start looking at the career trajectory and a a woman and a man's ability to earn, they actually start at very similar levels. And in certain industries, where it goes arise when the individual has less control over flexibility on their own time. So the less, the more control I give up on my time, the higher my earning potential increases. And so what Dr. Golden uncovered in her research and her work was that there comes a point in a career that coincides with life happenings that then inhibits an ability to accelerate.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

To accelerate and to hit that higher level of income.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Exactly. So when we think about that as if we think of earning as a first step of compounding and deploying wealth, then it goes, it goes awry when there's demands on someone's time and not an ability to share equitably in household or familial demands. And so the question that you led with is a bit complex, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Like so I is, but you've answered it brilliantly. I and what a what a cool uh personal anecdote to offer up. Thank you for doing that, because it does provide us with a solid example of two professionals who had common values and goals and said, what is the most intelligent way for us to achieve the most over the long run without the wrong person necessarily giving up the wrong thing and uh really, really brilliant outcome? Are you seeing with you know, people that you work with, and you work predominantly with, I think, lots of professionals, but you're very in involved in the female space, are you seeing that there are more advanced conversations like that going on? Is that a is that a new thing, or is that still a real outlier example, the one you just gave?

SPEAKER_00 16:46

By conversations, do you mean switching the gender narrative?

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Yeah, like having that kind of discussion because normally, without fail, it would be if you did have an opportunity work, Mrs. Smith, you will be the one who takes the back seat and takes 10 years or maybe more off of your career and then re-enters at the same spot 15 years later. And now it sounds like there's a really different conversation that's possible and hopefully it's it's becoming more prevalent.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

I think so. I mean, from where I sit, I see more often is sort of a challenge to the gender norms with a one partner being the breadwinner and one partner contributing to the family. Now that's atypical, right? We all don't have that particular luxury. It's not yet the typical norm. It is still, I do see it evolving, but it's not yet the norm. And I think that is because there are narratives around that earning potential that are pervasive, as well as these narratives around a woman's ability to mother while being an earner. I mean, this is a really deep and complex situation, but if you look at it from an economic standpoint, any partnership should be evaluating what are our what are our objectives, what are the outcomes we're trying to achieve, and then what is the best and most effective way to get there. So I we for us in particular, we treated a lot of the decision around the economics that we wanted for our family. It was, and I'll just share vulnerably that the decision was a very thoughtful one made by both my husband and I. And when he approached me, he said, I really want one of us to be home. Our big kids were getting a little older, they were gonna need care after school. We had just had a third baby. And he said, I feel like it's really important. And I said, That's just not something that I'm interested in. I don't, that's and he said, I really, I will take the lead on that. So we ran the economics, and for us it made a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

That is fantastic. And what an advancement in the definition of home economics. My my grandmother, who's no longer with us, had had won the gold medal in home economics as one of the earliest graduates of the University of Manitoba up here in Canada back in the very, very early 20th century. And and when she won that gold medal for home economics, it was not about the kind of home economics you're talking about. So we have made strides. There are absolutely miracles going on in this space all the time. Now, when we've talked about earning money, um, we've talked about having the conversations about ensuring that the home is earning the most money it can and the woman is protecting her career path if she needs to. But we haven't talked about directing capital. So, what does it mean, not just to earn the money, but direct the capital? That's a whole other ballgame. What does it mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 19:31

It is a whole other ballgame. And when I think about directing capital and deploying resources and women owning and governing, I'm not sure that the language has yet caught up to the reality of this shifting dynamic of women earning more, inheriting more, and directing more of it. Like I think the systems that we operate in and the language that we use is still a bit behind, right? And when I think about deploying, right, the narrative that is often shared is it's um access to capital. Like women don't have access to capital. We don't have access to lending, we don't have access to VC, we don't have access to private equity. And those statistics remain true, right? We're we're grossly underfunded relative to our counterparts. But when I think about where the largest gaps are, it's proximity. It's not really access to capital. It's women are less likely to be in the rooms where those deals are happening, happening. They're less likely to have the same level of networks, they're less likely to be pitched by people they haven't met. So it's really about access. I really see access as like the number one place where there's a gap because you can't get funded if you don't know those people, right? And I I really think that venture capital makes sense as a funding strategy for a lot of startups and organizations. And yet, when it comes to women, one of the most critical parts of economic empowerment is actually ownership. Like what is my my partnership, my ownership, and my ability to earn. And when we think about lending, venture capital, other sources of capital, often we're exchanging our equity in exchange for those dollars. So for me, it's just this really narrow lens of barriers that women are up to, and this really narrow lens of what we need to focus on. And I I'm not, I don't want to minimize that access to venture capital really can create an equitable starting point. But I just don't I see predictable revenue as a game changer for how you negotiate, how you show up in those deals, the the terms that you're getting. So for me, it's just a very limited perspective.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Traditional wealth management focuses on a few key moments your first house, sending your kids to university, when you retire, and when you die. Will you have enough? Will you die with too much or too little? These are questions of a very finite nature. Our approach goes. Above and beyond, with the belief that wealth is not just money, but comes in at least four forms: time, money, energy, and attention. And that wealth is a wave that you can learn to ride to a life well lived. A life where you flourished, where you surpassed the finite game of having enough, to experiencing the infinite game of playing forever. Instead of just focusing on a few of life's moments, we focus on all of the moments between the 1,440 minutes of each day, the energy to be harnessed from each and every sunrise, every meal, and every great night's sleep. The power of connection and meaning that all four forms of wealth, time, energy, money, and attention can access. This is what it means to flourish. So the question is: which wealth advisor is right for you? An advisor who helps you open the door to a few of life's moments or to all of them? Consider this. In the next 24 hours, you have 1,440 minutes, and it takes just a few of them to contact me at grivers at asante.com. Doing so could be one of the best investment decisions you ever make. Back when I was first starting out in life after grad school, I worked for a conference production company. And I worked for this woman, was my direct report, the woman I worked for, named Rebecca. She was from Australia. She had an awesome accent. She was very masculine in her whole demeanor. Everything was very, very aggressive, right? And she would always say, Don't ask, don't get. Don't ask, don't get. And that was her way of surviving in a world that was really a lot about sales. That whole thing was production was cool, but it was all about sales. And I wonder if it's that kind of programming that if you hear it over and over again, maybe you do get in the room. Maybe your profile is the one where they think of you first. But are there, I mean, you've mentioned that it has to do with access, it has to do with being the person that's thought of when there's an opportunity. How else do we do that except en masse for a 10, 15, 20 years to try and become part of the group of people that's thought of when there's an opportunity? Is there are there other ways or what are the skills?

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Oh, such a great question. And so I have a couple of thoughts. So first and foremost, it's really is about your network, not just knowing more people, but really making a commitment to meeting, knowing like where you're headed, meeting the right people, and knowing how to ask. So your previous boss or leader, I think was appropriate in that. You have to have clarity in your ask, though, right? And we have to have a mutual commitment to each other. When you have a budget to deploy, when you have a hiring decision, are you giving the the right or equal level to women that are concerned? If you're putting someone on stage, if you're giving someone a podcast appearance, if you're giving them a keynote presentation, have we done the diligence to ensure that there is a qualified woman in the mix? Now, I'm not, I don't think this is about favors. I think this is about us strategically working together because working in silos isn't going to actually advance the whole system overall. So when we think about how to show up, how to deliver, how to create a system overall, it's really about a redistribution of opportunity. And it's it starts with it starts with women themselves redirecting opportunity. Not because we don't like men. I know and I know and work with a ton of brilliant men. And it so it isn't necessarily about selecting someone based on their gender. It's about doing the diligence to find a right fit woman. Because when we redirect those resources, there is that compound impact for women.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so I like this. This is a very concrete, tangible thing to consider. The first is the building of the network, the mindful building of the network with power partners, people who there can be some kind of commerce with or economic exchange with. Where that hits me is that's not nice enough. I you know what I mean? Like I feel like I've got some scripts stuck in me still from years and years of being a woman. And maybe as a Gen X woman, I probably have a little bit more left over than hopefully the the millennials of the Gen Y do. But we're supposed to ask for something in return. There's supposed to be an exchange of something or some kind of advancement in the creation of these ecosystems, if you will, of the people that we want to be networking and working with. How does that practically play out? Are you seeing some good examples of that in maybe more urban centers, or is it more likely to take place in smaller communities? Where how does it work?

SPEAKER_00 26:38

I mean, I think it works similarly across economies, right? So, first, a female informed economy is not, it's not a takeover. It's not, it's a think of it as like a design upgrade. It runs on different principles. So you were you were headed down this path, but I think a female-centered economy runs on reciprocity over extraction. Okay, I like this. Yes. It's the long view over the short view. It's community wealth over individual accumulation. And so there has to be this mindset around the greater good and your individual role in this female-informed economy. Two, as I mentioned, I think it it really starts with women hiring women. This is an underutilized lever. Every procurement decision, every vendor contract, every referral is a capital allocation choice. You're deciding where that money goes. We just, as women, as business professionals, we don't typically frame it that way. We don't think of it as capital allocation. Third, when we think about investing in women, it doesn't mean just writing checks, though, yes, you should be writing checks and investing in other women, but it means buying from women on business. It means referring to them first. It means amplifying their work, their message before, long before they ask you to, right? So it isn't just about women getting better at asking, it's also about this reciprocity and leading with it. So this closed, a closed loop economic system ecosystem already exists informally. What we need to do is make that loop intentional, measurable, scalable. We really want to give first and then get second. That's the model that we have to begin with if we really want to disrupt economic opportunity and distribution. So we we make this real, we actualize it, whether it's in an urban setting or a developing nation, is really what does the decisions in front of you. Who's getting your next contract? Who's getting your next position? Who's who are you sending your next referral to? This is how we begin to redesign economies.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Fantastic. That is very actionable and very doable at the individual level on a daily basis. Even if you're not running a company, you can still make even your buying decisions on that basis and your and what it is that you might buy for your household or for your family as well. So let's talk a little bit about. I want to talk more about ownership because there's there's definitely great ways to make money working inside of another entity. But I'm a big fan of at least entertaining the idea of creating something or buying something that you have an ownership stake in. So the people that you work with who are founders or who are operators of their own, are they working in this way with a feeling of reciprocity to the to the exclusion of male allies or male participants in their supply chain? Are they are we creating complete pods of a female economy already? Or is it still a function of I'm gonna choose the best person for the job, but I'm really gonna try and make sure that it's it's a female. I'm I'm just curious as to where we are on the path down the road to creating full female ecosystems, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

This is a great question. I'm not entirely sure that I'm positioned or authorized to speak on behalf of like um founder circles or pods. I would say from my vantage point and the work that I do, and I'm in a lot of these rooms of women who are aligned in this mission or who are aligned in this value, I would say that there's progress. I would say it isn't, I think individuals are still making informed choices about where they direct their capital, but informed is the most critical part. So as you said, like it's about doing the diligence, it's about understanding what my options are, it's about doing committing the effort to find a female-centered brand, a female partner, all of those pieces are a female presenting partner. So I would say I see progress. I see the conversation more top of mind. I don't see it as um uh an off-putting, ultra-feminist way of life. That is progress then. Yeah. It is progress. I in many rooms, it's it's a business strategy, right? How what percentage of women drive the household budget? What percentage of women now in the professional ecosystems are driving budgets on behalf of large corporations? Like women are making progress. It's really when we start thinking about how we alignment. I would say alignment, intention and alignment. Because when I think about the or the organizations that are committed to this, the groups that have been started, the women that are aligned, we're operating still in a little bit of lanes and silos. And I think if we could bring it all together or create a more common and prevalent narrative, I think progress would accelerate. So, yes, progress, no, we're not there yet. Three, I think it's diluted by the pervasive narratives, not putting the full-blown effort and looking at it as a business decision. Right.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

So the next thing I want to ask about is what happens next. If someone listening right now wanted to be part of this shift, not just observe it, what are the actual concrete steps that they can start taking today as far as let's start with maybe collaborating strategically? Cause I think that's the most applicable one, whether you're inside a corporation or you own your own corporation. What's a couple of good examples or good ideas you've got for collaborating strategically?

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Okay. So collaborating strategically, well, one, I would say define what collaboration means. Collaboration is not, I think it's a misused term that often gets labeled as like a soft skill. And when we think about collaboration, what that really means is providing access for another person, access to my distribution list, access to my opportunities. So I want to really start with like collaboration needs to be reframed as how can we provide someone else access to what we have or the access that we have. So when I think about that, and I'll I'll cover it from a couple of different lenses. One, if you're within a company and you have any ability to direct opportunity, whether that's paid opportunity, access to specific clients, type of client work or experience, always make sure that there is diversity in who you're bringing to that table because it starts with access. And even in your tiniest corner of the earth, you have access to provide someone else. So always look at who you can bring with you. Are you giving access to most interesting type of work? Are you giving access to paying work? Are you giving access to opportunities that maybe you don't want? Are you giving access to learning and leadership? I think also, like little footnote, side note, when we think about working with within an organization, women are often given the opportunities that are internal phasing, while men are often given the opportunities that are correct connected to revenue or bottom line. And that is a career distinction. So within an organization, I want you to look for opportunities to connect women in your organization to anything that drives revenue or profit. Two, as a woman, if you're a woman in an organization listening to this, I don't want you to raise your hand for the internal. I don't want you raising like reduce the amount of yeses you say that are not directly tied to revenue or profit, because that is the work that actually advances your career, that gives you access to leadership opportunity, that gives you access to ownership. So say no to a couple more things. I don't want you leading the pot, the pot luck or the right. Increase the value of your currency, right? And connect your work to profit and revenue generation. Now, for those of you that are listening that are founders, entrepreneurs, and are responsible for driving your own revenue, I think it's really important to also look at it through the lens of access. So what rooms are you spending your time in? Are you able to ask for an opportunity? Do you understand where the like that how your referral network works like a system and not just for relationship capital, but also for actual capital? How can you make it easy for them to understand and send business your way? How can you get really, really clear on how you ask for what you need and what you want? How can you hire intentionally? It's so hard. Sorry, tell it's hard.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Okay, I'm speaking up for the people who who are maybe hopefully a few out there that are gonna feel like they do everything you're saying, sounds so good. And I've had way more ability to imagine myself inside a corporation than I now do listening to you talk about somebody who's an owner operator, because getting clear about what it is that you need feels very counter to the way that everything works in my head. And yet I know when you get it down to a system, if you could help people pull out what that system is of what it is that they need, well, I can run a system all day long. But actually articulating that system, it's not easy work. I mean, do you find that with women that you coach, that it takes a little bit of a hurdle to get over that defining that what it is that you want out of this? Because offering access to people, I can do all day long. Asking for what I need back in return as reciprocity, I don't know. That seems it seems new to me.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

Oh, I love your vulnerability. Thank you so much for sharing that, especially if people are listening and hesitant to ask. I will tell you that I I think it is an issue across gender. So asking with clarity is a challenge across gender. I also think that asking will often could leave the self-impression of weakness or need. Like needing something can feel weak to people. First, first biggest issue is clarity. You have to know what you're asking for so that someone can help you. Two, it is not coming from a place of weakness to ask for something that you need. And three, most people want to help. Most people are willing to help as long as you can ask for something specific. Now, when I'm when I'm coaching, whether both males or females, I will often give an example. Like if I if I showed up in this conversation today, Jillian and all the listeners, and I said, I really want to get five new solopreneur clients in Canada. In let's just say Toronto. I want to get five new founder, solopreneur, entrepreneur clients who want to accelerate their revenue in or around Toronto. Jillian, would you be willing to introduce me to one person?

SPEAKER_01 37:18

That is so easy for me to say yes to.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

And I want to point out how long have I known you, Gillian? A year. A year and a bit, yeah. Okay. So you've known me a year. Why wouldn't your clients, your friends, your family want to help you? I've known you a year. I've known you five minutes in business time. And you're like, yeah, absolutely. You're probably already thinking of people you'd introduce me to. But I might not think of it if you didn't ask for it. Yeah. A hundred percent. I see. And so for me in particular, a way to like, it's a muscle, right? It's a muscle that you have to work up. But I want you to really do a couple of things. One, get clear in your message. Two, be willing to step into the uncomfortable. If it is uncomfortable for you, map through what is the best case, worst case, likely scenario and have a plan for any of those. And if you're still uncomfortable, map it through what you would do if that other person was asking you for something.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Oh, I like the reverse. That's good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

It actually reduces anxiety around. And frankly, most people are willing to help. You're absolutely right about that.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

And when you when you started to ask the question of would you be willing five solopreneurs, I thought, well, there it is. It's really just about knowing very clearly what you want. Because if you didn't know and you didn't ask me, how could I help you? And I really like you. I've known you for five minutes of professional business time, you know, but we do get along very well. And I've known your vibe long enough that I want you to succeed. So of course I would say yes. And I would, and I also like the funnel that you offered there, which was I need five. Will you introduce me to one? That that's so doable, right? There's like also a bit of a great uh framing that you made of that as well. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

I mean, I also offer um this goes deep into sales training, which I'm not sure your listeners are up for. Um they need it though. We just are we already identified that. We all need it. Yeah. Step number one, two, quality and equity. But I would say if you're hesitant at all, offer to be a resource. Like Jillian, I really like you too. And I want to make sure if I have something of value to offer you, then I'm actually doing a disservice to our relationship if I don't offer it. So if I think I have something, even if that something comes with an exchange of money, I'm gonna offer it to you.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

So this is the uh the big picture question I said we were gonna talk about today. Um, because you talked about, we discussed this when we first got together to review this episode was well, if we don't do anything, it'll probably still happen over the next 400 years. But if we do do something, we could compress that 400 years into something that you and I will both see. So if we want to compress 400 years of economic progress into the next 40, which you and I are definitely likely to see, what would need to happen? And by progress, I mean creating this other invisible, current, missing part of the financial ecosystem that is not trying to replace the existing one, but complement it. What's some of the visioning that you've done that would have to happen for that to take place?

SPEAKER_00 40:15

Well, if I if I'm just gonna keep hammering home this point, start with revenue. Connect your work to revenue, connect your work to profit, connect your work to repeatable, sustainable, revenue generating actions. So before you think about capital, before you think about lending, you have to prove that you can generate revenue because nothing is gonna leverage the conversation or your ability to have control like revenue or financial assets. So start, and I'm saying start with revenue, start with earning. I feel like that's the biggest place to start. Two, build your referral network, hire intentionally, collaborate. Those are all actionable ways on the daily that you can change and modify a system. I would also say to really compress 400 years into 40, we need more women in capital allocation roles. So not just recipient roles, but we really need to start thinking about what this ecosystem of women who deploy and drive capital looks like: fund managers, LPs, angel investors, board members. The decision-making layer really has to change where women have a predominant role or underrepresented, underprivileged, under represented roles have to be a part of that decision-making layer.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

Okay. And that is a place where I see still a very thin participation is in the capital allocation role, especially when it comes to investing and fund managers and so forth. There's definitely strides to be made there. And, you know, if you made a decision, it might be done by lunch, you know, just to say, hey, we need to get, we need to get a million women involved in the funding side of things by 2030 or 2035. You know, societally, if we just decided that was going to be the case, we could probably make it happen. It really just comes down to the clarity, as you say, clarify what it is you're trying to achieve first. Um, you've talked to me as well about this idea of the wealth lab. Can you expand on the wealth lab as it as an example, a structured way to accelerate financial capability? And then I've got one more question after that.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Yeah, absolutely. So the idea of a wealth lab really started around the conversation of like how do we look at cohorts? So, how do we look at communities of people working together, whether it's collaborating, hiring in a professional environment, but how do we really think of structured cohorts and access, structured access for building financial capability? So alongside these revenue skills that I clearly feel so strongly about, it's about how you manage your money. It's about negotiation, it's about having a capital strategy, it's about ownership. But together with a community that not only creates this different level of access and different level of decision making, but also holds you accountable. So I really think it kind of takes the wealth lab kind of takes this networking effect to a different level. It takes it in more of a shared commitment and a shared value, and it looks at the full cycle of how we deploy financial resources.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

Where the dollar goes.

SPEAKER_00 43:19

Yes, 100%. Because there, the conversation about where are you investing, how are you investing, you have to earn it first. And then I have to invest. Then I have to invest in the right places. Then I have to like there's so many parts of it that we have to operate as a lab, if you will.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

As a lab, a team, a network, people who are being very mindful about the acquisition and deployment of their capital. You know, it sounds a bit not militant. That's not the right word. It sounds very strict to say I'm going to make my decisions on this basis. But if you tried it on, you'd probably realize it feels pretty good to be making decisions on this basis if the end goal is to compress 400 years of progress into the next 40. If we could achieve that, I think we all want to have a hint in that.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Well, and let's let's modify the word militant and structure to intentional, right? This is these are very intentional decisions. And maybe you're not meant to feel the immediate effect, but maybe you're meant to believe that there is no revolution that doesn't happen without a woman at the center of it. And when we think we we have all the research. We have all the research that points to this as a business strategy. We have all the research that points to this as a revolutionary tactic. Like there have to be women considered at the center of it. And I think, I mean, I won't derail us, but I also want to point out what a business strategy this is for wealth advisors, for CEOs. There is a transfer of wealth happening. Women are controlling more financial assets than ever. And if you don't have a strategy for how you're going to speak to this, how you're going to inform it, how you're going to create connections between them, you're already behind. So this isn't just about my Andrea's personal, you know, passion and values. This is also really strong economic and business strategy for economies that want to thrive, for businesses that want to outperform their competition.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

Brilliant. All right. My last question. I'm going to modify. Normally, the last question of the episode in this season is to ask you how you're using AI, but I think it might end up being that you answer it this way, anyway. I would like you to offer us one or two ideas on how we can use AI to increase either our sales acumen or our sales altogether.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Interesting. Okay. A couple of things. So how we use technology and AI. I would say AI is a technology, right? And for the first time in history, well, I shouldn't say for the first time in history, technology doesn't care who's holding it. Technology doesn't care it know your gender, it doesn't know your zip code, it doesn't know your network, which means this is actually a massive unlock. Like AI and technology is a massive unlock for women who have been prohibited or prevented or locked out by the proximity and the access that I talked about earlier. So when we think about technology and AI, this really has the opportunity to equalize the starting line.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

Yeah, democratize. Yeah, like bring it, bring us all to the same playing level, playing field, whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:17

And I don't I don't know if it's as simple as that, but it definitely creates access in a way that hasn't been created before. The cost of starting a business has never been lower. You know, AI can write your business plans, can write your first drafts, can train you on your pitches. Like we've got access to compress the gap between having an idea and being able to actually act on the idea. So technology and AI, you no longer require the same level of tools that you may have in previous years. So I think as we think about AI for being a tool, the real risk or the real consideration comes into how do we train our AI to build alongside with our unique perspective and vision as women? How do we train our own AI and language models on data and statistics that are relevant to women, that they have diverse that our systems have diverse data, that it's considering different perspectives? Because in the absence of considering this gender perspective and the criticality of this gender perspective, it's going to automate the same biases of workbeat. So I would say, I would say first and foremost, make sure that you're training your AI. This is not about like, oh, expedite your scripts and have it rewrite your emails. This is really about making sure that we're informing our language models in a way that represents atypical gender norms so that we don't accelerate gender biases in a way that has been done in the past. I would also say specifically in the salesy side of my business. So I have two businesses. One is all about creating a new distribution of opportunity for women. That's the prequel side of my business. In the salesy side of my business, specifically, I really think about how AI shows up, how I, how I use AI to democratize my coaching and to create to impact at scale. So it isn't about me as an individual. It's about my access, giving access at a larger scale to more women and more people who need it, right? So I like to think about the tools that I'm creating, the systems that I'm creating, and what it means to be a great sales coach and access to great sales tools because I feel so strongly about them, regardless of geography or budget. So for me in particular, I'm not thinking about it as a user. I'm thinking about it as a distributor.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:41

Yeah. Because I think it democratizes access to re resources and it democratizes my expertise.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

Brilliant. I have to ask, I'm putting you on the spot and I can cut this part out if you don't have an answer. But do you have a magic prompt? Because you know how you evolve with your relationship, with the the uh tools that you use. And every once in a while you come across like a really, really genius prompt that that that took maybe six months in the making to generate a really cool idea or a really great way to get something done better or faster. Do you have any magic prompts that you've come up with lately?

SPEAKER_00 49:15

I would not say I have magic prompts, but I what I would say is before you worry about tactics of any kind, focus on your outcomes that you're driving towards. So, what are the actual objectives? What does a win really look like? How do you know this is going to be worth your efforts? And then focus on the who. So before you worry about your prompts or the how, you have to start with like, what am I aiming toward? What is the best case scenario? What is really the difference maker? What is what is a winning outcome or objective look like? And who are the relationships where I already have capital that I might want to direct a tactic? So I think we're using the typical LLMs like Google and chat and Claude in a way that's saying, give me the tactic. And that is the strategy around, well, what am I actually trying to accomplish? And who do I already actually know? Where do I have relationship capital built up? Then decide the tactic that you're asking for.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

Brilliant. Okay. Yep. A great approach to using AI for sales. Thank you so much. Well, you know, today's conversation makes it so clear that some of the most powerful shifts start closer to home. We don't have to start in the markets. We don't have to start with the institutions. We really have to start with really the mindset and some of these daily habits that we can make choices around in order to attract more revenue, be in the place where the decisions are made. Such a great conversation with you, Andrea Mack. Thank you so much for joining me on the Flourish Feed Podcast today.

SPEAKER_00 50:43

Oh, thank you so much for having me, Jillian. I could talk about this all day long. Well, we will.

SPEAKER_01 50:47

We'll just say goodbye to everybody else and you and I'll keep going. I'm just kidding. All right, have a great day. Talk to you soon. Bye. Join me next week on the Flourish Feed Podcast to keep exploring the infinite game. In the meantime, remember to stay curious, turn your passions into purpose, and play hard. I'm rooting for you. This program was prepared by Gillian Stovell Rivers, who is a senior wealth advisor with CI Asante Wealth Management. This is not an official program of CI Asante Wealth Management, and the statements and opinions expressed during this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of CI Asante Wealth Management. This show is intended for general information only and may not apply to all listeners or investors. Please obtain professional financial advice or contact Gillian to discuss your particular circumstances prior to acting on the information presented.