Are You Worth It?
by Linda Potgieter
I am in beautiful San Marcos, California, visiting my gorgeous gal pal, Brandi and yesterday I discovered Nordstrom Rack! I have to say, it lives up to its reputation of good quality pieces at better prices. I found some excellent staple pieces to replace my nearly retired Capsule Wardrobe items, excellent value all ‘round.
But I want to share something else with you that is far more interesting, far more important.
My friend, Brandi, is probably the most intentional, faithful and frugal women I know. Married to a good-looking entrepreneur and Mom to 6 kids, this girl knows how to make a buck go the distance. So I was intrigued when I saw her suffering through spending $40 on a few special items for an upcoming marriage conference in beautiful Hawaii.
I watched her fall in love with some pieces and set them quickly aside, settling for only clearance items that were still lovely, but not her first choice. And even those were a struggle for her to purchase.
If you and I haven’t met, I’m the friend who encourages you to shop your closet first, to avoid fashion fad seasonal marketing and I am not a brand shopper. I help 1000’s of women to build a beautiful wardrobe on a budget. But here’s the core issue I knew was at play.
Brandi is one of millions of women who gives generously but struggles to invest in herself without feeling guilty. It’s a trap that will make you overspend and robs you of the joy of the gift of fashion.
The situation is simple: you are worthy, you are a daughter of the most high King, and you are a member of the Royal Priesthood. Whether or not you believe it is irrelevant. It’s written in THE Book. The evidence abounds. And as I always say, every day is Chooseday – you get to choose whether or not you want to remain in the bottomless pit of lack of self worth, or simply say to yourself, “You know what? I am worthy. I am set apart and I will be a doer of the Word by loving my neighbor as myself.” That means you need to love yourself as well as you love others in your life. And here is a simple but powerful little tool that will make this step easy for you.
Set yourself a monthly ‘fun budget’. As a rehabilitated shopaholic, my business coach taught me this principle and it eliminates all seeds of doubt and guilt from buying yourself that beautiful blouse or those gorgeous red shoes. My fun budget is $120 per month. I work with women who have anything from $25 to $500 per month, but they stick to it. That is the key and that has restored the fun factor to fashion for them. So if that’s you, I encourage you to discuss implementing a ‘fun budget’ with your husband and set a fixed number, which you get to spend on anything, anyhow, any time throughout the month, completely and utterly guilt free!
Nordstrom Rack was a great find for me as I love to buy pieces that I know will mix and match well with the rest of my wardrobe. Currently they have excellent staple pieces such as white Tees, black Tees (both round and V neck), white and black tank tops with cute back detail, long sleeved Tees in thin enough fabric for cool nights without being too warm, stretchy fabric pencil skirts that look great with a white Tee and white tennis shoes, and gorgeous little dresses on sale for kids (my 4 year old has her own fun budget so her $25 is up for the month).
I hope you will consider setting yourself a ‘fun budget’ so that you do not exclude yourself from the pure joy that comes with enjoying all that fashion can do for you!
Love,
Linda
Linda is a wife and mother, and Partner & Director of JPA Ltd, a global negotiation training firm headquartered in London. She is also Founder of LindaPaige, a fashion brand that empowers women to be a bold light on a hill in this world. Born and raised in South Africa, she currently lives in the UK with her husband and 2 children.
Linda started working at age 17 and spent most of her career in the corporate arena, often the youngest on the team enjoying powerful on the job training, learning from ambitious, accomplished executives what the marketplace wants.
Linda had the immense privilege of serving on former President Nelson Mandela’s PR team in 1998. As the final member of a team of 5, Linda and her colleagues organized the Vulindlela Water Supply Scheme in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, on Human Rights Day in March 1998. Awarded along with her team members for her performance in this role, she cites this experience as one of her distinct career highlights, referencing Nelson Mandela as her leadership standard in life, and continues her involvement today in fighting oppression and injustice.
After relocating to the UK in 2002, Linda won a national sales award in January 2006 from the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management (UK) (ISMM) for ‘Best New Sales Professional in Britain’. She is passionate about sales and loves working with people, a combination that opened up fantastic career opportunities for her across geographical and cultural boundaries, working on negotiation training projects with some of the worlds largest brands such as Adidas, Network Rail, EON, Mercer, Nestle, Pfizer, Nokia, and Vodafone. Her clients cite her training style as “…highly motivational, passionate and performance impacting”.
Linda is extremely dedicated to her own personal growth and attends regular leadership training in the USA which she cites as life-changing. On a personal note, she is an adrenaline junkie continuing her pursuit of the next thrill in adventure sports, she loves travelling the world exploring good food, good wine and when there are gaps, she is home socializing with her family and friends.
