Real Money Talk With Elena Brower

Ed. note: As circumstances require many of us to revisit our finances and even rethink how we earn a living, some of our core beliefs about self-worth and money may require our full attention. That’s hard work, but it can pay off in much bigger ways, as Elena Brower explains.

For forever, there’s been a stigma attached to making good money in the business of helping people—a complete misunderstanding, according to Elena Brower. Even if you’re passionate about serving others, you have a right to charge what you’re worth.

A teacher, author, speaker and Double Diamond leader with doTERRA (a multilevel marketing company and industry leader in essential oils), Brower has a team of 32,000 people worldwide and is in conversation nearly every week with several of her team members, leaders and people interested in starting a business for the first time, talking about how they think about money.

“It’s a really fascinating topic because so many of us know we are here to serve, to help, to ameliorate whatever the current situation is in the world or the family, in the home, and we mistakenly think that we shouldn’t earn money for good service,” she says. “It’s a misunderstanding.”

Meanwhile, she’s empowered thousands on her team to earn incomes they never thought possible—all while spreading awareness about the benefits of essential oils, something she’s passionate about.

You deserve to be compensated

“The idea that I could help somebody have a better relationship, have a better relationship to their body, better relationship to their partner, better relationship to their child, better relationship to themselves—and not be paid for it is erroneous,” Brower attests.

Time and time again, her teachers consistently taught her that she should be compensated for her great work and all the years she spent studying and working on herself. And she believes you should, too.

“There’s no shame in being compensated for work that you’re doing to help somebody else,” Brower says, daring us to turn the tables. “Your doctor helps you to ameliorate some sort of ailment, should that person not be paid? That person has been studying for 20 years. Guess how long I’ve been studying, the same amount of time. Is that any different?”

First money memory

Brower has been lucky to have had a number of great teachers, including Kate Northrup and the Handel Group, help her reshape her relationship to money. They taught her to examine her first concepts of money, starting with her very first memory of it.

“Mine is my mom, kind of frustrated, the back of her head kind of on the dining room table, not happy with the figures that she is seeing on the little adding machine she’s got next to her,” she shares. “So to me, money was always kind of not a good thing. [And] as an adult, I noticed, when it began to come into my life, I would immediately spend it because it didn’t have a good association.”

Money is just energy

Along the way, she learned that money—like time, love and attention—is just energy.

Let love in, she says, and things get good. Let love out, and things get good. The same is true for money. Let money in, and things get good. Let a little bit out, and things get good.

“What I’m learning is to now respect the energy of money in the same way I respect the energy of love. So I’m saving, I’m giving, it’s easeful, I’m on top of it, I’m not afraid of it. I look at my balances all the time,” she says. “I know now watching my friends and colleagues, they should be paid for their great work, and so should I—and so should you.”

Photo credit: Mark Kuroda, kurodastudios.com
Hair and make-up: Éva Roston