If you are serious about earning more, not just working more, this episode will challenge and ground you at the same time.

What if the money you’re not earning isn’t about skill, but about silence?

Ready to start the Conversations?

In this episode of the Brown Way To Money Podcast, Alejandra Rojas challenges one of the most persistent myths in personal finance: that women are bad with money.

They’re not.

But what is revealing, based on original Brown Way To Money research, is that many women of color entrepreneurs are leaving money on the table because they are avoiding critical money conversations.

Not out of incompetence.
Out of conditioning, survival, and structural pressure.

If you’re building a business, growing a side hustle, or trying to break generational money patterns, this episode doesn’t just inspire, it gives you specific conversations that expand earning potential immediately.

For generations, women were excluded from:

• • Owning property independently
  • Accessing credit without a male co-signer
  • Receiving equal pay
  • Formal financial education

When access is restricted and outcomes are judged anyway, a myth is born.

Research consistently shows that women tend to be:

• • More cautious with risk
  • Strong long-term planners
  • Consistent budget managers

So the issue has never been capability.

The issue is what happens when structural pressure meets emotional survival, especially for women of color.

Because money conversations aren’t neutral. They’re loaded.

Loaded with:

• • Generational scarcity
  • Cultural expectations
  • Immigration stories
  • Guilt around out-earning family
  • Fear of being perceived as greedy

And that weight leads to avoidance.

Alejandra names something powerful in this episode:

Avoidance isn’t laziness. It’s often protection.

Protection from:

• • Conflict
  • Visibility
  • Risk
  • Shame
  • Financial trauma

But protection strategies that once kept us safe can quietly limit growth later.

And that’s where money gets left on the table.

This episode makes one thing clear. When women of color earn more:

• • Families stabilize
  • Communities expand
  • Generational cycles shift

Money is not betrayal.
It is capacity.

And capacity begins with participation in the conversations that feel uncomfortable.

This episode focuses on three specific conversations that directly impact income.

1. Pricing Beyond the Market

Most entrepreneurs price based on what competitors charge.

But market pricing alone ignores:

• Your fixed costs
• Your variable costs
• Your taxes
• Your profit margin
• Your big vision

Pricing is the entry point of money into your business. If that conversation is incomplete, revenue will always feel tight.

2. Funding Everyone Without Assessing Capacity

Especially in Black, Brown, and Latina communities, generosity is cultural.

But generosity without awareness becomes depletion.

Funding everyone — family, friends, causes, community, without knowing your own financial capacity is often a trauma response.

It can be driven by:

• Fear of exclusion
• Guilt about success
• Desire to remain “in the tribe”

The only way to shift this is by knowing your numbers.

Financial empowerment requires boundaries.

3. Jumping Into “Investments” Without a Plan

Not every expense is an investment.

And not every hype-driven opportunity aligns with your big vision.

Alejandra, with her accounting and bookkeeping background, draws a sharp distinction:

An investment must be tied to strategy.

If you’re:

• Buying programs based on hype
• Joining masterminds without assessing ROI
• Calling every expense “growth”

But you don’t know how it fits your long-term path, you’re avoiding planning.

And planning comes before spending.

Here are 3 ways to start today:

1. Audit Your Pricing

List your:

• • Fixed costs
  • Variable costs
  • Taxes
  • Desired profit margin

Then compare it to what you’re charging.

2. Calculate Your Funding Capacity

How much can you support others without harming your stability?

Know the number before you say yes.

3. Create an Investment Filter

Before spending, ask:

• • How does this align with my big vision?
  • What measurable return do I expect?
  • How will I track that return?

Awareness alone increases earning potential.