What If I Got Paid For This?
I created a virtual tip jar today, going against the ethos of paid subscriptions. Here’s the back story.
I’m part of a local women’s entrepreneur group and the only one who has a zero-balance bank account to show for my entrepreneurship.
So, I figured, I’d do a little thought experiment, imagining I worked full-time in a corporate role in Los Altos—where the cost of living is as high as the expectations placed on women to “do it all.”
Let’s say I walked into an office every day, like I used to a decade ago, had a title, a paycheck, and maybe even an assistant. Let’s say my job description matched—line for line—what I do now inside a corporate structure.
Do you know that I’d be earning anywhere between $13,000 and $22,000 a month?
Let me show you how:
The Ripple Maker Work (aka: My Micro Creative Studio)
I am a one-woman ecosystem. Every offering you see—from the handmade tokens to the Ripple Room to the essays and podcast collaborations—is part of a carefully built, values-driven, art-meets-heart practice.
If I were in a corporate setting, here’s how it would break down:
Creativity Facilitation & Workshops
Corporate rate: $150–$400/hr
What I do: Host monthly studio hours, facilitate presence through art, guide people into their own intuition.
Content Creation & Thought Leadership
Market rate: $0.50–$1.50/word or $75–$150/hr
What I do: Write microblogs, essays, newsletters, social posts, and visual storytelling pieces that build a resonant, emotionally intelligent brand.
Emotional Labor & Community Nurturing
Corporate equivalent: Community strategist / culture builder: $3,000–$7,000/month
What I do: Hold space. Respond to readers. Craft notes of gratitude. Build intimacy without algorithmic pressure. I don’t just “grow a list.” I build relationships.
Branding, Marketing, & Product Development
Creative director rate: $75–$250/hr
What I do: Design handmade tokens, organize events, write sales copy, manage and update my site. All aligned. All intentional.
Handmade Artistry & Curation
Artisan rate: $30–$100/hour
What I do: Make tangible, intentional objects that connect strangers and soften walls. Each one is crafted, packaged, and offered with meaning.
Collaboration & Visibility Efforts
Marketing consultant / publicist rate: $100–$200/hr
What I do: Pitch essays, coordinate with collaborators, show up for podcasts, organize analog exchanges. To truly connect without the hustle.
This is not a hobby.
This is a full-fledged creative studio and emotional ecosystem. And if a company hired me to do it, I’d be earning six figures annually—at minimum.
The Mothering Work (aka: The Other Full-Time Job)
Now adding the work I do as a mother—the one that I don’t get to clock out of:
Emotional Support → Family therapist: $125–$250/hr
Educational Guidance → Private tutor: $60–$150/hr
Executive Functioning → Family assistant: $30–$50/hr
Conflict Resolution → Parent coach: $100–$200/hr
Meal Prep, Appointments, Emotional Repair → All unpaid.
If I were billing for these hours, I’d be looking at another $7,000–$12,000 a month.
But no one sends me a paycheck for bedtime listening, for the soft way I help her name what she feels, for all the invisible scaffolding I build so my daughter can feel safe, capable, and loved.
The Final Total?
$22,000/month = $264,000/year
That’s what my work is worth.
Too often, we confuse money with meaning, and title with legitimacy … and we lose sight of value.
So why share this?
Because I’m not the only one whose work gets quietly invalidated for lacking a paycheck. Because so many women—especially mothers and creatives—do an astonishing amount of emotional, intellectual, and creative labor that gets dismissed as “expected.”
Because I’m tired of nodding along to when people say “all of this is JUST for joy and isn’t a real job.”
It is for joy, yes, but it IS also work!
I choose to do it with handmade tokens instead of Slack notifications. With presence instead of performance. With love, not leverage.
This is high-stakes, high-impact work.
And it deserves to be seen at par with what all the other women entrepreneurs are doing—you know the ones with the heftier bank accounts.
So this tip jar isn’t about charity. Nor is it a desperate plea to help fatten my bank account
It’s about honoring the invisible labor that sustains this space.
If my work has moved you, grounded you, or reminded you to breathe—this is a simple, joyful way to say thank you.
Not transactional. Not obligatory. Just a ripple returned.
