Standards, Strength, and the Power of Women Who Know Their Worth
“Strong women don’t have attitudes, we have standards.”
– Marilyn Monroe
For years, women have been encouraged to be agreeable, accommodating, endlessly available, and grateful for the bare minimum. In business especially, confidence in women has often been mislabelled as “difficult,” while the same behaviour in men is praised as leadership.
But standards are not arrogance. Standards are clarity and strong women know the difference.
In women’s networking groups, there’s something powerful about being surrounded by people who understand this. Women who are building businesses, managing families, juggling responsibilities, navigating self-doubt, and still showing up with ambition and determination every single day.
Because the truth is, having standards changes everything.
It changes the clients you work with:
- The way you price your services.
- The conversations you tolerate.
- The opportunities you say yes to.
And perhaps most importantly, the way you value yourself.
Too many women in business undercharge because they fear being seen as “too much.” Too many stay quiet in rooms where they deserve to take up space and too many accept poor communication, late payments, unrealistic expectations, or one-sided collaborations because they don’t want to appear “demanding.” We have all been in those boats ourselves so speak from a place of experience.
But standards are not demands.
Standards are boundaries rooted in self-respect
They say:
“I deserve professionalism.”
“My time matters.”
“My experience has value.”
“I don’t need to shrink to make others comfortable.”
That mindset shift can transform not only a business, but a person.
Strong women understand that standards are built through experience. Usually hard-earned experience. Failed partnerships. Burnout. Being overlooked. Saying yes when they should have said no. Learning the hard way that constantly proving yourself to everyone is exhausting. And sometimes we get dragged back into those behaviours when we have our guard down.
Eventually, something changes
You stop chasing approval and start building alignment.
You stop asking, “Will they like me?” and start asking, “Is this right for me?”
That is where confidence begins.
The kind that understands success is not about pleasing everybody.
For women in business networking groups, this is especially important because collaboration thrives when standards are high. High standards create trust, and they create professionalism. They create communities where women genuinely support one another instead of competing from a place of insecurity. This is especially true at Ladies That Do.
A strong network is not built on superficial positivity alone – you need reliability, encouragement, honesty, and mutual respect.
- It’s women recommending one another for opportunities because they know the quality of work will be exceptional.
- It’s women celebrating another woman’s success without seeing it as a threat.
- It’s women creating rooms where ambition is welcomed instead of apologised for.
And that matters deeply because many women spend years trying to “tone themselves down” before finally realising they were never the problem.
Being ambitious…. Having boundaries… wanting fair pay… expecting respect… are not attitudes.
Those are standards
The women who inspire us most are rarely the ones who made themselves smaller to fit in. They are the women who stood firmly in who they were even when it was uncomfortable.
Strength doesn’t always look loud.
Sometimes strength looks like:
- sending the invoice.
- Raising your prices.
- Walking away from draining clients.
- Launching the business anyway.
- Attending the networking event despite the nerves.
- Introducing yourself with confidence.
So perhaps the real message behind the quote isn’t about attitude at all.
It’s about refusing to apologise for self-worth.
And that is something every strong woman deserves to carry into business, leadership, and life.
Did this resonate? Then you belong at Ladies That Do Networking. Book a seat. Come and see for yourself.
Thank you for reading this month’s blog, Standards, Strength, and the Power of Women Who Know Their Worth.
Chloe and Kelly,
Ladies That Do Networking