The Power of the Ask

Recognize, Interrupt, Reframe™: The Path to Prosper with Ruchi Pinniger

• Lisa Zeiderman, Savvy Ladies Board Chair, Managing Partner at Miller Zeiderman LLP, and Precious Williams, Savvy Ladies Board of Directors, CEO/Founder of Perfect Pitch Group • Season 2 • Episode 12

Share episode

Are your subconscious beliefs about money holding your business back? This week, Lisa and Precious welcome Ruchi Pinniger, a venture capital investor and the founder of Watch Her Prosper®. Ruchi shares her journey from a successful Wall Street career to becoming a financial mentor for women entrepreneurs. She explains why traditional financial advice often fails without addressing the underlying money mindset. Ruchi discusses her signature RIR Method™ for recognizing, interrupting, and reframing negative self-talk to cultivate a feeling of abundance. Listen in to learn how to connect your self-worth to your net worth and build a shame-free relationship with your finances for lasting profitability and growth. 

What You’ll Hear: 

  • Heal Your Mindset, Grow Your Revenue: Learn why a healthy money story is the most critical asset for unlocking your financial success.  
  • From Inspiration to Action: Hear how Ruchi was inspired by her immigrant single mother’s journey and how that shaped her mission to empower other women financially. 
  • The Worthiness Equation: Learn how the price you put on your time and expertise, from project fees to your annual salary, is a mirror of your own feeling of worthiness. 
  • Find Your Magic Number: Hear the one question every entrepreneur should ask to align their business revenue with their personal financial goals to fund their ideal life. 

Important Links:

Important Links for Ruchi: 

About Ruchi Pinniger:

 Ruchi Pinniger, International Speaker, Venture Capital Investor, Founder and CEO of Watch Her Prosper®, is dedicated to providing financial mentorship, support and services that women-led service-based businesses need to succeed. Recently named one of the “Women Leading the Finance Industry,” Ruchi’s signature approach fosters shame-free empowerment, enabling clients to achieve significant results in profitability and economic growth. Ruchi leverages her years of experience on Wall Street to provide expert advice on financial leadership, tax-time readiness, and small business finances.  

She is dedicated to philanthropy, serving on the executive boards of Savvy Ladies and the Pajama Program. Recognized with the Entrepreneur Community Leadership Award 2024, she is committed to helping entrepreneurs thrive, and cherishes moments with her family exploring food and diverse cultures around the world.

Lisa Zeiderman (00:06.446) 

Hello everyone. Welcome to the power of the Ask Podcast, which helps you get what you need financially and personally. We are so glad that you're here today. My name is Lisa Ziderman. I am managing partner at Miller Ziderman and I am one of the co-hosts with my dear friend, Precious Williams. Hi Precious. 

Precious LaTonia Williams (00:24.081) 

Hey Queen Lisa, as our Queen just said, I'm Precious Williams. I'm known as the killer pitch master and the CEO of the Perfect Pitch Group. Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. This week, we're excited to introduce you to Ruchi Pinnigar. Now y'all know with our guests on the show, we'd like to give you a little taste of them before they unleash on us.    

Recently named one of women leading the finance industry, Ruchi's signature approach fosters shame-free empowerment, enabling clients to achieve significant results in profitability and economic growth. Ruchi leverages her years of experience on Wall Street. You heard what I said on Wall Street, to provide expert advice on financial leadership, tax time readiness, and small business finances. She is also dedicated to philanthropy, serving on the executive boards of savvy ladies. Woo woo! And the Pajama Program. 

 Recognized with the Entrepreneur Community Leadership Award 2024, she's committed to helping entrepreneurs thrive and she cherishes moments with her family, exploring food and diverse cultures around the world. Ruchi, I'm a foodie too. Welcome Ruchi. We're so excited to have you with us today. So to kick things off, we'd love for you to share with our audience something that they can't find on your resume or your LinkedIn bio. 

 Ruchi Pinniger (02:24.54) 

Well, hello. Yes, let me share. It's so great to be here with y'all today, by the way, and your audience. Love it. So what would you not know? I would say I grew up with an immigrant single mom. She raised my brother and I after our father passed away at a very early age. And back in the 70s, that was not common, right? That was really unusual. 

To have someone like that coming from another country. My mom overseas was an educator and essentially came to America and rebuilt herself, rebuilt her career. She started out as a bank teller, worked her way up to being an executive at a bank, and she is here with me now, and she is my inspiration for everything I do. 

  

Lisa Zeiderman (03:12.718) 

So Ruchi, first of all, I have to tell you, I love that she started off as a bank teller because I often tell clients who have been out of the workforce for a while that that is a great place to start. And I think that's true today as it was when your mom actually was a bank teller. So what a great story that is. You know, I've known you for a while and you often talk about a spiritual connection to wealth. How do you help clients reframe 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (03:31.375) 

Thank 

  

Lisa Zeiderman (03:40.278) 

the money conversation from going from a source of shame to a symbol of complete empowerment. 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (03:49.685) 

Yeah, well, the reason I started this business is because I heard all of the incredible women with the stories, the I'm not good at the numbers. I don't know how to do this. Let me put my head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist. And so how do we start a business? How do we run a successful revenue generating business that provides for our life if we're not looking at those numbers and we're talking to ourselves that way and thinking about money that way instead of as a tool as something to be shameful about and we're judging ourselves. So we really work to help our clients to understand what those thoughts are doing to their reality, how their thoughts are creating their reality and shaping their reality. In fact, 60,000 thoughts a day is what we have on average as human beings. the majority, yeah, 60,000. The majority are negative recurring thoughts. And you imagine how powerful we would be, it would be. 

If we could stop ourselves in our tracks with that negative self-talk. So what I love to do, and I want to share this with all of you, and you can use this with money, you can use this in anything in your life, is my RIR method. So it's my trademarked RIR method tool. So recognize, interrupt, reframe. Recognize when you're having negative, disempowering thoughts, interrupt them, and reframe them with more prosperous, more positive thoughts. So I hear so much what I said, I'm not good at the numbers. I don't like this. I don't trust myself. There's never enough money. And what I ask you to do is pay attention to those thoughts, interrupt, stop them in their tracks and reframe them with something like, every day I trust myself more and more with money. I am so abundant. And just go into the feeling of that. This is not just about saying the words. Okay, everyone. 

 It's not a mantra. This is about the embodiment of the feeling. What does it feel like in your body to be abundant, to have everything you could possibly want? There's always enough to pay the bills. There's always enough time. That's what we're going for, is the embodiment of the feeling. So use this tool, RIR. 

Precious LaTonia Williams (06:09.043) 

Queen, I'm clutching my imaginary pearls because I definitely needed to hear that today and so many of our queens need to hear that. And you spent nearly 20 years in the corporate world before launching your own mission-driven business. But what was that aha moment that sparked your shift from financial executive to financial mentor?   

Ruchi Pinniger (06:31.631) 

Well, when I was on Wall Street, I just knew there was something bigger. I knew there was something more calling to me. I felt this pull and this draw to do the things that were more human centric within my company. So the mentorship programs, you know, being a co-chair on one of our committees for our America's Women's Network. 

Lisa Zeiderman (06:35.352) 

Yeah. 

Ruchi Pinniger (06:51.355) 

all of those things that allowed me to help people in a deeper way. So I knew there was something more and I felt like really lost because fear got in my way. I know now what I didn't know then, which is my mind was trying to keep me the same. It was trying to keep me in the same place, doing something comfortable. so ultimately after trying out a little gig in HR, was, you could see it as a really big mistake or you could see it as the biggest gift in the world. 

That allowed me to be here with you all today. I left corporate for good. I didn't go back. I started working with a coach. And when I talked to her about, need to know what's next. What am I going to do? And I got all into my control mode. And she said, girl, she's like, relax. You have this beautiful gift of time. Take a moment to breathe, to listen to the messages from the universe and get the messages that you're needing to get. And that was 

What I did. really like wholeheartedly, Solon took her advice and I started to hear all of these incredible women that I shared with you earlier with those stories about not being good at the numbers. And I realized, I always wanted to be a therapist when I was growing up. And I have this beautiful, incredible background on Wall Street and in the finance and accounting world. Let me marry the two. And now a lot of our clients actually like to play and call me their financial therapist. So it's perfect. 


Lisa Zeiderman (08:18.286) 

love that. Now, you've spoken on iconic stages like Princeton and NYU. I want to know about that one moment that stands out in your speaking career as especially transformative from either you or your audience. What is that one moment? And I want to know, it more than 60,000? Is it 60,000 thoughts a day? Okay. 60,000. So... 

Ruchi Pinniger (08:42.171) 

60,000 thoughts a day. 

  

Lisa Zeiderman (08:45.378) 

I wanna know that one moment and whether there was so much more thinking going on as a result of that one moment, that particular day. 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (08:53.605) 

I actually have a perfect story for this and it happened just literally about two or three weeks ago. I was speaking at a women's health summit here in fact in New York City and it was a panel and one of our participants asked a question around pricing, pricing her packages, pricing, you know, she's a new business owner. And there was a very solid answer that was very practical, tactical, and the Universe called me to say something, a message for her. I just felt her energy and it was like as if she was the only person in the audience. And I just looked at her from where she was over to my right. And I said to her, this is not about your pricing. This is about you. This is about your love for yourself and your worthiness. And I think it hit a nerve because she started to tear up and get emotional. 

And I know that a lot of us, you it's our beliefs. It's our beliefs that are, you know, that are driving us. 95 to 97 percent of like how we show up, how we be every day is based on our subconscious beliefs. So if you grew up feeling like there's not enough money or I'm not worthy or I'm not, I don't love myself or, you know, or if we're going into the money piece, you know, parents fighting about money. 

 Discussing how there's never enough or I have to hustle to make money, I realize I have to work harder. Whatever those thoughts are that you grew up with or what you saw growing up, you're carrying with you and don't even realize, and don't, sorry, let me, and don't even realize it. So that was a really beautiful moment and it really stood out to me and a lot of people actually came up to me after and,m noticed the moment that I had with this beautiful soul. So it was really special. 

  

Lisa Zeiderman (10:51.02) 

It was about her value, I guess, exactly. I mean, that it was how she thought of that pricing as part of her value as a person too. 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (11:00.827) 

Yeah, her worthiness. And we do that a lot, right? And I say to women that I work with, to clients, to women when I'm on stage, like everything starts with self-love. Everything starts with self-trust. Like if you don't love yourself and you don't trust yourself, no matter what you put out there, people will feel the energy, right? Like if you're charging $100, $1,000, $10,000, $100,000. 

  

Lisa Zeiderman (11:02.798) 

No. 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (11:27.491) 

It's all about the feeling inside when you say that number. People feel it and people will pay it if they resonate. 

  

Precious LaTonia Williams (11:36.483) 

So, So Ruchi, looking back just as a part of your journey from Wall Street to founding Watch Her Prosper, which I, chef's kiss on the name. What has taught you the most about resilience and reinvention? 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (11:53.275) 

Look, as an entrepreneur, what is this? Like the biggest professional development journey you will find. Any of you listening that are entrepreneurs, girl, I see you. I feel you. There's, you know, this journey is such an up and down process and we judge ourselves so much and there's seasons in your business. There's periods of time where things are going to be slower, where things may feel like harder. I actually hate the H word. hate. 

Saying hard because that goes against that language that we talked about. But let's be real about it. It feels really hard. resilience, entrepreneurs are resilient as far as I'm concerned. 

  

Lisa Zeiderman (12:33.454) 

So I want to go back a little bit. I would love you to explain what Watch Her Prosper actually is, because I think it's important that our listening audience hears about it. And then I want to hear how you are able to take a holistic approach blending financial tools and soft skills like mindset, well-being for women entrepreneurs and why you think that that's 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (12:40.325) 

Yeah. 

  

Lisa Zeiderman (12:59.16) 

the path that should be taken. Why is that approach so critical to you? 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (13:06.974) 

Well, when I started Watch Her Prosper over 10 years ago, I thought what I was doing was helping people with their numbers. Like I literally thought I'm going to provide this guidance. I'm going to help them with their cashflow, help them create great habits, do their bookkeeping, be an advocate for them with their accountants. So because a lot of us don't understand how to have a conversation with our CPA because we don't understand. 

Tax talk, I thought we would be doing all those practical tactical things with people. What I found throughout the years though, is you can do all those things, all of it. You can put all the great habits into place. You can make more money. You can cut your expenses, all the things we do with our clients and we're doing with our clients. But if you are not having a healthy relationship with money, a healthy money mindset and belief system, you will not succeed. 

 It will not be the same. You will not have the same results. say your business revenue will never exceed your relationship with your money. Okay. So I started to see that we put all these things into place, but then what's going on? I have a client with whom we worked closely to align her personal and financial goals for her business. And we came up with these strategies to make more, to save more. 

To save a certain way for taxes and growth and emergency. She did all the things and guess what? She spent all the money. She didn't save it. And we started to dig deeper and I was like, what's going on here, girl? We did it. We did it all and then where's the money? And she said, you know, I realized like, I realized I'm not safe holding money. My father used to weaponize money and now I see it. I want to spend it. I don't want to hold it. 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (14:58.935) 

It makes me think about that. And there's so many stories like that with similarities and differences. And I realized this work doesn't work just looking at the black and white numbers, the practical tactical without a healthy money mindset. So that's when I got coached. You know, I got certified in spirituality and mindset and some neuroscience, a little blend of everything. And it's life-changing, it's game-changing for the women we work with, for the business, for the audiences I speak to. It's literally, I now found my calling years into it. Yeah. 

  

Lisa Zeiderman (15:34.926) 

Good for you. 

  

Precious LaTonia Williams (15:37.299) 

And I love that you were open. You didn't shame your client. was like, hmm, there's something missing here. And we can tell that, know, empowering women is so important to you. And you're on the board of Savvy Ladies and the Pajama Program. 

 

Ruchi Pinniger (15:40.623) 

Always. Mm-hmm. 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (15:53.943) 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, lucky me. 

  

Precious LaTonia Williams (15:55.899) 

I mean, flex, flex, flex. And so how do these roles help fuel your prosperity mission for women? 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (16:03.813) 

Look, it's all so aligned, Like savvy ladies, obviously, right? The financial empowerment for women, creating a safe space for them, where some of them don't have access to this type of advice and some of them do have access and still they call on us to guide them. So it's just, I had been watching savvy ladies for years. Like I had just been paying attention on the side and my girl precious. 

One day a couple of years ago, I ran into her and I hadn't seen her and I was like, you know, I think it's time for me to join another board because I've been on multiple boards at the same time before. And this felt like a really good time. And I was like, you know, I'm thinking about Savvy Ladies. So you made that beautiful intro to Judy, our executive director. And, you know, I'm just in love with this organization, what we do, the AI aspect and how we help women. And it's like literally in my soul to help women with their finances. Like I could do this all day. 

And pajama program, right? Like I have a son, I know how important sleep is. I mean, we as women, we are literally, I say sometimes I feel like I'm an octopus, right? With my eight tentacles and everyone wants a piece and we have to put ourselves on a to-do list, right? And we have to rest, we have to take care of ourselves. And pajama program is all about, you know, sleep health. We're the only organization as far as we're aware that is educating.   

You know, around the wellbeing and sleep health for young children. So we've got incredible advisory boards that are just like world renowned experts. And we not only provide pajamas and books for children as a tool, but we are providing sleep health education for the care givers, for the people running foster care system. And it's a beautiful thing. Yeah. So it's so aligned. Both of those things are so aligned to. 

  

to make a better world because even with the sleep, like having a great night's sleep helps us be better the next day, right? And that financial education, yeah. 

  

Lisa Zeiderman (18:04.981) 

Thank you. 

  

No, it's 100%. I think sleep is definitely underrated by a lot of people. It's very important. So good for you. And we love having you on the board of Savvy Ladies. As you know, you have really been a very, very significant addition to our board. So we thank you for being part of it. All right, Ruchi. So what is one money-related question that you wish more women had the confidence to ask out? 

  

Precious LaTonia Williams (18:18.643) 

Yes, we do. 


Ruchi Pinniger (18:37.401) 

Yeah. Okay. Here's what comes to mind when you ask that this, this thing we do with our clients, when you align your business and personal finances and magic happens, right? You as a business owner can't operate your business without understanding how it aligns to your personal goals, right? How do you live your most prosperous life? What does it take to do that? 

  

What we do for people is figure out if you do all the things you want to do in your personal life, right? All your beautiful goals and align those along with saving for taxes, building an emergency fund. If you have debt, paying off old debt, what's that magic number you need in your business revenue to do all those things? That's what I have been told is like literally like a shade has lifted. 

  

You know, it's so eye opening for people. And that's one of the first things we do when we start working with our clients. And I wish more people knew to ask that question and knew that that is something that we can figure out for you. Yeah. 

  

Precious LaTonia Williams (19:48.425) 

That right there is a powerful question. And I know that probably illuminated so many queens, right? Like, whoa, I want to ask that question. So Queen Ruching, this is a question that we ask all of our guests. Why is the power of the ask so crucial to women, especially financially? 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (19:56.953) 

Yeah. Yeah. 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (20:10.939) 

Because we women, we want to tackle the world. We want to do everything, right? And a lot of us don't feel safe asking for help. I've seen this even with our clients. Like they're like, I did it myself or, and I'm like, yeah, you know, you have this whole beautiful support system around you. You don't have to do everything yourself. And by the way, we're not experts at everything. So first of all, creating safety in your body to allow 

  

and to be open to asking for help. Like, I will do this. I will work, you know, the way we did that RIR method to reframe our thoughts, you know, it's not safe to ask for help. It's like, what if it felt safe to ask for help? What would that look like? What would it feel like in your body to ask for help, to have the support you needed? We can't do, we can't do all of this alone. Having partners in your life, in your business, and in your finances is crucial. 

  

And it's a game changer, right? We can't use our intuition to manage our finances. We can't ignore our finances. We have to know what we're looking at to build that beautiful, prosperous life. And so that's why it's so important to ask. 

  

Precious LaTonia Williams (21:25.961) 

Queen Ruchi, thank you so much for being our guest today on the Power of the Ask podcast. I Queen Lisa and I, as co-hosts, we love having guests like you who share some things that really help us like, never thought of that before. And so in the Power of the Ask podcast, we ask the questions that get these great answers. We also wanna showcase guests who you should know, who you want to know. So if you're watching, 

  

Tell a friend to tell a friend to what? Tell a friend, subscribe and keep coming back to the Power of the Ask podcast hosted by me and my queen, Lisa Ziderman. And we want you to tell others and also tap into Ruchi. And Ruchi, I just want to say this, behind you is so calming. It just makes me feel calm. You know, I'm all frenetic energy. like, I like her background. You are, know, I'm not only the client, I'm the president. I get it. 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (21:54.811) 

Thank you. 

  

Precious LaTonia Williams (22:21.799) 

I get it because that's how you show up in the world. And we're so thankful for having you on the Power of Ass podcast, powered by Savvy Ladies. 

  

Ruchi Pinniger (22:31.365) 

Thank you so much. What an honor to be here today.