As International Women's Day rolls around again I've been reflecting and diving deeper into what it all means. Because like many, to me the meme droppin', balloon poppin' 'tag a strong women' content feels disingenuous. As said so well here by Ebony Breen: "International Women’s Day was not always a pink-washed, corporate cupcake affair. It began with revolutionary women marching in the streets. Women being "difficult", protesting, demanding action, and creating structural change. A favourite of the capitalist corporate world, IWD was started by Marxist feminists and socialists over 100 years ago (stay with me, the history lesson is short). It grew from grassroots activism. It's entwined with the worker's rights movement and the struggles of the working class. The women who started this day would despise the way it has morphed into bake sales, performative corporate posts, and panels of cis white women in power suits. Niceties and platitudes can be comforting, but they are not progress." I'm not throwing shade here. Most people are showing up as best they can, doing what they think is right in the moment. Point in question me on stage above at our International Women's Day event sponsored by Facebook, supported by a crew of unpaid female speakers. I've learnt a lot since then. But there could be so much power in this movement. Particularly in the business space where so many of us dwell. We have a real opportunity to leverage our businesses to bring about the real and valuable change we want to see in the world. I know that's what so many of our She Owns It Members aspire to. So let's think about how we can break the lipstick fuelled, #BossBabe mould that's become so normalised in our space, and do business and IWD with integrity. Point to note- I am no expert here. I am learning on the go, trying to do better. If you want to dive deeper into this learning, here are some organisations/ people to follow and invest in: Allyskills NZ - We work with forward-thinking companies to build inclusive, high-performance teams Leigh Development - Sel is a respected impact strategist and leadership coach for businesses and community organisations Storyo - Celebrating stories of women and gender diverse folks in New Zealand There will be many more! Please share the learning resources you've found valuable in the comments below 🙏🏼. 1. Educate YourselfAs a business owner you've taken on a leadership role. For your employees, your contractors, your customers and the community you serve. So continued effort to educate yourself on issues related to DEI- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion- recognising and challenging unconscious bias, understanding systemic inequalities and investing in education and training is critical. Even if you're a solopreneur, this type of training and knowledge can empower you to become more inclusive and equitable in your practises. 2. ConsultBefore you jump into advocacy mode consult the affected people. They may prefer to drive or be included the process. They may not want the form of help you're thinking of extending. Here's a deeper read on this by the Harvard Business Review 'When (And How) To Speak Up As An Ally.' 3. Amplify Your ActionAs a business owner consider how you can leverage your platforms and resources to advocate for meaningful social change. Can you invest in education? Can you partner with organisations that promote social justice? Can you use your marketing channels to amplify under represented voices? Could you start paying speakers or contributors instead of or as well as offering exposure? Can you pay above the average rate? Change your hiring practises? What guiding policies do you have and if you don't have any- what support do you need to create them? What steps do you need to take to make that happen? All of this goes hand in hand with No 2. Without consultation, any efforts to take action could be misinformed. 4. Share Your EffortsInstead of showing up one day a year with a pretty Instagram graphic, consider sharing throughout the year what you plan to do and what you ARE doing to progress in this space. Use this day each year to share the action you've taken. This simple change in approach lends accountability but is also a great way to get community involvement and show people that you're truly committed to change. Photo Credit: Carmen Bird In the spirit of practising what I preach, I thought I'd close this post out by sharing where we're at with She Owns It in our efforts to progress in this space.
What I/ we've done 1. Awareness & Commitment To Education Before Black Lives Matter I had little awareness of how I (a Cis White Woman) and this business was contributing to these cultural issues. Now I know better, I'm committed to doing better as a community leader and as a human. 2. Holding Space For Discussion and Mistakes Through She Owns It we hold space for these sometimes difficult discussions within our community. As a participant in this I know I'm going to regularly put my foot in it because #StillLearning and #Conditioning and so will others. So far, our approach has been to try to use these moments as learning opportunities. We aspire to facilitate a space where people can highlight a concern and have their perspective received with respect and gratitude for their time and correction. This is by no means a perfect strategy and (as below) we need to create guidelines and policies to better facilitate this in the way that those affected want. 3. Amplifying Voices We have a platform and reach with She Owns It and we use this space to amplify voices through our content and also through giving our community access to use our platform to promote their own. As much as we can we make that easy for people by creating the content ourselves, making it easy to show up by keeping interviews conversational rather than training based, and facilitation a space where people can speak from the heart and share their journeys without judgement. At our events we're committed to prioritising the under represented everyday as we as every day business owners. We prioritise giving space to those groups shine as speakers and panelists- an opportunity often extended only to the 'success stories' or big name draw cards. Our goals for 2024 1. Analysis and Consultation Understanding what we're doing well and what we need to improve on. How are members in our community supported? What are their specific needs, individually and as a group? How are we catering to them? How are we working with our community to determine what success looks like for them? In what ways might people feel excluded? How are our events and spaces benefitting some but not others? Are we shouldering the burden and speaking up about inequities? What are the gaps? How can we improve? 2. Policy With consultation, create policy that can serve as as guiding framework for our community. We have so many community touch points online and offline, and it's here where true progress can be made, in a way that's truly uplifts the values and special nature that already exists in this community, if it is welcome. 3. Leave The Ladder Down Use this community to advocate in this space and broaden awareness and perspective. This can be done through conversations, amplifying voices and seeking professionals to providing training. 3. Get Support To make significant progress with this in 2024 I/ we need help and it's worth the investment. DIY isn't gonna cut it this time much as I you know I love it 😂. Finally, it's important to say I'm trying to approach all of the above from a space of empathy and kindness- to myself and others. Dwelling in shame only serves to slow down the meaningful progress we can contribute to in this space. I invite you to use this space to share what your next steps will be below. Let's support each other to continue moving forward in this space and doing better, and let's see where we are this time next year shall we?
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Ready to step into your CFO shoes and level up your biz this year? She Owns It and Xero are excited to announce an exciting new FREE LIVE event series where we'll be working with you to level up your numbers and take your business to completely new heights. Think of it as one part learning, one part doing with a big dollop of motivation on the side! We'll be kicking off with a two part live online workshop series guided by Olivia McGann, Head of Operations at Xero. You do not want to miss this if you're ready for growth in 2024. Let's go!
So today, we invite you to join us to step into your CFO shoes and become Biz Boss You - Version 2 (the data queen version that you know is in there somewhere!!) We're excited to have Head of Operations at Xero Olivia McGann join us for this lively session where we'll be setting you up for Healthy Numbers Habits as we move through 2024 and beyond. During this session we will: - Talk about commonly made mistakes small business owners make when it comes to numbers - The impact of those mistakes - Where your business could be if you did things differently And answer all your questions about how to better show up for the numbers in your business and use Xero to drive results! Wed 27th March Midday | Register Here
If you find social media overwhelming and you want a better, cleverer strategy for 2024, this is for YOU! Many small business owners just aren't marketing experts. You're learning on the go and that's amazing. It's not easy but if it was easy everyone would be giving it a go right?! You're in the arena, learning, failing and getting back up so pat yourself on the back. BUT. When you're not a marketing expert, and you're trying to grow your biz on a bootstring budget, social media can feel like the ONLY way you can afford to try and 'get visible' and market your business. Then, if you're not a social media superstar (yet!) you can quickly get overwhelmed and feel like a failure 😕. So today, I'm sharing a tip that will help you move from feeling like you have to constantly post on your social platforms- even when you know sales aren't happening off the back of it 🤦🏽♀️) and into a smarter strategy for the year ahead ⤵️
If you're inside the Membership, watch out for a new Visibility Strategy workbook dropping in March ⚡️ Not a Member yet? We'd love you to join us here. And of course, if this tip was useful, drop me a comment below and tell me why, I'd love to here from you! ⤵️ *I hope this post gives heart to those of you who've struggled in the last few years in business 🙏🏼 Buckle in because this is more of a 'last few years' recap than just 2023. I think it's really, really important that as women we share long term growth stories like this frankly. Because most of what we see online is instant overnight success. And the grind stories you DO hear about are often only shared when the glow of some kind of 7 figure success follows. Not many people share the journey as it happens, just in case it doesn't work out. There can be a lot of shame involved in that. But when I started She Owns It I could see the opportunity the online business world offered women. A 'from home' chance to build something, with the added bonus of social media to help you connect to thousands to share what you did. Compared to what we had to do with my first business, it seemed like SUCH an incredible thing. So I set myself a challenge to prove that I could build a successful online business working part time, from home. And that I'd share that journey along the way, documenting the wins and fails and seeing where it took us. Well, surprise surprise, it didn't turn out how I thought 😂. After a great start Covid and family life completely stripped the wind out of my sails for a few years. But that's why I feel posts like this are SO important. Because I AM still here. And even though growth stalled for a time, I came out the other side with more clarity, more strategy, more focus and great hope for the future. So below, I'm going to share that journey, as well as some of the things I did in 2023 that really changed the record for me, and that I hope I can help you move towards in 2024 too if you're inside our Membership. This account is for you if you've been at it a while and are feeling shaky but underneath the doubt you still love what you do and the dream/ impact remains powerful for you and your community. I hope it gives you belief that if you stay in the game, get honest about what's holding you back, stop dithering and get laser focussed on growth, 2024 can be your best year yet. Let's go! ********* I've just been in my Xero account and it tells an interesting story! Pre covid, in my first year of business with She Owns It I turned over 14k. Second year, bang. Up to 92k with a 40k + profit. Third year, 140k with a 90k+ profit. ‘Officially’ working around 20 hours a week, I was pretty happy with where things were going. On a mission to prove that a simple online business model- systemised, low turnover, high profit- WAS a real opportunity for Kiwi women to gain freedom and financial independence, it really mattered to me to prove that it could be done. Those results are obviously not massive but they are important. Because a 90k profit for a woman- working so few hours a week- with a young family, is game changing. I want to prereq' those results by noting that She Owns It was not my first business. I cut my teeth in London building a nanny recruitment company from the ground up, on a bootstring budget, in the early 2000's (pre social media!). So I knew something about how bootstring, low investment, high profit business building went. And I already had a sense for the power of community building as a marketing tool. So, not my first rodeo. But then. *Pic 1. Classic 'I'm all over it' second pregnancy pose. Pic 2. Not coping frazzled how did this happen round 3 😂 In October 2019, I got home from an event in Napier and I realised I was pregnant again. After many difficult cycles of IVF for Amelia and Timmy, it was a happy surprise- it took some getting my head around (at 42 a baby isn't easy especially with a zealous 2 yr old around) but we were so thrilled. I made my plan. Due in July, I'd clear the deck to spend April- June creating content to keep the wheels turning for She Owns It in the second half of the year. But March 2020, Covid hit. Living in Auckland, 7 months pregnant with 2 small kids at home already, it hit hard. Then, the Black Lives Matter movement shook the world- and my world too. I realised I wasn't going to be able to deliver what I needed to to keep the business in growth mode. In fact, 'Business' wasn't on the agenda at all. Content creation? Good luck. My days were dominated trying to navigate schooling for my 5 year old, a 1 year old. Plus, I was fast discovering that the 'safe' space I thought I'd created with She Owns It most probably didn't feel that safe to lots of people. I had a LOT of work to do to learn how to better facilitate an inclusive space. So I did the only thing I could manage at the time, which was majorly dial back. One of the biggest decisions I made was to temporarily close our Free Support Community for Kiwi women in business. That was serious because many business owners at the time were feeling desperate. I was getting daily messages from people reaching out to me for help and advice about what to do, how to manage, how to keep going and how to access Government Funding. At the same time I was trying to offer support to the women who'd actually invested in and sponsored She Owns It inside our Membership. It was all way too much to keep up with and impacting my health. Anaemic and stressed I had an iron transfusion and hit a real low point. So I made the decision to temporarily close the free Facebook group, and offered anyone who wanted continued support to join our Membership at a never before offered monthly rate of just $10. To be fair to my existing Members who I knew were equally stressed about business, I also reduced their Membership fees to match that rate, almost halving my turnover overnight. I've been asked since if I regretted that decision or if it's something other Membership owners should do if they offer discounted rates and the answer is no! That decision was made for my Members who's been so loyal but also for me. I knew that closing the free Facebook Group wasn't enough to give me the space I needed because I was also required to deliver a lot inside the Membership. I needed an 'out' to dial back on delivering in there without closing the Membership completely. The financial impact was worth the freedom it gave me to focus on my family, deliver my baby in good health and forget about content for a while! In hindsight, most everyone was scrambling at the time. For me, that scrambling went on for around 3 years. Rosie was a Covid baby, born in Auckland, in between lockdowns in 2020. By the end of 2021, lockdowns with such a young family in Auckland had beaten us and we were out. In January 2022, we landed in Tauranga, and spent a year resettling our family and moving/ renovating our new home. Rosie also unfortunately suffered a serious burn which required a skin graft and regular trips to Hamilton for assessment. In general, I was... managing. Certainly not thriving. During this time, I treaded water with She Owns It but underneath that waterline, an iceburg of learning and strategy and growth was slowly developing. I didn't dive straight back in to what I'd been doing before, because things were different...
➡️ I no longer wanted to roll with stressful fomo based launch cycles for growth with She Owns It ➡️ I missed 1-1 contact and wanted to explore new products ideas that would allow me to offer a level of 1-1 support ➡️ I knew I had been holding myself back and wanted to explore why and build skills to change the record So I decided 2023 would be a year for me to reflect, reinvest in myself and create a platform for powerful future growth. Here's what I did to make it happen!: ➡️ I dove into learning. All sorts of self improvement, and if you're keen to know what just some of what I consumed: • Brene Browns' A-Z of the Heart • Atomic Habits by James Clear • Becoming Limitless by Bio Hacking Health expert Tanessa Shears • Almost every episode of the We Can Do Hard Things Podcast with Glennon Doyle • The Tools by Phil Stutz • The Choice and The Gift by Edith Egar You'll notice that most of these aren't business or marketing books. I was looking for greater growth than just 'how to build a funnel' or grow an audience. I know I can do those things but what stops them from working is more complex. So I wanted to understand my limiting behaviours and learn how to tweak my daily practises and thoughts to bring change. ➡️ I resisted the temptation of launches and instead tested different strategies for evergreen Membership growth until I landed on a strategy that works to bring in Members consistently month on month (yah!) ➡️ I beta tested a new 1-1 product offer that's ready to launch in 2024 💕 ➡️ I did the inner work! I started journalling daily. Setting goals and learning how to create pathways to actually make them happen Critically, I also made the conscious decision to STOP things that weren't serving me, and spend my time instead on motivating myself, serving my community and taking DAILY Messy Action to tell people about what we do to help you grow your business inside the Membership and how to join. Not overthinking, not perfecting anything. Here's three things I do now that I didn't before, that I KNOW are creating results for me: 1. Sleep Focussed Health That's not an official term 😂. But basically, no screens after 8pm, instead I dim all the lights, have a nice long shower, read a book and drift off to sleep with a rested brain. I do this because I learnt that blue light before sleep suppresses the body’s release of melatonin and disrupts deep sleep. Then, if I'm up with the kids in the night, I commit to doing it in what I call 'robot mode.' Meaning, I DON'T let my brain switch on. I just do what needs to be done, so when it's done, I can drift right back off to sleep. This has been game changing for me. Off the back of better, deeper sleeps, I'm feeling more alert, eating healthier and making better decisions during the day. 2. Clear Goals with Reduced Focus I gave myself the space and permission to actually think about what I wanted and decide on the most powerful goal I could choose that would create that reality for me. If you're in the Membership and you haven't yet done it, watch the Plan Your Bold 2024 Success Plan workshop where I share the exact powerful process I work through now to set a goal that drives growth ⚡️ 3. Daily Journalling I've never been able to keep this up so I designed something SUPER simple that I could do daily before I dove into work. It only takes me about 10 minutes and this is what keeps me hyper results focussed on the daily And it's working. October and November were my most profitable in months. I've made more profit this year already than I did in 22/23. To get those results from an evergreen model, still working part time, with a single, low cost offer and without anywhere near the momentum I had back then- I'm stoked! Plus I have a clear path forward to build on that from a number of different income sources which will really level things up. So all in all, as 2024 kicks off I'm feeling excited! Not just for me, but for all of our Members who're ready to step in to Messy Action and shine. So my income goal for the 2024-25 biz year is 250k with a take home income of 150k- working part time, with school holidays mostly off. And look I know I could shoot higher. I know I could do more, earn more. But for now, with my busy home life, I say no thank you. I've had a 7 figure business and a team and all the bells and whistles and it didn't make me happy. Life is not always about MORE. Sometimes, life is about enough. For me, this will be more than enough. I'm also determined to make sure that how I make this money sits with me well ethically. I don't want to offer a course that I know people will buy but doesn't really get them a result. I don't want to do high ticket 1-1 work that leaves people feeling excited but without a plan. I want to feel great about how I bring that money in and excited about telling people to work with me, so I won't compromise by sending rubbish to my community. Finally, of course as usual I'll be sharing my learnings, what's working and the growth with everyone inside the Membership. And you can join me for monthly planning, live Q & A's, mentoring days etc so you can get my eyes on YOUR biz and what's holding you back, and my support making progress faster. Regardless of if you join or not, I hope something in this message gives you heart that if things have been tough for you, there is hope. If you're open to growth, and prepared to stay in the game just a little bit longer, time does change things. Have you reflected yet on 2023 and had any powerful learnings to take forward? Let me know below! ⤵️ Cat has taken her travel card game Getting Lost from blog to big business- picking up many accolades along the way including Excellence in Marketing award at the 2degrees Auckland Business Awards. This year they've been featured on Seven Sharp, 1 News, The Spinoff and even on the back of buses! Inside the Membership this month I interviewed Cat and we talked about the early stages of growth, and the strategies they used to 🚀 bust 🚀 through the growing pains and scale Getting Lost 🔥 In this short insight Cat shares her 6 tips to building a 7 figure business and it's worth a listen! In Summary:
Step 1: Create a great audience led product Step 2: Figure out your logistics Step 3: Operationalise / health and safety and staff Step 4: Hire the skills you don't have (just because you can doesn't mean you should) Step 5: Stop! Re-evaluate, and plan BIG! Step 6: Go all in! Make your biz 100% your focus, YOU are the secret sauce! Connect with Cat: Getting Lost Website Getting Lost on Facebook Getting Lost on Instagram Today I interviewed Perzen Patel about her journey with Dolly Mumma, running an e-commerce biz and bringing Aotearoa beyond butter chicken! CONNECT WITH PERZEN Find out more about Dolly Mumma and connect with Perzen here: https://dollymumma.com Katie Rickson is a copywriter, editor, mother, lived experience speaker and founder of Compassion Poetry. After having her baby and experiencing mania, Katie was diagnosed with Bi-Pilor. Compassion Poetry is Katie's advocacy project- through which she draws attention to and reduces stigma around mental health. Katie has been a speaker/ present at MUV Talks, for charities and corporates, has guest lectured at Victoria University and appeared on several podcasts. Katie, it was our honour to have your time today, thank you 🙏🏼. Connect with Katie here: https://www.katierickson.co.nz Compassion Poetry: https://compassionpoetry.co.nz In 2011 Sel was living and working in Christchurch when the earthquake struck. It was the catalyst for massive change for Sel and led her to step away from the burnout, stress and disappointment of Government and private sector work, towards her own incredible impact driven business, Leigh Development. Today, it's our honour to be hearing Sel's story, and celebrating her strength, leadership and courage. To learn more about Leigh Development and connect with Sel head here: https://leighdevelopment.co.nz |
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