Women Supporting Women
I remember my first week as a business entrepreneur in my first journey. I was part of a great team, women from all over the world, with different backgrounds and origins just getting together and sharing tips and promoting each other.
When I started my coaching business, being a solopreneur, I missed the team environment for a short period of time. Having those extra minds backing you up.
Starting your journey as a woman solopreneur is not easy but it is beautiful and exciting. Regardless of who you serve, joining a community of women in business, facing most likely the same challenges as yourself, is one of the best things you can do. Reaching out to other business women via Facebook groups, LinkedIn or via your local women’s business club.
Through these tools I met some amazing ladies who all have their own journey and different ideal clients. So today’s post is all about their stories and supporting other small businesses, while discovering what challenges they have faced and if there is a common theme.
The first woman entrepreneur I met through my first entrepreneurship venture with Nuskin was Jess Williams. Jess started out as an entrepreneur in 2009 as a wedding photographer. Together with her husband, she built a very large and successful business. They were featured internationally, and would photograph about 35 or so weddings a year. “I grew to become very passionate about encouraging other business owners to chase their dreams and start their own businesses so I launched myself as a social influencer and started a beauty business online that I now use to inspire other business owners to achieve their dreams.” declared Jess. Freedom was the main drive as she wanted the flexibility to be available for the family. She wanted to work but also be there to see her children grow.
Jess now serves women who are looking for ways to monetize their brands and to utilize the products she has to offer to sponsor themselves online while they are in between collaborations. She supports women who desire work and financial freedom, who want to help lead and change others lives, and who desire to believe that anything is possible.
When asked about her challenges Jess confirmed: “Mindset has been my biggest challenge. I have the vision, drive and determination but I fight against self sabotage and self doubt daily. In 2019 I began therapy which helped me tremendously. Now in 2020, I still go to therapy but I have healed so much through the past two years. I have to stay on top of my mindset every day but when I do, I can really see that anything truly is possible!”
Talking to a younger version of herself, Jess would have told her to go to therapy sooner, to focus on learning all about positive mindset and to be selective with the friends she chooses. She also added: “I would have hugged my younger self and told me that a lot of people will abandon you, but the few that don’t are lifers.”
If you would like to get in touch with Jess she can be easily contacted here and on IG (@the.jess.williams).
Another great woman entrepreneurs I connected with was Emma Carter. We started networking on Facebook, in one of the group opportunities I mentioned before.
Emma comes from a corporate background, as she spent over 10 years in the media world managing a department of copywriter specialists and trainers in the busy city of London. While on her second maternity leave, Emma stated that she realised she wasn’t really happy in her current job as well as with the commute into London on a daily basis – that wasn’t going to fit well with family life and she wanted flexibility around the children.
That motivated her to retrain in SMM and FB Ads and start out on her own with Glow Social. She helps small business owners keep up with the fast paced and ever-changing world of social media. “I create comprehensive, made to measure strategy plans for your social media channels and for your Facebook Ads approach to ensure the results you want now and in the future.” described Emma.
Throughout her journey, Emma faced a few challenges. Some we discussed were finding new clients and figuring out a good work-life balance. Another thing she mentioned was the loneliness as a solopreneur, which is something I relate to strongly. However, there are little tricks you can use to avoid that.
Also, as life usually throws stuff at you, one aspect Emma did not account for in her business, very much like many other entrepreneurs, was the pandemic. Many businesses have been put in danger during these challenging times - that is why it’s so important to support small local businesses.
Speaking to a younger self, Emma would say “Be consistent! If you’re going to do anything you have to consistently show up, however hard it might be. But also to try and employ a positive mindset – constantly thinking you can’t do something, has a negative effect on how you approach things.”
Emma has a positive personality, with a very professional business sense and can easily be reach via her website or her social media platforms (FB, IG: @glowsocial.uk)
Another bubbly lady I had the pleasure to connect with is Monica Gostic. Monica’s journey actually started very early, with a difficult childhood, a single exhausted and abusive mother, this stimulating her to find solace in books. Despite her upbringing, she has good things to say about her mother. She confirmed “My mum knew how to love me the best way she could. We connected over mouth-watering home cooked meals and ran little creative projects in the garden”.
Besides the solace in books, Monica found joy in food. However, that led into a pattern which led to cycles of dieting and overeating. When at one point she was unable to bend down and tie her laces, she realised she had to do something!
“I signed up to the gym and started on a low carb diet. But without an appropriate schedule, this ended up in a burn out and consequently yet another binge. Luckily, I met a health coach who introduced me to the power of nutrition. I started being more confident in my own body, my health has improved and I started doing exercise for the first time ever and realised I actually really enjoy it.”
Despite all the hurdles in life, she was determined she was going to make her life better for her daughter. She focused on what she learned about nutrition and started implementing these simple daily habits into her life again and leading a busy life of a cancer researcher, a mum, a partner, an entrepreneur, did not stop her from getting in the best shape of her life.
“My mission now is to help stressed, overwhelmed and tired mum entrepreneurs lose weight, gain energy and find their sexy again, so they can spend more time effortlessly playing with their children (or dogs), feel at peace with their body and pass the gift of health onto their families”, strongly affirms Monica.
She launched her business a few years ago and is successfully being a researcher, a mother and an entrepreneur. I would encourage to check her page out as well as her FB and IG (@healthnfitness_coach)
When I asked Monica about a short advice she would have loved to know sooner she said “Follow your guts and stop trying to get approval from others – find it from yourself first.”
Running your own business is not easy. We feel alone in a busy world and every changing. However, we are not actually alone, as many other women are facing the same challenges as you, me, Jess, Emma and Monika.
It's not easy but IT'S WORTH IT!
Keep going - you've got this!