12 Women Investing in Themselves Like a Boss
YOU ARE YOUR BUSINESS' MOST IMPORTANT ASSET.
Well, hello there! You know what time it is, Babe. It’s time to party….. with business tips! So, get another cup of coffee and come sit with us. We’re chatting about how women invest in themselves. Last week we shared how women are incorporating sustainability into their biz & the week before we shared how ladies are giving back to their communities. What we’re learning through these different topics & stories is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to running a small business. Each of us has different goals and is in a different industry, and that’s great! Because we can learn from how one another handles the same situation. You know what else is great? We can each go our own way. That goes for investing in yourself, too! Do it your way; find the resources you need and soak it all in. Let’s do what’s best for each of us & support one another along the ride. Check out what these 11 amazing Boss Babes are doing to grow personally & professionally this year. And stay freaking boss. xx -G
Cedar & Megan Watson | Paper Goat Post // IG
“We promote togetherness through the lost art of snail mail, gathering in celebration, and the thoughtful art of giving. Our philosophies and business plan is very much about building (and investing in) community. We’ve created a strategy for growth focused on community. When we invest in community, our brand grows. We invest time in order to support other local businesses events by attending pop ups, Orlando Main Street events or attending The Dinner Party Project. It’s easy to get ‘too busy’ for events like these but it’s SO important to make the time investment and stay engaged in our local community. Promoting togetherness in our community also allows us to enrich our customers shopping experience. We give local recommendations & suggest other makers they may love! Our customers really look to us to have a knowledge of our community.
We’ve also found a great sense of community by attending industry markets. We attend the National Stationery Show annually. The first year we shop, shop, shopped… now we balance our time at NSS between shopping for products + connecting with other stationery shop owners. Our time & money spent traveling has become much more enriching.”
Orlando, FL
Chelsea Williams | That’s Chelsea // IG
“This year I am making an investment in The W.E.L.L. Summit on October 5-6, 2018 in Brooklyn, NY. The W.E.L.L. Summit is the premiere 360° Wellness conference that empowers women to live their healthiest lives through education and community. With approximately 800 attendees, this conference is for wellness enthusiasts, bloggers, professionals, and entrepreneurs seeking to learn from wellness experts, find their tribe, launch or grow their business, or discover new brands.”
Washington, D.C.
Devin Pope | Kindred Word // IG
“Books are my favorite (and budget-friendly) education tool. I swing by my local thrift store and browse the bookshelves monthly or pick up something specific on Amazon (often used.) Right now I'm re-reading Twyla Tharp's "The Creative Habit" and reading "A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to Managing Ourselves" by Ari Weinzweig for the first time. I also just picked up an Agatha Christie novel second-hand -- I'm a big believer in mixing up my reading. Next on my to-buy list is "Weird in a World That's Not" by Jennifer Romolini.
I'm also currently facilitating and re-working through the Anchor & Orbit business growth program. When I first took the program last year, it was a significant investment for me as a small business owner, but what I learned through it has paid me back over 4x. The A&O program is for small business owners, side-project-ers, writers (like me!) & creatives. It’s for people who might feel stuck & stifled in their current jobs or businesses. My favorite part of the course was that I got to explore & define my goals & find the path to get there.”
Tempe, AZ
Erika Vidal Holmes | Erika Vidal Holmes // IG
“This is the first year I've really invested in my continuing education as a copywriter and business owner, and one of my biggest regrets is waiting this long. This year I've invested in Marie Forleo's B-School, which is an 8-week online program, along with a monthly Copywriting mentorship program that I'm loving. It's kind of like a mastermind in that there are 8 of us in the group, and it's led by a really amazing copywriter who's well known in the industry. I'm also forever binge-listening to free podcasts, but I highly recommend buying the book "Building a StoryBrand"by Donald Miller to help you refine your marketing message. Next year, I hope to add a few live conferences to the mix!”
Tampa, FL
PHOTO BY JESSICA FREDERICKS PHOTOGRAPHY
Gina Moccio | Boss Babe Club // IG
“This year is special because we just celebrated our 1 year anniversary in June and I’m staying focused on how I want 2019 to look & feel. An investment I’m making is hiring The Creative Spring, an Online Business Manager, for 10 hours. This is going to help me improve my current workflows (which you can barely call the “I have it all in my head plus some of it in Trello" a workflow, ha) and upgrade some of the systems I’m using. The upgrades I'm adding to my business are going to help me maximize the time I spend on creating content like our blogs & videos, and will help me with client data management. Once this process is done, it'll also help me feel much better on the daily because I’ll be more organized. I’ve definitely done my best to be as efficient with time and resources as possible, but now that I’m a year in and I’m looking to grow our membership, I believe it’s best to invest in hiring a professional for a period of time to reach the absolute best outcome. Being able to take steps forward is always a good feeling.”
Tampa, FL
Ilana Mobley | FairyTail Pet Care // IG
"It is so important as an established business to continue growing & learning. In the beginning, you are constantly investing in yourself since you're starting from the ground up. You want to learn everything, do everything, network with everyone, and spend all of your time perfecting your processes & figuring out how you want to run your business. Once you get there, it's easy to fall into your routine & just continue doing what you know, especially when it's going well! However, there is so much more out there! We should always be working to better ourselves & the brands we represent. For example, we offer a GoPro Video Package for our clients (so they can have a wedding video from their pet's point of view!) While there was nothing wrong with our current process, we knew we could do better. We knew if we put the time & energy in to learning a more sophisticated new software, we could provide a higher quality video to our clients as well as produce a faster turnaround time. Learning a brand new software seemed daunting and time-consuming, but even with the huge learning curve we are now a couple months in & are SO happy we did it. It may have taken twice as long to edit in the beginning, but we have now cut our editing time in half & can clearly see how much better the final product is!”
Tampa, FL
Jennifer Bingham | Cru Cellars // IG
“I've put off joining networking groups or organizations like that over the years because I did not have time. I am finally at a point where I can devote the time to it, and I am already seeing it pay off in many ways. Of course I recently joined Babe Crafted, and I love the opportunity to get to know more women in my shoes! I also joined EO(Entrepreneur's Organization) last year, and it has really advanced my confidence and leadership skills and how I view things.
A great business book I recently read is "Traction" by Gino Wickman about ways to organize your company and the structure around meetings and getting stuff done. It may have been too much for me to read and implement a couple years ago when we were still super small, but with opening a second location this year and doubling our staff, this book came to me at the right time and it has already helped us put great systems in place to ensure we are successful.”
Tampa, FL
Joy Hmielewski | Joyelan Photography // IG
“This year I have been trying to join more groups in the area to grow personally and learn from other professionals. Community is so important for growing as an entrepreneur. I’m attending Tuesdays Together meetings, TPA Lady Project events, Creative Mornings and have been active with the community group for the Happy Thoughts Show. I have also met one-on-one with other creative professionals to discuss the local industry and building community.”
Tampa, FL
Lisa Gilmore | Lisa Gilmore Design // IG
“One of my FAVORITE things I do every year (well, this will be the third year) - I go to Scottsdale, Arizona for the "Women in Residential Construction" conference. It's such an empowering conference, I always leave feeling motivated and ready to take on the industry. They cover everything from leadership, to dealing with being women in a male dominated construction industry, and also just being badass women.
A book that I am currently reading and recommend to everyone is "Girl Wash Your Face" by Rachel Hollis. It's such a good read, and hits home on a lot of topics. We are surrounded with so many daily influences, social media, family pressure and what people "think of us". This book is so amazing and is such a good way to remind yourself that we are just human, we all have flaws, but we are strong and can kick ass.”
St. Petersburg, FL
Rana Tierney | Roohi Photography // IG
“2018 started as a rough year, but I always try to take whatever comes my way and look at it as a challenge. With any business there are ups and downs, so this year, I was so fortune to meet someone who lives and breathes marketing. So all my energy has been put in "planting the seeds" so my business can flourish in the long run. It's been a challenge because I'm an instant gratification person, but I know that I'm laying all the ground work. And this is one of THE most important things I can be doing for my business."
Tampa, FL
Tona Bell | The Paper Seahorse // IG
“I have been very lucky to go on a creative retreat every year. This year was Squam Art Workshops in New Hampshire. I’ve also been to The Makerie in Boulder, New York and Brooklyn. I’ve been to Art & Soul in Portland, OR as well. It is basically summer camp for adults with a little business mixed in. Taking creative classes, doing yoga all in a beautiful location... Being with your tribe is very grounding, inspiring and that creative high lasts for about six months and then you start planning the next one! I highly recommend it. I have always wanted to do one here in the South in our hometown of Tampa.”
Tampa, FL
