In Her Circle, we explored what draws us into business, and what stretches us as we grow.
If you had to imagine your business as a living being, what image would you choose?
A tree with roots reaching deep and branches stretching wide?
A river, flowing and meandering, sometimes flooding, sometimes calm?
In our circle, I harvested what called each woman to come into this space. On the left in blue, we named the challenges. On the right, written in orange, we captured the joys and passions that keep us going.
Here’s what emerged together:
The Challenges
Core Clarity – Who am I? How do I speak clearly, refine my message, define my role, and know where to start?
Knowing Your Audience – Where do I find clients, how do I build community, and what changes when I work locally vs globally?
Growth – How do I grow sustainably, introduce new offerings, move beyond selling only my own time, and explore passive income?
Getting Things Done – Prioritising tasks, focusing attention, organising digital life, emails, delegation, and using new tools like ChatGPT.
Brand & Visibility – Creating consistency in look, feel, and tone. Updating websites, using design tools, and showing up with confidence.
Finance – Managing cashflow, pricing, pensions, tax, and working with the anxieties numbers can stir up.
The Business & Me – Boundaries, impostor syndrome, valuing my own expertise, staying safe in visibility, and supporting ourselves as we step out into the world.
The Joys
I love to learn!
It’s light and effortless.
I feel no resistance.
It’s my time!
Freedom.
No matter how old I get.
I can bring all the pieces together.
My work is a little door into the world of imagination.
What struck me most in that moment was how these two lists belong together. We often believe that to run a successful business, we must remove the challenges and leave only the good things. But the truth is different. They are like yin and yang.
The challenges will never end — because they are the very conditions that stretch us, teach us, and help us grow.
And the joys? They are our oasis. They are the places where we rest, gather energy, and remember why we started in the first place. They give us lightness and freedom so that we can return to the work of growth with renewed strength.
This is the dance of business as a living system. Not a machine to be fixed, but something alive — changing shape, asking for attention in different places, flourishing when it is held in community.
This is what we need now more than ever, spaces to witness both the difficulty and the delight, side by side, in the company of others who understand. 🌿