2020 Snapshot — 7 Women, 7 Businesses, 1 She-cession
So, 2020 — WTF. Skipping over most of what could be said about last year, the up-side was that it was the year that I met some incredible, courageous women doing some pretty awesome shit in the face of what the year was throwing at us.
It was also the year I thought …for the thousandth time… — omigod — why don’t MORE people know about these women, the cool stuff they are doing and the impact they are having??
Because most of the REAL rock stars I meet — the one actually impacting lives and making change — aren’t the people self-advertising as rock stars , it occurred to me,
“these women need their story told! there are people out there who need to know about them, for their knowledge, their energy or just the inspiration of the life they are living.
And that’s what She’s All That video podcast is all about.
And the 7 women — all of them entrepreneurs — are all true 2020 stories.
The impact that the events of last year had on these women tell the story of the people, the small businesses and the rise in entrepreneurship in 2020.
Each of them were all trying to ride 2020 issues as they either started their business — by necessity or choice -, pivoted business focus to surf the tidal wave, or modified operations to deal with new limitations to how they could do business.
One — just one — was already operating in a way that was pandemic-proof. Her operations give us glimpse into what a resilient future-ready business model could look like.
The Context — Women, 2020 and the ‘She-cession’
As backdrop to these stories, we need some context for a year that brought us what economists are calling the She-cession; economic reporting that was lost in the insane news cycles of the last year — and possibly, as Linda Scott asserts in the Double X Economy, economists don’t tend to look at women as a significant economic demographic.
Here’s a taste of how COVID impacted women’s careers, employment, and finances — their lives:
- estimates are that women’s gains in the work force have been set back by more than a decade; some say closer to 3 decades ; to where they were on 1990
- there are 2.2 million fewer women in the workforce than there were at the start of 2020
- 865,000 women left the workforce in September alone
- The average working mother — single or otherwise — saw an additional 27 hours added to her week in new child and educated-related responsibilities
- study by lean in, one in four women reported that they were faced with downsizing their careers or leaving the workforce as a result of the COVID crisis.
- even for women who kept employment, 37% had pay cuts, less than half — 44% — of those have had their pay restored,
- for ALL working women, their hours (and pay) dropped by an average of 19%
- and god help you if you’re over 50 and lost your job — it’s estimated that over half of those women will never be re-employed …
…which would explain the avalanche of new female entrepreneurs in the online space.
Having set that stage, here’s a glimpse into these 7 women’s pandemic entrepreneurial journey. Keep in mind that these women are not tech- wizards, marketing mavens or business school grads — just experts in their fields, needing to “make it work” and doing it THEIR way.
Janelle Benjamin came to my notice last summer as she was rapidly building her new solo consultancy as a Diversity, Equity and inclusion expert after she had been phased out of a municipal DEI initiative — cuz, as we just keep seeing even in 2021 — the racism thing is just over, right? Taking all her qualifications, skills and experience, she DIY’d her own DEI consultancy , All Things Equitable, to help organizations efficiently implement their own unique solutions — and since research has repeated shown that lack of diversity and equity IS actually hurting you business in myriad ways — you NEED a solution. Not content with just learning the entrepreneurial ropes, Janelle also launched her own YouTube channel , White and Woke at Work, interviewing white allies about issues of race in the workplace.
Tara Thompson also hit my radar last summer soon after the George Floyd murder and subsequent summer of protests. This heightened moment of focus on the deprivations imposed by racism spurred Tara to leave her position at a for-profit (read between those lines as you will) hospital to use her talents as a prenatal educator, certified nursing assistant, and doula to create not one but three business services to make a difference in the appalling situation of maternal mortality and help new mother-to-be have a safe birth and have the best start for their baby. Through her company, Tara’s Birth Services, Tara now delivers prenatal education and mentoring online, has created an amazing subscription box service for pregnant women to give them the exact items and products they need for each trimester and the post-natal period, AND — horrified by the role the food insecurity plays in the high maternal mortality numbers, she even launched a growing charity to help bring food to new mothers at risk — Nourish in Atlanta.
Like so many people whose business was based on live events, Susan Boelman had been running her outdoor adventures and retreats for women in Montana until a world pandemic brought her business RCKN It!, to a screeching halt. Losing income, a life style and a business model — combined with a marked lack of enthusiasm for tech — Susan kept her Facebook community together, modeling to a suddenly stressed anxiety-ridden audience how we could be getting out in nature to stay healthy and sane during a pandemic, and — by autumn, had harnessed technology to bring her clients digital products and virtual outdoor teaching events — even a virtual ‘how to snow-shoe’ event. Who saw THAT coming?
Laurie Stewart — actually an early COVID patient with debilitating effects last man months, saw her life and business hugely impacted. As a naturopathic nutritionist and wellness consultant, one of her decades-long income streams as ambassador for a highly regarded health supplement company. Their response to 2020 was to overhaul their sales model, essentially wiping out income for a huge number of women. Left with what had been a largely face-to-face consultancy, Laurie had to retool, adding online consultations with clients to her business model and figuring out how to market this virtually.
Tahsha Bennett, who had already suffered her own career set-backs due to past physical injury, had found authorship, online publishing through her business, RoyalReads LLC, and in 2020 published her 4th self-help book, “Depression During COVID” to share the strategies and techniques she had learned to overcome trauma and depression. Tahsha added online coaching and, in the dying days of last year — after being on the She’s All That podcast, decided that podcasting would be the perfect addition to her business and how she helped her clients, and founded her own podcast “I Said It with No Edit”.
Caroline Ferguson, CEO Mindset Trainer and Cognitive Behavioral Hypnotherapist, saw her business go almost exclusively online last year. Her plans for 2020 had been a year of travel, adventure and discovery — all while continuing to run her business. The pandemic had it’s own version of adventure in store, which necessitated adjustments to how Caroline worked with clients, the addition of digital products and programs around mindset and using self-hypnosis. Having the added responsibility of helping elderly parents living in Scotland deal with the demands and deprivations of lock-down, she also diversified her income streams with an entry into property rentals.
Heidi Hackler, author and holistic health coach, was the entrepreneur most prepared for what 2020 threw at us. For the last 7 years, Heidi has lived aboard and run her business from her 40 foot sailboat on the Pacific coast of Mexico. She has done all this online for years and offers programs, consultations and also reps a line of supplements that she recommends for her clients, and all from the galley of her boat. When the necessity for isolation arose, Heidi and husband Kirk were already well set-up for that, able to independently live aboard, store the food and supplies they would need for weeks at a time, AND stay in touch with all her clients.
A couple of takeaways for women that come from all these stories:
- you need to have more than one stream of income
- you need to be ready to overcome your issues with tech and get your biz online
- you need to be creative, resilient and flexible to meet the demands of business today
Business is not what it was even just one year ago and we’re not going back. These gals were up for the challenge.
You can hear all of my interviews with these gals at the Shes All That video podcast or watch the conversations on YouTube. You’ll be glad you did.
If you know a woman that is “All That” — ’doing awesome shit, impacting lives and making change’ that you think the world should know about, let’s make that happen!
