We first came across the Female Entrepreneur Association back in 2012 when we launched Katie & Jane. Since then, its founder Carrie Green has inspired us daily with her online support hub set up for female entrepreneurs all over the world. Here Carrie talks to us about her inspiration, goals, motivation and of course a few of her favourite things...
#1 What was
the a-ha moment that inspired you to create your own business?
My first ever a-ha moment was
back when I was 19… I’d run out of money while studying at university and found
an opportunity to start my own online business and very quickly realised how
unbelievably powerful the internet is. That was the moment that I knew I never
wanted a job, because I could achieve so much success for myself online.
A few years later I did have
another a-ha moment – that building a business really isn’t all about the
money. You have to have a lot of passion and love for what you do, otherwise it
becomes incredibly difficult. I fell out of love with my first business and
went soul searching and realised that I wanted to build a business that really
meant something to me and made a difference, which is when I came up with the
idea for the Female Entrepreneur Association.
#2 Why did you
choose the name ‘Female Entrepreneur Association’?
Because it sounded official and
because it had my primary keywords in ‘female’ ‘entrepreneur’, so I knew it
would rank well on Google.
#3 What was
the ethos behind the Female Entrepreneur Association?
My vision was to create an onlinehub to inspire and empower women from around the world to turn their ideas into
a reality and build successful businesses.
So many people are too afraid to
follow their heart and their dreams, because they think they’re not good
enough, or because they think they’ll fail, or because someone told them they
couldn’t do it. But we only have one life in which to achieve all the things we
want to achieve, so I want to help as many people as possible to make it
happen. I want to inspire and empower people to believe in themselves and be
amazing.
#4 What has
been your biggest challenge to date? And how did you overcome it?
Raising awareness of FEA. I started off with a network of
zero, I was publishing stories and no one was reading them – it was frustrating
and disheartening, but I just kept going. I set myself some goals – one of them
was that I wanted to get 25,000 fans on Facebook. I had no idea how I was going
to do it, but I took a screenshot of my fan page and I changed the number of
fans I had, using Photoshop, to 25,000 so I could see what my page would look
like when I’d reached my goal. I printed it out and put it in my goal box and
then kept working hard on making it happen. When it happened it was an amazing
moment.
The biggest lessons I learned
about raising awareness, building your audience and getting traffic are:
- You have to
go above and beyond to create amazing content – it’s all about adding value,
what compelling reasons are you giving to people to make them want to engage
with your business over and over again.
- You have to
get really clear on who your target audience are and make sure that everything
you do resonates and connects with them – the language you use, the images you
use, the products and services you create.
- You have to
know exactly what you’re trying to achieve – when you don’t know, the messages
you send out are blurry and confusing for people. You’ll waste time and you
won’t make the progress you want to make. At the beginning of each month, week
and day it’s important to get clear on what your intentions are and focus on
reaching them.
- You have to
take the time to learn as much as you can and then keep trying and trying. I’ve
managed to build FEA into a network of over 140,000 women because I’ve been
consistent, even when nothing seemed to be working, even when I’d had enough, I
kept going, because I trusted that somehow I’d make it happen.
#5 What’s the
business skill you’ve had to work hardest on improving since becoming an
entrepreneur?
Technology. All of my businesses have been
online and so the skill I’ve had to work hardest on is how to leverage the
internet. The online world provides so many opportunities for people – you can
be a one-man-band and build a successful, global business fast, if you know how
to leverage technology correctly.
#6 Have there
been any moments when you just wanted to pack it all in?
All the time. Building a business
is hard. You’re constantly trying to push yourself to do things that you don’t
know how to do, so you’re always coming up against challenges and setbacks – it
can be incredibly tough. But I’ve come to the realisation that it’s all part of
the journey.
Being an entrepreneur is a way of life – it’s like being on a rollercoaster
ride in the dark – there are ups and downs, it’s exciting, but can also be
scary as hell and most of the time we have no idea how things are going to work
out. There is a lot of uncertainty to deal with, because we can’t see into the
future and know for sure that our ideas and decisions are good ones.
I can’t tell you how many times
I’ve daydreamed about getting a job, so someone else could tell me what to do,
when to do it and what time I needed to arrive at work and leave work at. But I
just love the freedom and thrill of being an entrepreneur too much to quit.
#7 If you
weren't supporting female entrepreneurs every day with the FEA, what would you
be doing?
Probably something with animals
or children. I like helping and taking care of things, it definitely makes me
feel fulfilled.
#8 What keeps
you striving forward in business?
The thought that I only have one
life and I want to make it as amazing as I possibly can. I want to push myself
to grow as much as possible, I want to learn as much as I can, I want to make a
difference, I want to get to the end of my life and know that I did the best I
could to follow my dreams and live the life I wanted.
#9 Name one
future goal of the Female Entrepreneur Association
To open up the website and enable
people to contribute to it. We’ve had a few contributors in the past, but it’s
not been part of our strategy. But we’ve now set a goal to start sharing more
knowledge, expertise and help by bringing on wonderful people who have
something great to share.
#10 What is your favourite quote?
Ooo, I don’t know how I can
possibly choose! There are a few…
“Everything in life can be taken
away from you, except for your freedom to choose how you respond to the
situation” Viktor Frankl – this one helps me whenever something bad has
happened. It reminds me that I get to choose how it makes me feel and how I
respond.
“Successful people hang on when
everyone else has let go” I’m not sure who said that, but I love it! Whenever
I’m having a tough time I remind myself to be the person who is willing to hang
on.
“Your destiny is determined by
the choices you make. Choose now, choose well” Anthony Robbins – this quote
practically changed my life. It made me realise that I had to start making
consistently good decisions, if I wanted to live an amazing life and achieve
great things.
#11 A few of
your favourites…
Way to relax? Walking
my two black labs
Aid to well-being? Meditations
& guided visualisations
Fitness activity? Body
pump
Wine? Cloudy Bay
Sauvignon Blanc
Food? I’ve spent 10
minutes trying to narrow down my choices and I’m failing miserably! I love it
all!
Song? At the moment
it’s Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker (my boyfriend has got me into country music!)
App? YouTube
Social media platform? Facebook, because it has so many amazing tools for being able to share
content and engage with people.
Your hero? My parents – they’re
amazing.
And finally...
#12 what piece
of advice would you give to entrepreneurs to inspire them to give their dreams
a go?
Something that really pushed me
to start FEA was a chapter I read in The E-myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber (a
must read book!). He said something like…
Imagine walking into a room and sat on the chairs are your family
and friends. As you begin to walk down the centre of the room you see a box and
as you get to the front of the room you realise that you’re in the box, and
it’s your funeral.
What kind of things would you want people to be saying about the
kind of person you were, the kind of life that you lived and the kind of things
you achieved?
Don’t wait until the end to
realise who you want to be and what you want to achieve – start now. Life is
precious and it’s up to you to make the very best of it. I think that when you
look at life like that, nothing is too scary to go after. So just go for it, be the amazing person that
you’re meant to be and enjoy the journey.
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To find out more about Carrie and the Female Entrepreneur Association head to www.femaleentrepreneurassociation.com and connect to the network on Facebook, Pinterest & Twitter.
To read the full set of entrepreneur interviews on our blog click here.
Katie x
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