3 Female Entrepreneurs Inspiring Me
2023 is feeling like a big year. I’ve got big plans, big dreams, big ideas. (If you’re curious read my recent Happy Birthday to Me post. While sharing my art has been a big focus of this blog and my social media channels, I am also doing a lot of things behind the scenes, such as reading, listening to podcasts and attending free live workshops and webinars. Below I wanted to share three women that are currently inspiring me this year in case they might inspire you too.
Those three women are:
Bonnie Christine
Amy Porterfield
Jenna Kutcher
Bonnie Christine
I talked about Bonnie Christine briefly in my birthday post. I took a free online class she offered in December 2022 where I learned how to turn a sketch into a repeating pattern that I then got printed as fabric. This five day mini course on pattern design really blew my mind, but it was just my introduction to Bonnie Christine and the resources she has available. I started to follow her on social media, learned more about her surface pattern design course Immersion, and her online membership Flourish. I also happened to discover her right when she was starting her podcast The Professional Creative Podcast, which has focused not only on her personal journey as an artist, but also ways to start or grow a creative business. I find her story of being a self-taught designer and her focus on helping people build careers that are profitable and sustainable to be really inspiring. One thing I didn’t realize was how many alumni of her course that I already follow online. Her teaching focuses on surface pattern design, but her alumni have a variety of businesses from print shops, to sticker businesses, to one on one coaching, in addition to their work as designers.
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Amy Porterfield
I discovered Amy Porterfield when she was on Bonnie Christine’s podcast promoting her new book Two Weeks Notice. I think both Christine and Porterfield know each other because they are both part of the same mastermind group. Porterfield started out in the corporate world, but now she helps people create online businesses with a focus on digital courses. She has her own online program called Digital Course Academy and she hosts the podcast Online Marketing Made Easy, which has over 500 (!) episodes. After listening to Porterfield on Christine’s show, I actually pre-ordered her book. Now you might not know this, but I almost never buy books. I am a library girl through and through, and buying books is something I rarely do. But for whatever reason, something in my gut told me I needed this book. So I used my Amazon points and it was mine. Many of the themes of her book were not entirely new to me, but for whatever reason I was reading them when I needed them. Her book helped me figure out how to organize my time, prioritize creating content in a sustainable way, how to take my social media presence seriously but not personally, and how to recognize that I’m just in my starter idea phase and the point is to do something rather than worry about the end goal. Before I read Two Weeks Notice, I was hoping for one blog post a month and to try and post on my social media a few times a week. Currently, I am blogging two times a month, posting five days a week on socials, and I have a monthly newsletter. I first read her book in February 2023 and I just reread it again during my birthday week to refocus on how I want the rest of the year to go. I really enjoy her podcast as well. She has exposed me to other entrepreneurs and a lot of marketing ideas that I hadn’t considered before. A key component to her business strategy is working effectively so that you have more time to live the life you want.
Jenna Kutcher
I found out about Jenna Kutcher through Amy Porterfield. (Side note: I’ve discovered that once you start following people in a particular niche, in this case female entrepreneurs that have online businesses, you discover that they all seem to know each other somehow.) I started following Jenna Kutcher online because she focuses on online marketing, which I learned about while listening to Porterfield’s podcast. Kutcher also has a podcast: The Goal Digger Podcast that I now listen to regularly, she has over 700 episodes!! I think I relate to her the most though for the simple reason that she is my age. She just seems like a normal person who worked really hard, asked for help when she needed to, and is constantly asking the same kinds of questions I am asking myself. She started off as a wedding photographer and a blogger and has built her business from there. One thing I have found really helpful is that she has a lot of free webinars that you can take. Her free stuff is to get you to buy her paid stuff (of course), but I’ve found that her free stuff is really really good. I’ve taken her webinars on Pinterest strategy and how to start and grow an email list. She also had a book come out earlier this year, How are you, Really?, which I finished after my re-read of Amy Porterfield’s book. I think my biggest takeaway from her book is the idea that you can always pivot and that pivoting isn’t necessarily starting over. You are the sum of all of your experiences and you bring those experiences with you whenever you make a change.
I am loving all of the painting that I am accomplishing this year, but that is only part of the story. I am enjoying finding new resources that continue to inspire and motivate me in different ways. Have you heard of any of these women before today? Are there any other blogs, podcasts, or books you would recommend?