Getting Started

Here’s the truth…

Being an entrepreneur and turning your ideas into a reality is like being on a roller coaster ride in the dark… you feel alone, you feel scared, there are ups and downs, you haven’t got a clue what’s coming next, but all the while you feel exhilarated, it’s exciting. You’re smiling, even though on the inside you’re thinking ‘what the hell am I doing!?’

I think we all feel like this at some point.

You have to just stay focused on what you’re trying to achieve, learn as much as you can, get inspired, build a network of support around yourself, keep going and keep the faith.

I really believe that every single one of us has the potential to turn our ideas into a reality and build successful businesses and live our lives on purpose, doing something that means something to us, doing something we love.

And our mission is to help you to do that – our aim is to provide you with the inspiration, tools and community you need to help you succeed.

You only get one life to achieve all the things you want to achieve, we want to help you to step and make it happen!

Our beliefs and values are entwined in everything we do, so you will always know what you can expect from us. 

DREAM BIG

Life is not a dress rehearsal. THIS. IS. IT. 

So we believe that every single one of us should make the absolute most of it.

Life is precious and we want to help people to make the most of it. Through out posts, videos and social updates we’re going to help you to dream big and have the courage to go for it.

BELIEVE

When you believe you can do something it can make you unstoppable.

We’re going to be the people day in, day out that believe in you.

We’re going to be here championing you on through this very website and all of our social media platforms, so stay connected with us & we’ll help you to succeed.

SUPPORT & FREINDSHIP

We’re here for you, to celebrate your successes and to catch you when you fall.

We all need a business bestie to celebrate with when things go well and to see us through and to encourage us to keep going when things don’t go so well!

We’ll be right here for you to keep you strong.

INSPIRE

We’re going to be here to keep you inspired every single day. We’re going to empower you with words that ring so true, it will get that fire going inside of you.

The one that makes you feel ready to take on the world. The one that makes you feel like you can do it.

Because you can, but sometimes it’s easy to forget, so we’re going to remind you.

BE REAL

There’s only one of you in the universe. That’s a big deal. You are one of a kind and we think you should own it.

Around here you can be yourself.

Sometimes people can feel like they’re not good enough,  so they try to be something they’re not, but it doesn’t work. We believe in authenticity, honesty and integrity. 

We’re going to be true to ourselves every day through every post, every tweet, every image we share and we encourage you to do the same.

If you believe in the same things and are striving to achieve wonderful things and make the most of your life, then I think we’re going to get on very nicely. 

So you may be wondering how exactly we’re going to help you to build a successful business and get the inspiration, help and support to succeed. Well let me tell you what we’ve got to help you…

:: POPULAR POSTS & VIDEOS ::

:: GOODIES ::

:: RESOURCES ::

If you’re looking to become part of a community of like-minded women who are passionate and determined to build successful businesses and live a life doing something they love, then come and join us over in our Members’ Club.

:: FIND OUT MORE ABOUT JOINING HERE ::

The Members’ Club is for women looking to turn their ideas into a reality and build successful businesses. Whether you’re just starting out or have been running your business for years, you’ll find the strategies and support to help you succeed. It’s made up of female entrepreneurs from all over the world, running all types of businesses – service based business, product based business and online and offline businesses!

As a member you will get access to a thriving community of female entrepreneurs to get help and support from and you’ll also get access to exclusive monthly bundles to help you succeed in business. Our month bundles typically include:

• Workbooks + guides
• Video training
• Guided visualisations to help you focus your mind
• Checklists to help you stay on track
• Inspiration
• Live Masterclasses
• Live Q&A Sessions

Here’s a selection of some of the bundles you’ll get access to. Click on the images below to find out more & access them.

 If you think the Members’ Club might be for you, have a read of what some of our existing members think about it…

“I am so grateful that you had the idea of creating FEA!! I’m a Portuguese woman and recently created my own business: a company that organises and manages events, UNTAPPED EVENTS.

I found FEA’s Members’ Club THE most important tool for my business and me personally; your tools and resources guides me, inspires me, makes me want to fight for my dream of making my business successful and creating abundance in my life.

These women are making it happen and you can join them.”

Lina Assis Lopes, UNTAPPED EVENTS, Ltd 

“I love the Members’ Club! I was hesitating if to invest the money (which was actually an investment in MYSELF, right?) and I am so happy I did it. The money is more than worth it. During the three months since I subscribed to the Members’ Club, I feel my personal development was jumpstarted. One of the best things was the Best year planning – I never did it (except some vague New year’s resolutions) and it helped me so so much to get clear on what I actually want to achieve and create a plan how to achieve it. I thought 2013 was my best year ever, but it seems it’s been just the beginning :-), thanks to Carrie, I feel like I have my personal coach who keeps me on track! Thank you!!!”

Jana Pekna, Founder of Jana Penka

“What I love most about the Members Club is that it is an open and honest forum where other like minded business women are there to support, offer advice and share their successes, challenges and even resources!  Carrie herself is a very helpful and knowledgeable business woman and truly cares about each member and their success.

The monthly challenges and their accompanying resources are fantastic and a great way to focus and work on a particular area of your business. They are created in a way that makes you take action each and every day.  Both myself and my business have moved forward in great leaps since being part of the Members Club. If you really want to succeed in business then this is the club for you!”

Katie-Eula Thompson, Owner & Designer Zorluna- Jewellery & Accessories

“Carrie has a knack of crystallising the issues that are faced by women who work in their own business and the Member’s Club offers great ideas and workbooks that encourage one to take valuable time out of a business to focus on where you are headed”

Emily Whitehead, Simply Staffordshire

“This club is like having a pretty little package at your doorstep everyday. You can open it up and know that inside it you will get relevant content, supportive feedback and amazing resources that will help you grow your business.

It’s truly a gift to be around such amazing, driven, helpful and smart women. If you are thinking about joining, go for it. No matter what stage you are at; you are worth it and so is your business.”

Tamara Hackett, Your Pretty Pages

The Female Entrepreneur Association started on a day in February…

The winter that had just passed seemed more gloomy than normal; everything seemed greyer and more miserable! There was one reason for this – I wasn’t happy, in fact I was totally miserable.

I had reached the end of my tether with everything and I felt hopeless. I often wonder how I let it get that far, but I guess these things happen.

Just under six years earlier…

I was going into my second year of studying Law at university. During my first year I spent more money that I actually had… like most students! Not only had I reached my overdraft limit, I had spent the whole of my student loan for that year too (on clothes I might add!). So when an opportunity came about to start a business I was more than interested.

The business was mobile phone unlocking – at the time I didn’t even know what mobile unlocking was! I had no real clue about business either, but I had nothing to lose, so I came up with a name and got started.

I decided to call it “Easy Mobile Unlock”. I bought the domain and put a terrible website together myself and set up an adwords account. You may be wondering how I did all that with zero knowledge of the internet… I asked as many people as I could, who were far more clued up than I was. It worked, because I managed to fumble my way through.

So, I had a service to sell, a website, a Google Adwords account and a credit card. I was ready to go…

I started with a £30 daily spending limit on my Adwords account and I tested different adverts and played around with my website (a lot). It wasn’t long before I really got in the swing of things – all of a sudden I’d gone from clueless to clued up. All of it was down to learning as much as I could and then applying what I’d learnt. I remember sometimes it would literally hurt my head to comprehend something for the first time – you know that feeling when you just haven’t got a clue what you’re doing?

As the months of my second year at university passed by my business was becoming more and more profitable. It was a bit of a challenge trying to study and develop my business and keep on top of customer support – although I do believe that the busier you are the more you get done.

Second year drew to a close and boy was I in a different financial position to what I had been the year before! It was exciting and I really got the bug for learning.

During my second year summer my law degree came in handy…

I received a letter one day from a massive law firm telling me that I was “passing off” as Easy Group and that I had to give them my domain name immediately and stop trading as Easy Mobile Unlock. I couldn’t believe it! Had they not looked at my website?? It was awful and there was no way in a million years that people would accidentally think that it was anything to do with Easy Group!

I thought it was laughable, unfortunately other businesses with the same problem didn’t. Companies with the prefix “easy” were being dissolved left, right and centre. I was horrified.

So, I headed to a bookshop and bought a massive book on intellectual property rights. It was the only book I could find which had any information on passing off in it!

After a little bit of research I was convinced that I was not passing off, so I learnt how to send a legal letter and gave them a professional piece of my mind! After several letters and a few phone calls I was delighted when they dropped it. It felt good to be a second year law student who had defended herself against one of the largest law firms.

During my third year…

I decided to go to night school to learn more about web development. I had realised how powerful the internet was and I wanted to know more. I also wanted to get a good degree, so I recorded all my lectures on a Dictaphone and typed them up (which took me hours), so when I came to revise I would have good notes.

Third year went by quickly and I graduated with a great law degree and a business which was doing really well. It felt good.

Now came the question of “what shall I do now?”

I had a decision to make:

1. I could do the Law Practitioners Course and become a lawyer;

2. I could keep building the business;

3. I could try and do both?!

So, I applied for the LPC and carried on building the business.

By this point I’d brought on board a business partner to help me grow it. We got a new supplier in America, so we could unlock practically every single phone in lots of countries. Then we focused on marketing.

We went all out on our SEO, so that we would be number one on the organic search. We outsources the Adwords management to a company that were experts at it and we developed the website.

It was around this time that social media was taking off, so I put a blog together, set up a YouTube account, a Twitter account, a Facebook Fanpage and got friendly with customers.

We also developed an affiliate programme, corporate bulk unlocking and a referral strategy.

Things really took off…

We were receiving 100,000 hits to the site every month and we were selling thousands of codes every month… support was a challenge.

So, I had a look on Elance.com and posted a job for someone to look after our customer support. I interviewed lots of different companies and then we settled on one. We built an entire support system, so we could keep our customers happy.

The key for us was to systemise everything, so it ran like clockwork. That way the business could run without my business partner and myself.

Making money whilst you sleep, party and holiday is fun… but what happens when you’re not doing any of those things?

This is when the problems started. I was 23, I had a successful business that ran itself, so I had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted… which was?? I had no idea.

All my friends had jobs, I rarely met new people, because I worked from home… so I became really lonely and bored.

I would constantly ask myself, “what do you want to do?”, “what do you like doing”. One day I decided to volunteer at an animal rescue sanctuary! Let me tell you now… it’s not the best place to meet new people!!

So, after that I decided to become a business mentor with the Prince’s Trust, which I loved, but it wasn’t a great way of meeting people either.

In February of 2010 I decided I needed to do something drastic, so I went to meet my friend in Australia.

3 months of meeting new people, having a good time and not worrying about what I was going to do. It was brilliant… and then I had to come home.

All my problems were still there when I got back…

It almost felt worse, because I had hoped so much that I’d have an epiphany whilst in Australia. I didn’t.

Months passed by and I felt so lost. I felt so defeated and confused. I decided that the best thing for me would be to get a job.

New Year arrived and things looked gloomy. I felt overwhelmed with negative emotions – I was really dragging myself down and I didn’t know how to stop it.

Then one day it hit me…

I had to take control of the situation and stop being miserable. I read a quote by Anthony Robbins, he said, “your destiny is determined by the choices you make. Choose now. Choose well.” I realised I had to change my attitude; I had to program myself for success. So that’s exactly what I did.

That day in February…

Is when I decided that I was going to start a project to find like-minded women who had been or were in a similar situation to me. I thought that it’d help inspire me and it would be fun.

So, I put a website together and started searching online for women who I could publish stories on and that is how the Female Entrepreneur Association began.

I think Goethe was right when he said…

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back– Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

And now…

The Female Entrepreneur Association has not only inspired me, but it’s inspired other people too and that makes me smile.

I hope it can help comfort the people that are feeling confused or miserable, because everyone has times like that – it’s just that not many people like to talk about it. However, the stories I’ve published on here are honest and frank and tell the journeys of the good times and the bad times of different people.

Everyone has a story to tell that will inspire others, so I want to create a platform for people to be able to do just that.

We have all faced challenges and overcome them; we have all done some great things and probably some not so great things too. Let’s share our experiences and help to inspire each other.

Please get involved.

Love, Carrie xx

:: CARRIE’S TEDx TALK ::

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