Read our How She Did It ® stories of female entrepreneurs from around the world and get inspired and empowered to succeed in your own business. We’ve published stories on a wide range of women, from girls in their teens, to women in their sixties, from student entrepreneurs, to mum entrepreneurs! From women who quit their job to start a business, to women who were made redundant and so started a business. These women come from all over the world – from the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, India and more! But despite all of their differences, these women do have a few things in common – they are all passionate, determined and committed to turning their ideas into a reality, building successful businesses and living a life the dream of and LOVE. I hope their stories inspire you and leave you feeling fired up, ready to achieve incredible things!
If you have an inspiring story you’d like to share, find out more here >>
Search stories by age
Quit Job Started Business
Read stories about women who quit their job to start a business. Discover the challenges they faced and how they overcame them, read about how they found the courage to leave their job and more! >> Go
Spotted an opportunity at work
These women spotted an opportunity to start a business while at work. So they quit their job and started their business! Found out how they did it >> Go
Quit Job Started Business
Read stories about women who quit their job to start a business. Discover the challenges they faced and how they overcame them, read about how they found the courage to leave their job and more! >> Go
Made Redundant Started Business
Read stories about women who were made redundant and then started a business. >> Go
Search stories by country
We have published stories on women from many different countries: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Nigeria, India, Russia, South Africa
Mum Entrepreneurs
Read stories about women who have started a business and have children too. Some of them decided to start their business to spend more time with their children and some were inspired to start a business because of their child. >> Go
Student Entrepreneurs
Read stories about women who started a business whilst studying! How do you juggle studying and running a business? Find out from these women. >> Go
Overcame a Personal Challenge
Read stories about women who overcame a personal challenge and set up a business- inspirational! >> Go
Hobby to Business
These women turned their hobby into a business. Find out how they did it here. >> GO
Latest Stories
5 THINGS TO TRY THIS MONTH // DECEMBER
This month, the lovely ladies in the Members’ Club are sharing their tips to help you take your life and business to the next level. We hope you have an amazing Dece... More
How Chrissy Moved to Costa Rica and Grew Her Social Media Busines...
hrissy Gruninger empowers individuals in creating more harmony in their lives and supports professionals in creating more harmony in the world. Chrissy is the author of t... More
HOW SHE DID IT // How Andrea Sexton grew her PR business from her...
n the past 4 years, Andrea Sexton has grown her PR business from her kitchen table and having 2 clients to having 14 clients and 2 part time assistants. She now has an ... More
HOW LAURA BARTLETT DEFIED THE ODDS AND STARTED A SUCCESSFUL TRAVE...
few years ago, Laura Bartlett stood in front of millions of viewers on Dragons' Den and was told that her idea of producing a travel/fashion magazine with the money ... More
Jumping from Finance to Fashion
Paula left the finance world to start her own vintage fashion boutique. Making the business a true success was a real struggle for her, but she didn't give up. Her pers... More
This is Your Life to Live
Johannah took what she had learned at her job and created a business with the knowledge and experience she already had. Her story is a great reminder that we all have k... More
Helping Women Harmonize Life and Business
Luisa has a remarkable story that starts with learning that she had cancer right before she was about to leave for a year studying abroad. Her attitude and faith got ... More
Be authentic, be rad, be generous
Fab's story shows that if you want to build a successful business, you have to understand what success means to you and be authentic in who you are. She has achieved th... More
Starting a Twins Gift Company
Karen Davidson and Lindsey Civil are twins and together they've built a business that offers gifts for other twins, triplets, and their families. They started complet... More
Helping Women Look and Feel Their Best
Michaela is passionate about helping women embrace their own signature style and look their best in clothing that truly suits their body shape. She has built her buis... More
Paid to Draw Pictures
Eli's entrepreneurial journey started with a book that inspired her to live her life on her own terms. Now she gets paid to do what she loves - illustration work. Read ... MoreWork in Your Zone of Genius
Clarissa experienced an event that led her to realize that she simply couldn't continue to do work that made her miserable. A few months later, she launched an energy h... More
Find Your Inner Compass
Nancy carried a dream with her for many years to be a part of life in Mongolia and make a difference there. She has achieved this through her business Tengri - a Briti... MoreBuilding a Holistic Coaching Business
Sile started her holistic coaching business so that she could define what success meant to her on her own terms. She's passionate about helping people design authentic ... More
Starting an information technology business
In this story, Lavanya shares the steps she took to start her technology company. Her business is brand new and even though she has to deal with the challenges of hav... More
Transforming Lives
Sandy started her project with a bold dream - transform the lives of the women entrepreneurs of Zimbabwe. Through creativity and persistence, she's found a unique way t... More
Get Your Mojo Back
Ruth started her lifestyle design business after she noticed other female entrepreneurs working hard on their careers, but struggling in the self-care department. Rea... More
Helping Women Find Their Inner Athlete
Shauna was blogging about her fears around running when a coach reached out to her and helped her run a 5K race. From there, they became a team and went on to build an ... More
Be the Change
When Jamie couldn't find many options for organic, vegan places to eat, she created one - ORAWGI - a charming cafe in Brisbane, Australia. Read how she did it below... ... More
Igniting Your Bliss
After realizing that many of the women she saw around her were "unhappy for one reason or another," Melissa decided that she wanted to bring inspiration and mindfulness... More
Bloom Wide Open
Abigail overcame a troubled past and has embraced a life of GIVING. Blending psychology with soul, she helps women use their personal stories to light a fire to their... More
Don’t Be Afraid to Take a Risk
Zoe started a UK travel website called Crisp White Sheets. She connects unique hotels to people with unique tastes and her team provides the service of giving a perso... More
Think Big, Dream Big
Saija's story shows great insight into the the everyday life of an entrepreneur. Having grown up in a family of entrepreneurs, she's able to see that the constant ups a... More
Starting a Sitters Agency
Malou and her friend Sheena started a smart, simple service connecting people in Barbados with reliable nannies, house sitters, and pet sitters. Their story shows how i... MoreBuilding a Marketing Agency
When her husband came home lamenting that he couldn't find a telemarketing agency for his client's needs, Caroline decided to lend a helping hand. That was the beginn... More
Starting a Clothing Business
Sky started a clothing business in her 20s that made millions of dollars in sales. After the venture failed and she lost everything, Sky had to make the decision to ove... More
Success is Always Under Construction
Learning how to build a brand and a blog gave Nicole the tools to reinvent her life while she was confined to her hospital bed during a high risk pregnancy. Through her... More
From hobby to business
Tola decided to become a full-fledged jewelry designer after 4 years of feeling unfulfilled at her job. She took one step at a time, cutting down her hours at her job f... More
Playing it Safe is not Living
Halley Gray knows from intimate experience that life is too short to play it safe. She left her office job and embraced the adventure of being an entrepreneur. Through ... MoreBuilding an Online Retail Store for Women’s Activewear
Allison noticed that women were being left behind when it came to having options for stylish golf clothing. So she started a business that is now successfully filling t... More
Bootstrapping doesn’t have to be ugly!
Becky started her business to help bloggers and entrepreneurs learn how to design like professionals...because "bootstrapping doesn't have to be ugly!" Read how she did... More
We Can Always Choose Our Attitude
While in the midst of overcoming breast cancer, Ros Cardinal resolved to do the things she had put putting off for "another day." One of those things was starting her o... More
Helping Women Master the Art of a Healthy Pregnancy
Fiona and her husband created a special app to help women take control of their well-being during and after pregnancy. In doing so, Fiona has been able to create the fr... More
“Beautiful in their skin.”
Stephanie is passionate about helping women achieve their health goals, starting right in their kitchen. She started out with a website, then self-published a cookboo... More
“Just start your own business. NOW.”
Vannessa walked away from a career as a Criminal Psychologist to embrace another adventure - owning her own business. She opened an online jewellery boutique called Lux... More
Breaking Free of the Cubicle
When Rama lost her 8-5 job, she had an epiphany - in addition to searching for a new job, she would maximize her chances at financial security by looking for clients fo... More
Becoming a Career Lifestyle Coach
Nelize found so much joy in guiding students and graduates to success in the working world that she went on to create Shift4ward - a career lifestyle platform for youn... More
Building a Virtual Assistant Business
Stephanie started her virtual assistant business as a result of wanting to bring in extra income while she was on maternity leave. Today she is driven by a "Why" that... More
Building a Life Coaching Business
Brenda knew she couldn't put off her dream to become a life coach any longer and so she took a leap of faith and started her business to help women entrepreneurs harn... More
I Will Not Let Them Down
Janelle is passionate about providing fashionable apparel choices for women with dwarfism after enduring frustration over the lack of options for her own daughter who w... More
Never Give Up
Rachel launched into the fitness profession at the age of 16. She started her own franchise and is building a fitness business that stands up to bigger companies - al... More
Taking Life by the Reins
Jessica took a creative sabbatical that opened up a world of rich experiences and adventures and led to the discovery of a new business idea. She's created a community ... MoreMake Your Own Path
Lina launched into the entrepreneurial world when she started an event management company while balancing her 9-5 job. Now she's looking forward to going full time into... MoreBuilding a Publishing Business
Rochelle followed her childhood dream to "read books all day for a living" and started her own publishing company. She shares an awesome perspective on dealing with cha... More
Owning a Wedding Photography Business
Natasha felt the entrepreneurial life calling her through the beauty of owning a photography business. She shares how she was able to plan and execute her transition ou... More
Don’t Ever Settle
Steffanie stumbled upon a love for soap making while recovering from brain surgery. Today she has a successful business called Old Town Suds with products made from edi... MoreBuilding an Events Management Company
Megan wanted to create an Events Management company that is both friendly, personal and professional. She's achieved that with her business partner and has overcome the... More
Imagination Creates Reality
Alexandra found the opportunity she was looking for in a health & wellness company. Now she cherishes the freedom and flexibility of being able be with her family, ... MoreCreating Opportunities in Real Estate
Nikita has created a business that solves a very specific conundrum within the real estate industry. By being creative and focusing on truly helping people and building... More
Redefining the Fashion Industry
Bridgette left her practice as a lawyer and dedicated herself to a new dream - starting her own fashion line. She and her business partner found a creative way to suc... More
