Lifting the Curtain
Late last year, I jetted off to Melbourne, invited by Fiona Johnston from Peach Business Management to join a campaign called Lifting the Curtain [launched today].
Initially, the offer seemed too good—I genuinely thought my husband was pranking me, cool things like this just don’t happen to me. But once I realised it was for real, I leapt at the chance. Little did I know, those few Melbourne days would become a catalyst for significant changes.
Featured in a documentary-style series, where kick-arse businesswomen tackled questions about the woo-woo realm of business finance. Trusting Fi, having worked closely with her last year, I dove into the challenge, even though the questions were often ... spicy.
And, consequently, emotion-evoking for me.
Like many small businesses, navigating the past few years has been a rollercoaster. Impact oscillating from awesome to awful at a pace inducing permanent whiplash. Last year brought a noticeable shift. Hurdles arose again, leading to beyond our control external decisions impacting us [yet again], and requiring some big choices. One business closed, another transformed [that after some restful months—watch out!], and a third emerged with more opportunities than we ever imagined.
But it wasn’t until I sat with some of the most kick-arse businesswomen I’ve met that I fully grasped the enormity of everything we’d created, survived, evolved, and were now ending while birthing something new.
The SUPPORT, TRANSPARENCY, KINDNESS, and wealth of experience were suffocatingly amazing and strength-inducing.
When it was my turn on camera, I nerve-citingly answered every question without [much] trepidation. Yet, it was the off-script question thrown at me —"how does it feel to slow down?"— that invoked immediate leaky eyeball action.
Why? For the longest time, I’d measured my worth by how much I did, a common trait among many businesswomen. The "slow-down" concept was foreign to me until pointed out, and the impact of this realisation was profound. Now, months later, I still get that tingly/teary feeling. But man, has it fuelled change.
Decisions we’d been contemplating became clear. Bold actions were taken and our tolerance of misalignment changed. And all this happened fast — like, 8 days fast.
All due to that one evoking question, in that one moment with the support and encouragement of Fi.
What Fi has launched today without a doubt will be pretty ace. If you are a woman in business, sign-up and check it out.
We need more platforms that empower, fuel knowledge and connection, and bolster women with confidence to be transparent and share experiences … the potential your experience, character, journey and support can provide for someone else is pure goodness of the highest level. [And bravo to Fi for designing a way to communicate, embrace and support women in the business community]