Why I launched The Female Creative

Hannah Roper, 40, from Portsmouth started The Female Creative, coaching creative women to start their own business.

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Photo Credit Aurora Way - Liberty Photography

The Female Creative is a business born out of lockdown 2020. I help creative women to reduce overwhelm, prioritise their workload and develop their passion into an income-generating business

Through 1-2-1 coaching and a monthly membership, I support women in organising all their amazing ideas, setting achievable goals to turn them into action plus streamlining processes and increasing their visibility to develop their business and income.

I also work for a large aviation company in the learning and development department, consulting and coaching those around me. Plus I am a mum, festival organiser and country music singer-songwriter!

Starting The Female Creative

I have had a varied career history including music teacher, primary school teacher, police officer and network marketing. All of these have taught me so many skills I use in my business.

As you may be able to tell I enjoy being busy so prioritisation and organisation are important to me, plus having the right stationery! 😜

Photo Credit Aurora Way – Liberty Photography

The membership has also grown into local networking events held in Portsmouth as I became so aware of the positive impact of having the right tribe around you. It is such a joy to see the membership group flourish and cheerlead for each other. It is an absolute dream come true!

Launching a podcast

And as if all of that wasn’t enough in 2021 I also launched my podcast, The Female Creative Talks. I interview women from various industries and stages of business about their experiences and top tips. Series 3 has just come to an end and planning is in progress for series 4 coming in 2022.

Work is also being done behind the scenes on a new online course. I will be taking everything I have learned and put into practice when growing my business and packaging it up in an easy-to-access, affordable online course for anyone wanting to turn their ‘Hobby Into A Hustle’.

The idea for The Female Creative

When the pandemic of 2020 hit I saw so many mums around me take their creative hobbies and turn them into a side hustle. But they struggled with the social media and marketing element of business, plus they hadn’t thought in detail about their business branding or their ideal client identification.

Photo credit Sarah Hurja – La Boheme Photography

Having been put on furlough from my corporate job, I turned my hand to supporting those around me, sharing the knowledge and skills I had built up over the years when managing my music career and being in the wellness network marketing industry. I soon realised that this was a business in itself so I worked on my own branding and The Female Creative was born!

Throughout 2020 and into 2021 I learned as much as I could about managing a small business. I used my experience as a coach and teacher to support the women around me to get organised and turn their business ideas into action, helping them bring in an income from doing something they love. I get so much joy from seeing my wonderful ladies grow in confidence and take the amazing ideas they have and turn them into action. It sounds super cheesy but I get to do so many happy dances when I receive messages of achievements and their wins each week!

Why it’s important for women to empower each other

As I have become older I have realised how tough it is for women in world of work and business. I have come from very male-dominated industries and what has really hit me is how the women are talked about and played off against each other. Maybe it is because of the level of competition which creates a feeling of insecurity and that leads to negativity or maybe it is the feeling that having feminine energy is not wanted in that environment but whatever it is, it’s there!

Because of my experiences I wanted to change the culture and be an advocate for supporting women. Doing this in business has been easier as I have purposely chosen to surround myself with women and create a space for them to thrive and support each other.

Photo Credit Aurora Way – Liberty Photography

But….as children we have been brought up in not only a male-dominated culture but also one of comparison and this leads to the perception of women being against each other. I am working hard on my own comparison demons and helping my clients do the same.

Although we are surrounded by all the social media posts championing women and #womensupportingwomen, it is harder to do in reality due to our upbringing. So of course it is so important to empower each other but it starts with empowering yourself. I have taken the time to work on empowering myself which has led to empowering other women. It has not been easy and I’m not always on top of the feelings of self-doubt and comparison but if we all take steps to work on this then we can authentically promote a culture of women empowering women.

Advice I’d give my younger self

The advice I would give to my younger self would be to not waste time trying to get people to like you, instead use that time to focus on your values and passions. You can not control how people perceive you, you can only control how you behave and as long as you act with a kind heart you will be ok!

To find out more about The Female Creative follow its Facebook and Instagram pages, or visit: https://www.thefemalecreative.co.uk

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