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This week was MAJOR!!!
I finally found the courage to launch 'the bird talks' website properly! As in, I totally threw it out into the big wide world and marketed the hell out of it. And I have to say it was a roaring success. I am so deeply grateful for all the love, likes, post shares, congratulatory emails and new business contacts that I have received over the last few days.
It got me thinking about the journey I've been through to get to this stage and about the major turning points on this road.
The start of my painting exploration also coincided with the phase I was going through of 'I MUST GO TO EVERY SINGLE FESTIVAL POSSIBLE THIS SUMMER!!'. Therefore I was following every single glitter related page on Insta...as you do. I noticed a post that came up on the Gypsy Shrine page advertising a live panel of awesome ladies who built their businesses via Instagram and thought jeez I absolutely have to attend this! This is the where it starts Kelly Edwards! And so, my little worker bee brain started going frickin haywire.
Like the inner geek that I am, I turned up embarrassingly early, on my lemon and sat right at the front so I could get the best seat in the house. I got out my list of questions and wasted no time at all firing a thousand questions at the panel, trying to absorb every last drop of information! I honestly credit everything that's happened so far to that evening. I came out and I was INSPIRED!
The biggest surprise of the evening was meeting Sapphire Bates from 'The Coven Girl Gang'. Embarrassingly I hadn't heard of The Coven before, unlike the other panelists Sophie Tea of Sophie Tea Art fame and Jenna Meek from the Gypsy Shrine. However, unbeknownst to me meeting Sapphire would be the massive turning point of my evening and the story so far.
'The Coven Girl Gang' is an online membership platform and community for women who are ready to attack life, pursue their dreams, build their businesses and generally take life to the stratosphere! To say I was sold on it is an understatement. It was exactly what I had been needing and didn't even know it. I signed up the second I got out the door.
There are different levels to the membership, I opted for the package that costs £30 every 3 months. This gives me access to the AMAZING facebook community of hundreds of amazing women and female founders, all ready to spur you on and give you the help and advice you need to stack those building blocks. A huge list of resources are available to you in the members area to help with your growth like SEO checklists, trademark advice, worksheets to complete, as well as loads of online workshops.
The biggest help of all has been the Facebook group.
London can be a lonely place at times and in the massive pool of people it can be hard to make meaningful connections as life can be so transient here. I found my brain asking a million questions but having nowhere to direct them. The Coven literally yanked me out of that place and gave me a forum to put all the queries, with no question being too silly or unanswerable. I realised that so many people had literally been in the same boat as me and everyone was so giving with their time and so willing to lend the benefit of their experience. So many hurdles I came across could not have been gotten over without the help of these ladies.
Building a website is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do and is also one of my greatest achievements. I've lost count of the times I thought about abandoning it because trying to get round the Wix format has made me lose my mind! And I'm still not au fait with all of its workings. Thankfully any time I had a real problem that seemed like it couldn't be overcome, I just put my question out to the gang and somebody would come back with a new angle to try and help me smash it out of the park and it literally worked EVERY TIME. I am forever indebted!
The network of ladies and incredible businesses I am now exposed to blows my mind every day. It's an amazing thing to see all these different ladies absolutely kicking ass with all their different business ideas and skill sets. And of course you can pay it forward all the time by investing in other people's businesses! If you need Vegan Cupcakes, not to worry, it's covered! A logo made? Sorted! Haven't got a single f**king clue about GDPR, nay bother! Here's the go to...
This has genuinely been the most worthwhile investment I've made in my business so far so if you're looking for that extra bit of help and guidance, why not put your name on the waiting list at www.thecovengirlgang.com and join the best girl squad in town!!!
