As we journey down the path of time and bid farewell to 2024, I think back to what I have created in my own life and in my community this past year. NAWBO’s theme for December is “Create.” That can relate to planning, strategy, product development or processes. Life is certainly an adventure, and I hope my creations this past year have been powerful, positive and impactful to others. I think back to conversations I have had this year within our community of entrepreneurs, and I wanted to share some things that I have heard reverberate among our membership:
- Our board members have worked hard this year to create community! Courtney Smith is on a mission to connect with like-minded women who mean business in her area of northwest Indiana. Board member Lindsey Evans wants each of our members to feel “seen” and “heard.” She says that having a voice gives us strength from within. Anabel Lopez is in a unique position where she is able to be semi-retired from her company, so she wants to lead by example to “make it happen.”
- I received a note of gratitude from a member who thanked me for helping her test her company messaging. She was creating a voice for the new company and was grateful for the opportunity to test that language with a fellow member who had already walked down that path.
- Similarly, I have done some free profit assessments for some NAWBO Chicago members, and they opened up about their struggles to create a permanently profitable company. They are on the path to creating companies that are fiscally healthy and so that they can support themselves and their families financially.
- I hired a NAWBO Chicago member this year to help me create a company where the right people were sitting in the right seats. After having spent the past many years growing the business, I needed someone who had expertise to help me figure out how to get my team aligned so that each team member is working from their strengths. I was grateful to hire a member to do a “Working Genius Assessment” for my leadership team and me.
- We have connected some of our membership with podcast speaking opportunities. One of our members offered to do interviews on their podcast to discuss how they have secured funding to build their business.
- We helped another past member whose membership had expired to decide to reinvest in NAWBO. She is launching a new product that is uniquely powerful for women business owners to gain clarity on their messaging and share that message not only to potential clients and current clients, but how to build clarity within the internal team and in vendor partnerships.
As we power down on 2024, I am grateful that NAWBO Chicago has allowed me to build my own voice and to contribute to this community as the president of our chapter. I hope that, together, this community of women business owners will create more connections, more courage and more engagement in 2025.
Happy Holidays,
Angie Noll
NAWBO Chicago President
Founder of Reconciled Solutions