A fun list

Of things I NEVER thought would happen, but did

I’m just home from Newcastle and wanted to share my top take away from Atomicon while it’s fresh and frankly consuming my mind :-)

Grace Andrews (head of content at Stephen Bartlett’s “Diary of a CEO” podcast) said something that at first I thought *must* be an exaggeration…and then I thought about it and realised she was bang on.

Every single opportunity that has come her way in the past few years has been a direct result of posting content online.

Not “some” opportunities.

Not “this one really cool thing”.

ALL OF THEM. And she has had some big ones (she’s the MD of one of the UK’s biggest podcasts).

It blew me away and I didn’t stop thinking about it all the way home.

I decided to write out my own list of things that have come about because I pulled up my big girl pants, walked out the door of my corporate life and started posting online. Grace was right!!

SEVEN THINGS THAT HAPPENED BECAUSE I STARTED POSTING ONLINE

1. Showing women how to make money on their terms

In banking, my work fed the machine. The hours were awful. The culture was toxic. I kept myself small. Now? I help women build simple, spacious businesses. Businesses that work around care responsibilities, creative projects, and a more holistic way of living. Without showing up online, that shift wouldn’t have happened. Full stop.

2. Found a way more collaborative way of working

I may work alone now, but I rarely feel it! I get lovely messages from supportive people and it feels like true collaboration every single day. Posting online has helped me connect with people much more easily than in person (too shy to walk up to strangers!). Putting myself online has meant I’ve worked with women across a wide range of areas I’d never have crossed paths with otherwise, from travel agents to health coaches, authors to stylists, photographers to designers and everything in between! In my old life in corporate I rarely mixed with anyone outside my team, now I’ve got hundreds of people in my network who all feel like friends.

3. I became braver

Over time, I’ve become bolder in myself. Braver. Still shy, underneath, but I can hold my own now and it doesn’t make me blush from head to toe. Posting online has allowed me to do that in a way the real world never did. Sharing this experience has meant I’m able to support others who feel shy to show up, and to do it in a way that gets them seen without having to shout. Posting online has helped me grow in confidence, and I now help others do the same.

4. Proving to myself that I can do hard things (over and over again)

Talking to camera? Scary AF when I first began. Sharing opinions where people MIGHT SEE THEM? No problem now. Speaking at events? Sure! The thing about being a business owner is, you get to discover you are so much braver than you ever realised. Over time, the things that once felt impossible now feel second nature. And the experiences you get to have off the back of not feeling so scared all the time are limitless. Ten years in, I feel more confident than ever in the way I make money and it has saved me from comparison, imposter syndrome and doubt about whether this was a path I was suited to.

5. Hosting my first retreat

Last year I hosted a day retreat with the lovely

Tanya Lynch

from Ease retreats and it was such a milestone moment for me. There’s no WAY I’d have known about Tanya’s brilliant business if I hadn’t been posting online, as I would haven’t attended one of the retreats she ran with

Emma Gannon

, or even known about Substack, now I come to think of it!

Here we were on retreat in the fabulous Cotswolds!

More Sales Please x Ease Retreat! Picture c/o Tanya Lynch (thank you Tanya!)

6. Seeing is believing

One of the best things that’s happened is writing my book, More Sales Please. I wouldn’t have ever thought I could be an author had it not been for the incredible women I saw writing books of their own.

Lucy Werner

you massively inspired me then (and still do, now!). Seeing what’s possible is believing, and that’s another reason showing up matters. Lucy has one of the best publications on here

Hype Yourself

which she is rebuilding after a glitch meant she lost everything. Go and check it out if you haven’t already, its magnifique.

7. Dream life and work blend

I saved the best for last. Posting online has let me get paid to do meaningful work, with women I admire, in a way that fits around real life. For me, it’s never been about being the biggest or the best - I just want to pay my bills and to live in real time. Nowhere else have I found work that allows me to juggle the school drop offs and pickups, walk outside when it’s sunny, spend time with my lovely Dad on a casual Wednesday afternoon if I feel like it, or cuddle my newborn nephew whenever I like. That freedom? That presence? It’s everything.

Hello! I’m Sara and The Scoop is my reader-supported publication for women and creative business owners. I write about sleaze free self promotion, burning the rulebook and making money on your terms. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for reading :-)

Hello! I’m Sara and The Scoop is my reader-supported publication for women and creative business owners. I write about sleaze free self promotion, burning the rulebook and making money on your terms. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for reading :-)

Amazing things happen when you build your personal brand online

Posting online is really bloody powerful, even if you’re not at Grace Andrews’ level. Yet 6/10 business owners don’t post anything online at all. I KNOWWWWW its awkward but the cost is huge.

The default setting most of us have is to downplay your achievements, undersell your ability and negotiate little or never.

It’s risky to build a whole career on those wobbly foundations. All that gets you is working too much, earning too little and last in line for the big opportunities when they come.

The personal brand you build online protects you from all of that conditioning and bias! It brings you opportunities. Gets you seen. Puts you in the driving seat of your career. The skew is so big, can we really afford not to? This is why I talk about self promotion and sales confidence as much as I do. It’s not vanity, it’s necessity!

Posting online and building out your personal brand is insurance against the default of underselling yourself. It’s the solution to being overlooked that you can control.

Writing this list has made me realise we *really* don’t celebrate enough!!

Why not create one of your own and see how many incredible things have happened off the back of the personal brand you’re building. If you do, definitely tag me, or just tell me in the comments what the number one thing is you’ve been able to do as a result of being here. Could be a work win, personal win, or life win, you decide!

Sara x