An interview with #BullCon16 workshop leader Sharon Beason. Visit the Bullish Conference website here.
Hi Sharon, thanks for joining us – we’re looking forward to meeting you and learning from you at #BullCon16. First, what exactly is Womeneur? How did you get the idea, and how did you get started?
Womeneur is a platform created in April 2015 to provide resources, advice, motivation, events and community to propel the growth of female entrepreneurs. I knew I wanted to start another business, but I wasn’t quite sure. During my research of benchmarking what other female business owners were doing, I began noticing the ‘crazy’ while reviewing their websites, social media accounts, etc. Right away I noticed business names just didn’t make any sense and weren’t practical, branding aesthetics were horrible, social media accounts were inactive/inconsistent, etc. I had no idea I had gained so much business savvy during my entrepreneurship journey and was able to assess these things. So… at that point I knew I wanted to share my knowledge, motivate women and provide them everything needed to launch, sustain and grow a business successfully.
You’re coming to lead us in a workshop on multiple income streams, side hustles, and being a one-woman production house! How many businesses would you say you’ve run? If you don’t mind – what’s something that went badly and something that’s gone really well? (We’ve all been there!)
I LOVE the workshop title! I’ve owned and operated a total of four businesses – including Womeneur, two are still operating. Goodness, the worst thing that happened to had to be with my concierge business – All About Brooklyn Concierge. I will leave the developer’s name out, but I submitted a proposal to a huge residential development in downtown Brooklyn to provide concierge staff in their lobby and provide residents with other concierge services. They really made it sound like I would score with the proposal and kept asking for more info – really detailed. I kept giving and giving. Bottom line, my proposal was declined and a few months later I found out they did their own in-house concierge and had adopted many features VERY similar to my proposal. Yes, I did a bit of detective work. Lol
I would like to think the success of one of businesses – Brooklyn Exposed – went EXTREMELY well when I was able to produce extremely successful events and garner major press. However, I must say what has floored me the most is the success of Womeneur in such a short amount of time. Honestly, even my mind is blown at how in 14 months I’ve been able to build a loyal Womeneur tribe of 50K+ on Instagram, became profitable within 7 months and participated in amazing speaking engagements!
Does every woman need multiple income streams?
Need? It depends on your financial goals. Regardless if you receive a salary working for someone else or are self employed generating income, the need to bring in additional income/salary, in my opinion is based on your lifestyle vision of how you see yourself living, your current expenses and how much money you’d like to make. If you’re an employee in an industry not earning your desired salary, then my suggestion is to start a side hustle (i.e. second job, hobby, open a business, etc.). If you’re self-employed and desire a specific revenue, then most likely everything will be focused on your pricing and product offerings. If a single offering won’t garner the desired revenue, then you absolutely need to sit and think about ways to generate additional streams of income.
Thanks so much! See you in Palm Springs!
Thank you!
