Life and death situations cause us to rethink our priorities and the pandemic has been no exception. I have seen so many of you come to the conclusion that you want more control over your day-to-day experiences and you are ready to take that tiny side hustle and turn it into your main thang. You are ready to spend your life building your own dreams and puttin money in your own wallet.

Let me help you get there. Apply for my mentoring program. You’ll spend a year doing the hard, behind-the-scenes work of growing your business. This isn’t for the faint of heart or the easily distracted. But the payoff is worth it.

Past mentees have said this about their experience:

More than ever, I am convinced that running your own business is like learning to drum. There are important deadlines and tiny details, great moves and small gestures, and all wave in tandem. With consistent and gentle practice, Stephanie guides your business moves. A year later, you end up running your own company with the boss attitude AND having fun.

Sevinc

Participating in Stephanie’s mentoring group has hands-down been the best thing I’ve done for my business. Stephanie has expertly guided our group through topics (Branding! Marketing!) that are familiar to seasoned professionals but were completely new to me. I’ve learned so much from her examples, from other mentees, and from the opportunity to just drill down and apply the concepts to my own business. The group is definitely a commitment, but it is 100% worth it. Stephanie is awesome and funny and knows how to help new business owners find their voice. I’ve come out of this year with a solid understanding of how to refine and grow my business – and the Boss Badass attitude to make it happen.

Robin

I just had a check-in with my 2019 mentees and one of them said that in 2020 – yes, 2020! – she added a zero to her income. Added. A. Freakin. Zero.

What it will involve

A 1-year commitment, starting March 1, 2021.

Regular communication (meaning daily, weekly) on Slack (I’ll show you how to set up) around a new topic each month. The exact agenda will be set based upon the needs and interests of the women selected for the program. Right now, the agenda includes: figuring out your focus, knowing what to charge, branding, marketing, all the dirty behind the scenes details of running a business, centering your ethics, choosing clients, project management, hiring a team, and what to wear.

Really brutally honest conversation. I’m going to challenge you a lot. You’ll need to be comfortable sharing private details like your hourly rate, for example. Likewise, strict confidentiality is absolutely non-negotiable.

Quarterly virtual group conversations on Zoom. I don’t have time to waste and neither do you so it won’t be a bunch of chit-chat, it’ll be critical check-ins where we discuss recent monthly topics, how you are progressing in these areas, and how business-building is going.

A $20 per month financial commitment. This isn’t so you pay my bills. This is so you have a little skin in the game and are more likely to make the commitment to participate regularly.

Scripts, email templates, and other forms of support to set you up for success (based off of the very same things my mentors gave to me).

Who should apply

Your pronouns are she/her and/or they/them (though I’m going to be upfront that I use she/her and may make mistakes in guiding people who use they/them). You are in the early stages of starting a business. You should be on the ground, running it, or ready to do within the very near future. It doesn’t have to be your full time job right now, but you should be planning that move within the year.

You should be interested in learning how to run a successful business. I WILL NOT teach you how to do data visualization. That’s not what this is about at all. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in. This does not have to be your first career. I don’t care how old you are.

You can commit to regularly asking questions, doing homework, and responding to others. Perhaps up to an hour of engagement a week. Each week. Even when you think you are on vacation. If you want to add a zero to your income you will actually have to do the homework I assign. All of it. I have removed mentees from the program who were unable to follow through on their commitment to the program.

How to apply

Send me an email, in which you tell me:

A little about you, your background, your identity

The stage of your business (there are not hard definitions around this, so just describe where you’re at)

Why you want to be a part of this

That you can commit to the time and financial expense I’m laying out here

Email it all to me by February 22.

Then what

I’ll select 4 womxn by February 26. Everyone will get a reply from me no matter what.

The 5 of us dive in on March 1.

With gratitude for the mentors who have come before me and with hope that we can build a better world,

Stephanie