Founding Females® 2025 in Review: 16 Company Wins, 25 Member Wins, and 4 Lessons Learned
Last year, we started a thing.
We began recapping Founding Females® Mastermind members’ wins.
As the months pass, sometimes it doesn’t feel like much growth happens…especially during the years full of growing pains.
But when we look back, we realize that sometimes the things that felt insignificant in the moment were actually the big pivotal moments.
That’s because amazing businesses aren’t really built through newsworthy life-changing moments. Amazing businesses are built through consistency and the big wins are the byproduct. Amazing businesses are built in the moments when we show up even when we don’t feel like it, unspoken and unseen.
We really love to normalize celebrating inside the Founding Females® Mastermind because it fuels the mundane, seemingly meaningless late nights, “boring” consistency that we realize actually strengthens the core of our businesses…and us.
So let’s continue celebrating.
I’m thrilled to present you with Founding Females® 2025 in Review: 16 Founding Females® Wins, 25 Member Wins, and 4 Lessons Learned (i.e. “Lessons Learned” is a fluffy way to say “dang, we missed the mark”)…
Founding Females® Company Wins
A note from Francie: In short, this year was grueling personally. It’s felt like a dance between growing myself and showing up as an authentic leader for a community that’s experiencing incredible growth itself.
As I continue to create safe space for women to shed versions of themselves that no longer fit and to boldly, gently, confidently step into authentic versions of themselves, I’ve been humbly reminded time and again how life-changing our female friendships are. It’s beautiful how naturally women share empathy and compassion to create support for another’s transformation.
Founding Females® is a community of women who show up for one another in profoundly meaningful ways. While it’s true, “the business of business is relationships,” this community is so much more than a business transaction. It’s a safe haven for exploring our purpose in the world and how, together, we just so happen to use business to express what we were put on this earth to do.
Part of me struggles to share these wins because they don’t tell the whole story of open wounds I’m still working to heal which haven’t yet morphed into a scar. Despite the KPIs you’ll read below, the real win and the only one that really matters is that I, too, am boldly, gently, confidently stepping into a more authentic, faithful version of myself with support from incredible women…running a business just happens to be the conduit for change.
Let’s explore what 2025 looked like for Founding Females® in no particular order…
2024 Founding Females® Google Search Console Data
2025 Founding Females® Google Search Console Data
Fortified our search strategy - In 2024 we double downed on content strategy and in 2025 we saw the fruit of that labor. Keep in mind SEO/GEO is the Wild West right now. Search strategy is changing drastically because user behavior is changing drastically. In short, this year we hit almost a million more impressions (that’s +379%!) and 1000 more organic website visits (that’s +34%!) than in 2024. The beautiful part is that momentum will only continue to compound with the right strategy in place. We’ve achieved these results for clients and now we’re seeing them in our own business.
10 Years in Business - the logos, marketing, and services have shifted as the vision has become clearer, but the passion for helping entrepreneurs hasn’t changed. This year, I (Francie) celebrated 10 years as an entrepreneur. There were growth years, “I can’t do this” years, and “wow this is awesome” years. Most of all, I’m grateful for the clients who have trusted, supported, and grown with me.
Hosted the Women Who Lead Campaign - The Women Who Lead campaign was instrumental in Founding Females® growth this year. The Women Who Lead campaign was a collaboration between nine women - Hannah Knight, Cassie Yoder, Dr. Kristen Strom, Abbe Ogle, Bre Henderson, Kisha Woods, Andrea McGee, Lindsey Kirk, and me. Founding Females® grew out of a one-woman show a long time ago and our brand needed to reflect that. This campaign was a visual representation of women leaders linking arms and unapologetically forging new paths. It involved a photoshoot, marketing campaign, and strength of strategic collaborations among the women. Meet 9 Bold Leaders You Need to Know Inside the Women Who Lead Collaboration.
Hosted Women, Wealth, and Wellness - November 6th, Founding Females® partnered with WTVP-PBS, Dr. Kristen Strom, and Nicole Miller, CFP® AFFP® to host Women, Wealth & Wellness. We served over 100 women with 11 speakers covering topics like the dimensions of wellness, self-care as a mindset, how to step into real estate investing, retirement accounts for business owners, mental health and nervous system regulation, and so much more. The energy in the room was electric. There were moments of camaraderie, compassion, and those beautiful "girl, come with me" moments where women were genuinely lifting each other up and sharing opportunities.
Added two new Founding Females® Meet Up Chapters - This year we added two new Founding Females® Meet Up chapters in Livingston County, Illinois and Carmel, Indiana. Our Peoria, Illinois, Danville, Illinois, Decatur, Illinois, and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois chapters continue to grow, evolve, and serve female entrepreneurs.
Highest revenue to date - I’m a firm believer that entrepreneurship writes far more paychecks than just money. Emotional capital, time capital, and purpose capital matter too, which is why we don’t focus heavily on dollars inside Founding Females®. But this year, we hit our highest revenue to date, and that’s something to celebrate.
‘40 Under 40 Award’ - This milestone was such a humbling reminder of how powerful it is when other people clear our paths. A huge thanks to Kate VandenBerg for her nomination and WTVP for their important efforts to carry on the legacy in the Peoria community.
Doubled Mastermind Membership - There is strength in numbers. We hosted Founding Females® Membership Week in January and again in June and doubled our membership!
Grew Our Email List by 50% - One KPI stands out as a leverage point for our company: email growth. This year we really focused on developing in-tunnels to be able to show up for our community with guidance and resources via email knowing women build businesses in the cracks and this marketing medium is one important source we can deliver support.
Developed the Founding Females® Marketing division - Our marketing division is no longer a “me,” but a “we.” End of year, we added a full team of experts — all of whom Founding Females® has hired to grow our own company — to be able to more fully support clients heading into 2026. If you’re looking to revamp your website, develop your business’s systems, or show up with a bold marketing strategy in 2026, please visit our new services page to reach out. We’ve proudly added the following services through strategic partnerships:
Brand photography
Strategic social content creation
Mindset and speaking coaching
Back-end systems and virtual assistance
Paid ads
Invested in Paid Ads - After much research and a strong hunch, we finally hired an ads team to support our growth going into 2026. Organic marketing is our jam at Founding Females® — 10 years in business, 1M search impressions, doubling our email list, and healthy marketing streams prove it. Now we’re investing in new avenues of marketing to continue to reach the women we’re meant to serve. I’m looking forward to providing an update through a case study in 2026!
Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business - We sold over 90 copies of Dream, Build, Grow on Amazon, at events, and locally inside of The Wink House and Muse Morton Art Gallery. That’s 90 women who now have a playbook written specifically for their hearts to guide them into and through entrepreneurship!
Upgraded the Membership Experience - We’re continually seeking feedback, adjusting, and adding to our online women’s mastermind. This year, we revamped our Mastermind onboarding processes to deliver a warmer, clearer path for women joining the community. We also added a referral program, a member badge, a membership pin, Power Circles, which are accountability groups, more expert speakers, Hot Seat peer coaching opportunities, and a centralized Resource Suite. Our end-of-year survey is providing more beautiful insight and we’re excited to see how it’ll positively impact the member experience inside the Mastermind heading into 2026!
Masterminding Retreat - In December, I joined four other women - Dr. Kristen Strom, Bre Henderson, Abbe Ogle, and Hannah Knight on a roadtrip down to Sevierville, TN, to stay in Kristen’s gorgeous cabin in the mountains. We calculated over 20 hours of masterminding, planning, and dreaming up possibilities in the new year.
Launched Business Hacks Series - This year, we set the tone for our 2026 Business Hacks Series and launched our first post on 18 Ways to Gain Time, Choice, and Peace as a Female Entrepreneur. Each month, we’re crowdsourcing female entrepreneurs’ hard earned wisdom on a topic that matters deeply to women. Tune in each month. We’re taking submissions all year long, so click to submit a business hack of your own.
Favorite win of all: The one who made the universe knows me by my name. Wanna talk about Jesus? I’d love to create that space for you.
Women’s Business Mastermind Member Wins
Our women’s business mastermind is a safe space to find support and belonging along the entrepreneur journey. Inside the Mastermind, we openly share wins, failures, ah-ha moments, growth, business opportunities, clients, and life.
With permission, I’m sharing 25 wins our mastermind members have worked so hard to cultivate this year:
My book won a Global Book Award.
One of my poems was selected as a 2026 shortlisted poetry prize winner.
I signed with a publisher for my third book.
I got invited to be a guest speaker out of state for a women’s empowerment event
I revitalized my newsletter and have been consistent for 21 weeks
I launched my new website and got new brand photos
I was featured in Stroll the Heights magazine
I booked a guest speaking opportunity at Distillery Labs in 2026
I built a landing page for a client that sold out their event tickets in 2 weeks after launch generating $40k in revenue
I won Gold for two categories in Community Awards Peoria
Moved into a larger warehouse that is 2X bigger with a much better layout
We’re finishing the year at $270k in billings - 6X what we billed in 2024 - and setting up for bigger in 2026
We onboarded 4 new full-time logistics clients with e-commerce fulfillment, 3 new sourcing clients with large marketing budgets, and over a dozen wholesale clients for our gift lines.
We added 3 new part-time employees to the team.
We bought a toy brand and are the exclusive distributors in North America.
We won a license for the America250 retail program in 2026.
My business revenue is up 65%.
I won Platinum administrative services for Peoria Votes awards.
I served 15 new clients this year and 56% of my clients came from Founding Females® this year.
I spoke for the first time at Women, Wealth, and Wellness.
I focused a lot on networking and building partnerships.
I was featured in the Founding Females® Women Who Lead campaign.
I was invited to a strategic partnership for 2026.
I built my second business which launches in 2026 and already brought in 24 leads.
I landed a high profile client.
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Founding Females® Lessons Learned
This is a kushy way of saying, “We missed the mark!” Not everything goes as planned. I love this quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower:
“No battle was ever won according to plan, but no battle was ever won without one. Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
Lowlights, What Didn’t Work, and Areas for Improvement
Regardless of the reason, here’s where we missed the mark:
Pinterest was a time-suck - We gave it a valiant effort, but the effort didn’t pay off. This is one thing we’ll eliminate in our 2026 marketing strategy.
Perfectionism robbed efficiency - Perfection was also a time-suck. I realized about half way through the year this important truth: “Your job as CEO isn’t to make everything flawless; it’s to keep everything moving forward.” And damn, that feels good to let perfectionism go.
Waited too long to hire - We had high hopes for some awesome projects in 2025, but with resistance to hiring, we missed the mark. Hellllo 2026 Q1 goal.
Networking had to take a backseat - Founding Females® has strong roots in relationships and networking is the conduit for that. This is also probably a byproduct of waiting to long to hire. Regardless, it’s a beautiful goal for 2026.
That’s a Wrap!
That’s a wrap to this insightful year. I can feel the momentum revving for 2026 both in my own life and in our women’s business mastermind.
Want to join this group of truly inspirational women? We want you with us! Click to find out how to attend a Founding Females® monthly meet up or join the 24/7 women’s business mastermind.
Have a win you’d like to share? Click to email me so we can chat through what’s going on in your business.
Cheering for you, always!
Francie, Founder
Recent Blog Posts About Female Entrepreneurship
Past Founding Females® Heartbeat Newsletters
Founding Females® Heartbeat July 2024
Founding Females® Heartbeat August 2024
Founding Females® Heartbeat September 2024
Founding Females® Heartbeat October 2024
P.S. Here are some of my top favorite female small business resources:
Dream, Build, Grow Free Resource Suite - free business templates for your business plan, marketing plan, ideal client persona, financial statements, and more!
Founding Females Community - an online female mastermind space for entrepreneurs to connect, support, and get inspired
Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business available on Amazon- a guided handbook including everything you need to know from business idea to launch to profiting and scaling your business.
Free Downloads for Female Entrepreneurs
Free PDF Download: 25 Ways to Market Your Business (Aside from Social Media)
Free PDF Download: 33 keys to Business Success
Free PDF Download: SEO Tips for Entrepreneurs
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Hi, I’m Francie!
Nice to meet you. I’m the founder of Founding Females®. Some call me a business sage because I love to empower female entrepreneurs to breathe life into the business dreams God called them to.
After feeling like a misfit in the corporate world, I discovered a life I loved waking up to through business ownership.
I’m the author of Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business, a guided journal helping hundreds of women start and grow their businesses.
I’m also a passionate entrepreneurship hype girl, female leader, public speaker, and community enthusiast.
My MBA and 10 years in a corporate career and in business ownership positioned me as an entrepreneurship educator with forward-thinking strategies for starting and growing successful businesses.
As a community leader, I realized other women could thrive with the right guidance and support. I created the Founding Females® Mastermind Community that provides a safe space for women to build better businesses.
I believe that anyone with a dream on their heart can pull up a seat to change the world through entrepreneurship. Looking to grow your own business? Click for info about how to work with me.
About Founding Females®
The mission of Founding Females® is to help women build thriving businesses. We create safe spaces for women to share business challenges and receive peer support.
In addition, Founding Females® offers an online female business mastermind, a how-to guidebook for female entrepreneurs called Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business, and in-person events, like an annual women’s business conference and local Founding Females® Meet Ups.
Founding Females® was founded by small business educator, Francie Hinrichsen. She believes anyone with a dream on their heart can pull up a seat to change the world through entrepreneurship. Click to learn more about working with Francie.
Founding Females® 2025 in Review: 16 Wins, 25 Member Wins, and 4 Lessons Learned