Founding Females Heartbeat
The Founding Females Heartbeat is a brand new monthly newsletter with high level updates about what’s going on inside the Founding Females community.
Founding Females Mission
Our mission isn't new, but it is the heart of everything we do at Founding Females...
"At Founding Females, our mission is to build a better future for female entrepreneurs through education, community, and encouragement."
Recent Founding Females Women’s Entrepreneur Events
Founding Females | Central Illinois Conference on October 1st
We welcomed over 120 people to our annual conference to help build a better future for female entrepreneurs. Attendee survey feedback about the conference was very positive. The day included two inspiring speakers (Kathryn Spitznagle and Heidi Esther), Mini Mentoring sessions with SCORE, mastermind problem solving sessions, local vendors, catered lunch, professional headshots, and relationship building.
I'm proud to share that we had a nearly all-female inside vendor team, employing 3M Agency for photography, Lilac Cloud Productions for videography, The Cannery for the venue, The Cookery for catering, Kim Presents as the emcee, J Blu Design for florals, and Le Fleur for our headshot space.
The next conference will be realigned with International Women's Day in March of 2025. Click to watch a recent reel showing details about our event.
Founding Females Peoria Area Chapter October Meet Up
We had a great turnout at the October Peoria Area Founding Females Meet Up on October 10th. Over 15 women attended the free event for productive dialogue about solving current business challenges. The next Peoria area meetup will take place on November 14th at 10a at Le Fleur in Washington. For a peek at the event, check out this recent reel.
Click for more information about Founding Females Meet Ups.
Bloomington Chapter launches on 10/17!
Upcoming Meet Ups are launching around Central Illinois with the Bloomington chapter launching on October 17th. This monthly Meet Up will be hosted at I AM Woman Networking (624 Main Street, Bloomington) founded by Danielle Martorana. I AM Woman Networking hosts women's events with space available for rent. This chapter will meet on the third Tuesday of every month at 10a.
These female entrepreneur Meet Ups are free, open to the public, and focused on problem solving for female entrepreneurs.
Founding Females Highlights
Our female entrepreneur online community has been buzzing. We welcomed SIX new members in the Founding Females Women’s Business Mastermind, which is an online space for female entrepreneurs at all stages of running a business to share wins, ask questions, and receive encouragement. Kalah, Megan, Katrina, Alexa, Lee Ann, and Leann - We're so excited to have you with us!!
Inside the online community this month, we’re talking through 2024 Goal Setting in our monthly coaching call on October 16th. This is your official invite to join us inside the community.
Recent Media Features
Founding Females has been featured in the media several times in the last month. Check out the following stories:
News 25: Women entrepreneurship conference helps business owners tackle similar challenges
WMBD: Founding Females conference to focus on building a better future for female entrepreneurs
WCBU: Peoria-area entrepreneurs embrace challenges, benefits of running women-owned businesses
Wins for Our Community Members
At Founding Females, we encourage our community to celebrate business wins. Let’s share some praise hands to the following women who are doing big things!
Katie VandenBerg, founder of Focused Forward, is a divorce coach who recently launched her divorce course. Nobody's cheering for divorce. It's a really hard thing people go through. When they do, Katie guides them through the process with dignity, focusing on important aspects like preserving finances and keeping kids' wellbeing top of mind.
Megan Woodson officially launched her business, Woodson Creative, which offers creative handmade goods. Give her a follow on Instagram and congratulate her on this big step!
Andrea Winkler is pouring into the local small business community by opening a space in Peoria called The Wink House for small, local businesses to have a permanent location. Inside, over 40 vendors will display their items to the local community to shop. Follow The Wink House on Instagram and keep an eye out for her upcoming Grand Opening event!
Have a recent win we can help celebrate? Reply to this email and share the deets!
That's it for our October Founding Females Heartbeat newsletter! See you next month with more news about Founding Females.
Recent Photos by 3M Agency
Female business resources
Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business (with free access to the resource suite)
Blog Post: 4 Habits Every Business Owner Needs to Build a Successful Business
Meet the author, Francie Hinrichsen
Francie Hinrichsen the founder of Founding Females®. She is a business sage empowering female entrepreneurs to breathe life into the business dreams God called them to.
After feeling like a misfit in the corporate world, Francie discovered a life she loved waking up to through business ownership.
Francie is 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.
She’s a passionate entrepreneurship hype girl, female leader, public speaker, and community enthusiast.
Her MBA and 10 years in a corporate career and in business ownership positioned her to teach women forward-thinking strategies for starting and growing successful businesses.
As a community leader, Francie realized other women could thrive with the right guidance and support. She created the Founding Females® Mastermind Community that provides a safe space for women to build better businesses.
She believes that anyone with a dream on their heart can pull up a seat to change the world through entrepreneurship.
About Founding Females®
The mission of Founding Females® is to help build a better future for female entrepreneurs through education, encouragement, and shared wisdom. 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.
