The Mogulettes are born

It's official. The Mogulettes-in-the-making had their first ever meeting on February 9th! After much back and forth about possible dates and times we finally got together to share our hopes and dreams for our businesses. How did this come about, you ask? Back on Jan. 23rd I attended a business plan workshop organized by the Freelancers Union (they offer all sorts of great help and support to independent contractors like myself). I got great advice on how to get started on my business plan but I felt I couldn't do it alone (and I'm not the only one who feels that way! See Leah Maclean's blog: Research Says Working Women Need Company). I quickly convinced 3 fellow freelancers to join me in an experiment: what if we met regularly to give each other updates on our progress with our business plans, and also get feedback on our "crazy" ideas (to me the whole idea of working for myself is still "crazy"!!)??

Well I'm pleased to say that two and a half weeks later we found ourselves at the lobby of Hunter College on the Upper East Side of Manhattan telling each other what we wanted to do with our lives. Lesley is an expert knitter and weaver that would like to launch a line of hand made clothing and accessories (check out her handiwork here). Martha is an accomplished photographer that wants sell her photographic services to the public (find samples of her photos here). Julie is a talented dance instructor that would like to expand her dance school. And me? I'm a freelance writer that would like to offer seminars on personal finance and small business topics and eventually write a book. Time flies when you're having fun! Introducing our business ideas to one another took up the whole meeting but I felt we accomplished so much. I left exhilarated by the thought that with the help of my fellow mogulettes I could finally make my dreams come true!

We decided to meet weekly and keep the sessions to one hour, more or less.

what I learned:
The feedback I got from the Mogulettes made me realize that I have to narrow down my idea. What customers do I want to target? What area do I want to focus on?

homework:
What social service will I be providing? We will tackle that topic at our next meeting, which will be all about Mission Statements.