The Challenge approaches...

Well, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind of a week, as I make my way through the final preparations for my very first free 5-Day Challenge starting Monday.

The 5-day challenge format is a brilliant way to attract the community you want to work with and provide them with a substantial taste of how you can support them - and it involves a lot of behind-the-scenes work the first time you do it - as I’m learning!

This includes preparing a multitude of social media posts, instructional posts, emails, videos, worksheets and message bots, many of which need to be scheduled with automation that can easily go wrong. I apologise to any of the challenge participants if it goes haywire at any stage. Any new project involves new tech these days, and it can be a steep learning curve.

This is pushing me to operate at a higher level in my business. Lots of people have teams doing this work for them, but I’m not in that position quite yet, and I actually enjoy doing it myself so I understand how it all works. But here’s to one day being able to hand it over to a team member!

Around 45 fabulous women have already signed up for the First Steps to Freedom Challenge, and if you think it would be helpful for you, then I invite you to join us. You can do so here: https://challenge.suzibutcher.com/

This is for you if:

?? You are a GenX woman

?? You have fallen out of love with your job

?? You suspect there might be another whole career/business inside of you, you just don’t know what it is

?? You are fed up with feeling undervalued at work

?? You want to do something that has a more positive impact on the world

?? You feel like you’ve generally been living other people’s dreams rather than your own

?? You are tired of playing the game

?? You would like to be able to manage that Inner Critic in your head

?? You are worried you don’t have the courage to make a change

?? You would just like to be around some other women who feel the same way

It involves about 30 minutes of your time each day to work on an exercise I set for you, and a 30-60 minute online debrief/Q&A/soirée at 7.30 in the evening. You are welcome to bring wine!

At the end of five days, you will have greater clarity over whether you are ready to make a move, and which direction(s) you want to start exploring. You’ll also have some great tips on how to tackle that Inner Critic who will, most probably, try and stop you from doing any of it!

Already, from the women who have signed up, I am hearing the kinds of comments that are so familiar to many of us:

“Every time I look at jobs advertised, I just think ‘same shit, different company’

‘I don’t want to play that game, and yet I know I have so much more to give.’

‘I’m looking for the “thing” that will sustain me over the next 10 years or so and use my skills in a way that is meaningful.’

Meaningful work is what we all seem to be seeking. It’s not enough to spend our working life ‘making rich men richer’ as one of my clients once said to me. We want to do something that has a real positive impact in our communities.

And in our 40s, 50s and beyond, I believe we are perfectly positioned to do it. The rich experience we bring to roles and projects that align with our values and motivation, combined with that urge to help mend something that needs fixing (our purpose), is a powerful mix.?

And it begins with the kind of work we will be doing on the Challenge.

So - if you suspect this might be for you - then come along - https://challenge.suzibutcher.com/ and see if it’s a fit. There’s no cost to you at all - just your time - which I know is a precious resource, so I’m going to make sure the week is packed full of value.

Other things that happened this week:

• The blood bank was in town, so I was able to give my regular donation. I’m always so heartened by how busy the venue is; so many people happy to donate for the good of others. In a world where we see so much division and destruction, this simple act of generosity from people reminds me of the good in the world.
• I wrote a LinkedIn post that blew up. It was a response to the latest comments from the Muskerbergs of this world, in which I asked what a female-led social media network might look like. In the hundreds of comments that followed, there were some fabulous suggestions and resources to explore, as well as offers to help if I planned on starting the social network myself. While that’s not quite on my roadmap at the moment, I do intend to go back through the comments and collate all the excellent suggestions, but can’t spare the time until the Challenge is completed. So for those who sent me DMs on the subject, I will get back to you - I’d just like to put this collation together first. In the meantime, if you want to read some of the comments yourself, here’s the link to the post.

• I attended a book launch last night for a former colleague who has spent his time post-work writing a novel. Not only was it brilliant to catch up with lots of other former colleagues, it was a celebration of creativity. Just completing a manuscript is an achievement, and an example of what those of us in midlife can do when we set our minds to it! More about the book here.

That’s it for now…

I will be spending my weekend mainly on the laptop as I continue with the Challenge prep. Next time it will be soooo much easier, because all of this will be in place. But for now - it’s fingers to the grindstone on my trusty Mac.

Have a fabulous weekend. I hope you are spending it doing something you love to do. I most certainly am.

And remember, we’re just getting started!

Suzi