"Doing it all" is not the right goal
The 2021 Wise Women's Council
HiFriend
We're building an incredible gathering space for driven, ambitious women carving out a new world of work, leadership, and parenting. It’s a place to connect, level up, be real, and be vulnerable together in a private community space dedicated to you and your peers. We've just started interviewing folks to join us, and I'm blown away by the people who have applied—thank you, all, for your detailed and thoughtful applications so far.
Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be doing a series of interviews with women who have been in the program before so you can hear from them, get to know them, and understand what the experience is like.
One of the biggest hesitations I hear from people about applying to join: people tell me they're nervous about the time commitment (who has time?), and they're curious about who else is joining. Over the next few emails and on the podcast, I want to share a little more about how the program works and how we've designed it to fit into the lives of most working parents everywhere.
Doing it all is not the goal.
In fact, we think it's an anti-goal. If you want a life of meaning, purpose, pleasure, and joy, you must decide what to keep and what to drop. We've got to drop a TON off of our plates in order to find a path forward for the few things that we want.
That's why our philosophy inside of the Wise Women's Council is all about dropping the ball and being focused on you, your growth, and what YOU need. Once inside, you'll be asked to practice our philosophy and be intentional about how you spend your time.
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The last thing you need is more on your todo list.
Our community has been designed and refined over many iterations to fit the lives of most busy working parents everywhere.
First, this is not a course. You don't have to watch a huge pile of videos, read all the books, or complete anything for a grade. This is a leadership incubator designed to fit into your life as best as possible, and it's okay if you have to skip some of the calls. We're here to help you with what's already on your plate, not add more to it.
We make the program nine months long for a reason—that way, if you are completely underwater one month, you can still come back, dust your feet off, and dive right back in. Since so many women are pregnant, giving birth, or with little ones at home, it is completely reasonable that you're going to miss a few calls—we've built it so that it's okay if that happens. You won't fall behind, and you can still come and chat whenever (and wherever!) you happen to be.
We take a slower pace on purpose.
Online, I post prompts to start conversations each week. You can check in once or twice a week and find your own groove. People find they love saying hi when they need, and chat with the community whenever they have pockets of time in between the intensity of life—it makes them feel less alone, more connected, and laugh more. That’s the goal.
The content is downloadable and streamable offline. We focus on audio, on-demand, and asynchronous as much as possible—so you can listen while folding laundry-driving-running errands-whatever you’ve got going on. The chat room is on-demand so you can text if you’re up nursing at 3am, or mute notifications til happy hour if you need sanity space.
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Choose the level that’s right for you—this is a flexible community designed to fit into your busy life.
Consider this your invitation to practice being intentional about what supports you right now. We need more spaces where we get to feel into what we truly want and need, rather than trying to do it all.
At the core are two calls per month, the first and third week. The first is an all-group gathering call with everyone, so you can pop in and meet this community of women face-to-face. The third week is for business breakout sessions to help people make big leaps. You can bring a business, marketing, life, or parenting challenge to the session. Give and get support with other women and lend your expertise and intuition to the session. Most people try to make these two calls, but we record them if you have to miss them, and you can still play back the stories and business sessions and get to know everyone.
If you want more 1:1 support, check out the group coaching and executive coaching options.
For those that want to go deeper in small groups, we have group coaching options (Level 2) to go deeper with a business & leadership coach, or you can ask about our executive coaching packages (Level 3). Read about all three levels here. If you have any questions about what level is right for you, reach out and we can help you decide what the best fit is given your current business and life needs.
When you sign up for group coaching, you’ll have access to everything in the leadership incubator, plus an expert-led small group with a dedicated coach focused on you and your leadership growth this year. You’ll be paired in a small group of four to six women in growth areas similar to yours to work alongside in a private cohort. Choose the level that’s right for you—this is a flexible community designed to fit into your busy life.
You don't need to add more to your plate to get a tremendous amount of growth.
The measure of success for this space is whether or not you feel seen, heard, supported, and connected in the year ahead. You don’t have to “do it all” to get what you need. Practice our philosophy and be intentional—come join to get the community, connection and growth that you need this year.
If you can make two calls a month, then you're doing it right. This is the first leadership practice in the Wise Women's Council: listening in to where you're at, and picking the things that will serve you the most—and letting other things slide down the river. Just grab the oars, make sure your canoe isn't leaking, and start rowing. Let's go.
We'd love to have you apply to join us in The Wise Women's Council this year.
Warmest,
— Sarah Peck
CEO & Founder
Startup Parent
PS: Over the next few weeks, we'll be doing a series of interviews over ton the podcast with previous members of The Wise Women's Council to talk about their experience. If you want to hear from women who have been a part of the program, keep an eye out for these upcoming episodes.
PPS: In the last email I sent, I outlined all of the early bird bonuses available for people who apply by the early bird deadline, January 22. You can save up to $1500 off the group coaching level if you get your application in by this Friday!
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Early Bird Pricing: Save $1500 off of Group Coaching—and join an extraordinary group of women together over the next year.
The early bird group coaching is an extraordinary opportunity for folks looking to really get coaching, counseling and guidance throughout the year. Last year, folks in our group coaching program said having the small container of peers led by an expert coach was one of the stand-out parts of the program.
Here's what some of last year's class said about the group coaching experience:
"Group coaching was a huge part of my 2020 WWC, and a truly amazing part I didn’t expect going into it. The global health crisis really cratered my ability to take part in a lot of the things I love about WWC, but due to the small group accountability factor, I never missed a small group coaching call."
"Our group was incredibly supportive of one another, and knew how to inject humor and wise counsel into a wide range of challenges."
"Michelle was masterful at leading our group; she is an incredible coach. The group coaching calls helped me confidently bring in a nanny despite my COVID fears, supported me in difficult challenges at work, and held space for me when I didn’t even know what I needed."
"I very much feel like I'm on the precipice of working on something bigger in my work. The group coaching was incredibly supportive in helping me tackle the various challenges that came with this, from figuring out possible business models, figuring out where to start, shifting my mindset around earning and what I'm worth, moral support in the challenges of parenting with reduced childcare, and figuring out how to reframe and renegotiate my work with my employer while tackling my bigger leadership goals."
"I always felt like I could show up and be seen for exactly where I was at."
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If this is the year for you to join us in The Wise Women's Council, I can't wait to meet you. If it's not for you, it's still wonderful to be put in touch and to have you on the email list. I trust you to make decisions and do your right next steps, on your path, whatever that looks like. I'll be sharing a few more emails over the coming weeks all about the program, but we'll also be talking about parenting in a pandemic, how to let things go and streamline, and the tools I used to prepare for maternity leave. Talk more soon!
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The Wise Women's Council
APPLY TO JOIN THE CLASS OF 2021
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