As the year draws to a close, I want to encourage you to take this time to reflect on the past year, what you’ve achieved and the challenges you’ve overcome, because let’s face it, there have been many this year.
I firstly wanted to thank you for being a part of the F&F community. We launched in September 2018 and in one way it seems like only yesterday and so much has happened it feels like a lifetime ago.
As an events business, we had to pivot quickly this year in order to be able to continue to serve our community, we went from having never hosted an event online to hosting over 60 virtual events for our members and the wider community – what a learning curve. De ja zoom is definitely a thing! We’ve also launched our online platform, hired a team of wonder women, hosted over 2,500 event attendees, welcomed in over 300 members and have 800 on our waitlist. Having taken a moment to appreciate these achievements, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you as it’s thanks to your support and ongoing belief in our mission that we’ve been able to continue to serve and live out our purpose.

Image credit: @bykellymalka
We exist to support, educate and inspire and we do this by providing community in the form of an online membership, events with industry experts sharing their knowledge and inspirational stories and interviews shared on our blog, designed to demystify the world of entrepreneurship and provide you with insights, tools and resources to support you on your own journey.
Here are some of our most popular features of 2020:
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Six ways to have a more planet-friendly business by Ashleigh Bishop
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#HOWSHEDIDIT: Meet Mandy Nyarko, Co-Founder of Startup Discovery School
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How to build a business with key values in mind by Pod Studios
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How can we create a sense of belonging in our own communities? By Lara Sheldrake
Here’s our year in numbers:
- 16,000+ in our network
- 60+ events hosted with over 2,500 attendees
- 300+ members
- 800+ on the waitlist
- 112 features published
- 62 tutorials added to our Academy
- 64 perks created for our members
From the Black Lives Matter movement to the newly appointed first black and Asian American women vice-president of the United States, as a collective global community we have demonstrated our thirst for change. This year has shown us that we want equality and respect for people and our planet. Change isn’t always comfortable, in fact most of the time it requires us to dig deep, revisit our values and ask ourselves what we personally need to change in order to achieve the world we want to see. Letting go of what no longer serves us in order to grow and flourish.
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself👇
✔️What am I most proud of in 2020? What went really well?
✔️What was my mission this year and have I achieved what I set out to do?
✔️Where have I had the biggest impact and how can I do more of this next year?
✔️What drained my time and energy and left me feeling unfulfilled?
✔️What can I remove from my day to day in order to free up more time to focus on the things that create a positive impact and bring me joy?
What did you come up with? Let me know in the comments below.
I hope you can take a moment to really reflect on all you have overcome this year and can start the new year with excitement for the work you are yet to do, it will be brilliant I’m sure.
As always, business is tough business, we’re right here with you.

Lara Sheldrake
About your author
Lara Sheldrake is a business mentor, consultant and Founder at Found & Flourish. Lara writes and speaks on the topics of entrepreneurship, motherhood and social media for business. She also hosts the Bossing It podcast, aimed at empowering the next generation of female founders in the UK. Send Lara an email. You can also find her on Instagram @Lara_Sheldrake or Twitter @Lara_Sheldrake.
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