Marketing in the Madness
Marketing in the Madness brings you expert insight and ideas for marketing success and gives you the tactics you need to grow your brand, your business and your career. You’ll hear from the heads of major brands to top influencers and female powerhouse leaders. Once a month, host Katie Street also shares top tips and strategies (as well as a few secrets) she’s learned from clients, networking and attending events.
Marketing in the Madness
She Means Business! Overcoming barriers & redefining success with Amelia Sordell, Sedge Beswick and Joanna Lyall
In today's dynamic business landscape, the role of female founders has never been more pivotal. Yet, many women still face unique challenges in their entrepreneurial journeys. This week’s episode is your comprehensive guide to navigating these challenges and thriving as a female entrepreneur.
We’re bringing you an electrifying panel discussion from Madfest, where four powerhouse female founders share their insights, experiences, and advice. Hosted by Katie Street, founder of Street Agency and podcast host of "Marketing and the Madness," the panel includes Amelia Sordell, founder of Clout; Sedge Beswick, an advisor and former agency founder; and Joanna Lyall, co-founder of Better Menopause. Together, they dive deep into the nuances of being a female entrepreneur in today’s world.
The discussion touches on the importance of confidence, personal branding, and the support networks that help women succeed in business. Each founder brings a unique perspective, making this episode a treasure trove of inspiration and actionable advice.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
🚀 The Reality of Being a Female Founder: Hear Amelia Sordell’s bold take on why the term “female founder” can be both empowering and limiting, and Katie Street’s counterpoints on the importance of representation and speaking up.
👩👧👦 Balancing Business and Family: Learn from Sedge's firsthand experiences on juggling motherhood and entrepreneurship, and why inclusive spaces are crucial for female business leaders.
💡 Overcoming Funding Challenges: Joanna and Amelia discuss the high standards women face when seeking investment and how to break through these barriers with confidence and preparation.
🖌 The Confidence Gap: Understand the statistics and personal stories that highlight the confidence gap between men and women, and discover strategies to build your personal brand and self-belief.
🌟 Inspiring the Next Generation: The panellists emphasize the importance of inspiring not just women, but all aspiring entrepreneurs, to pursue their dreams and break down stereotypes.
If you’re ready to embrace the challenges and triumphs of being a female founder, tune into this empowering episode to gain the strategies and insights you need to succeed. It’s an unmissable discussion for anyone looking to make their mark in the entrepreneurial world.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review if you enjoyed this episode! Your feedback helps us bring more inspiring content to you.
Amelia Sordell
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliasordell/
https://www.youtube.com/@ameliasordell
Sedge Beswick
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sedge-beswick/
Joanna Lyall
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannalyall/
Connect with Katie Street:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
https://www.instagram.com/streetmate/
Follow Street Agency:
https://street.agency/
https://www.instagram.com/street.agency/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/streetagency/
Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of Marketing in the Madness. Now, as you may see behind me, if you're watching and not just listening, we are not actually called Marketing in the Madness anymore. For the next few weeks, there are some very special episodes coming because we are live backstage in the Female Leaders Club at MADFest. So at the moment, we are called Marketing in the MADFest rather than Marketing in the Madness. So there's going to be a special episodes coming at you, this being one of them, which I really hope you enjoy. We're going to be uncovering not just the marketing innovations that get us further, but also the cultural innovations that need to happen to get women ahead at work. I used to always say, if you want something done, you give it to the busiest person in the room. And now I'm like, if you want something done, you give it to a working mom. They will get that shit done. Finding the concept of female founders is bullshit. Hear me out. Our Leaders Club today, fucking amazing. To see that many women in a room all supporting one another and rooting for one another and feeling inspired by one another is incredible. This is what networking should be like, not just in female spaces, but in all spaces. If you're a woman that wants investment, you've got to be better than everyone. Not just as good as, you've got to be better. I'm super proud that I am sole shareholder, launched my business on my own, no fucking investment. And I want to tell people about that. Those inclusive spaces really help other women who are maybe too scared or too doubtful or, you know, for whatever reason aren't doing it. How many businesses that are female led do you invest in? Because that was a telling sign to me of whether this was a token box tick of like, yay, we've got some females here. I'm fucking good enough for that table. You're good enough for that table. You're good enough for that table. And you're good enough for that table. We like text each other at eight o'clock being like, are you still working your fucking nuts off? It's about consistently showing up, being brave enough to show up and stand up for the things that you believe in. Because if you don't, someone else will. It's hard work whether you're male, whether you're female, but of course it's harder when you're female because you're constantly proving yourself. I was like, why haven't you rehearsed this? You know, I've rehearsed this over and over and over again to be really good at doing it. And you've just come here. That is the big difference, isn't it? We're unwinding hundreds, if not thousands of years of stereotypes. So hi guys, we are backstage at MADFEST in the speakers lounge and I have, well, including myself, four fucking awesome female founders. And because I'm on stage in the female leaders club, kind of focussing on female founders, I felt like it was a good idea to rip some of the best of them from the stage back here. So before we get started, can everyone do a really quick, like, well, I should introduce myself, right? So I'm Katie Street. I am the founder of Street Agency, also podcast host for Marketing in the Madness. Amelia Sordell, founder of Clout Personal Branding Strategist and also podcast host, which I never say. I never tell people I have a podcast branded by Amelia Sordell is what that's called. You have great guests. I do. One, two, three, hopefully soon. I am Sedge. I am an advisor consultant and I did found an agency which I have recently exited. I don't have a podcast. I'm Jo, co-founder of the Better Menopause. We have actually, yeah, sort of a side related to Better Menopause. Better Menopause is sister, Better Life, the new podcast, which is about midlife reinvention, which really goes along with the story of what we're trying to do at the Better Menopause, which is to give women the opportunity to have a really awesome second half and not a slow decline into old age and illness. We want the absolute opposite for that. We're all about the positivity of what you can have and how you can feel really amazing. Aged disgracefully. I love it. Absolutely. So on that, what I wanted to discuss as four female founders, Amelia's got some interesting views on this. What does it mean to be a female founder? Well, I think the concept of female founders is bullshit. And hear me out. I'm very pro. I literally sent a voice note to someone today about this. I said, I'm very pro all female spaces, like the female leaders club today. Fucking amazing to see that many women in a room, all supporting one another and rooting for one another and feeling inspired by one another is incredible. I went to the Verve, bold women of the year awards a couple of weeks ago, and it was just a sea of like fucking awesome women who were all networking and all supporting each other and handing out business cards. And I was just like, this is what networking should be like, not just in female spaces, but in all spaces. Like it should be this lovely, supportive, like not competitive, amazingness. However, I really dislike the concept of female founder because it puts our gender in front of our abilities. You don't hear anyone be called a male entrepreneur or a he-e-o, which is like a boss man. Like you don't hear men do that with each other. And I understand why the female founder thing exists, right? It's because we've historically all been marginalised. We don't have a space where we can call it our own. And so we made our own space, right? We all came together and said, well, we're female founders. We're not like every other entrepreneur because we're women. However, I think in today's society, it perpetuates this idea that we don't deserve a seat at the table that already exists. We need to build our own table because that one, we're not good enough for that one. I'm fucking good enough for that table. You're good enough for that table. You're good enough for that table. And you're good enough for that table. And I think by calling ourselves female founders, we're saying, well, we're not quite as good as the founders. So we're going to have to sit over there on the kids table. And I fucking hate that so much. I'm with you, but I do. I challenge that because I do feel like because we have been marginalised and we're so far behind, I mean, look, it's fucking obvious. If you're a woman and you founded a business, you're a female founder. I agree with you. Men don't have to go male founder. But because we haven't been there enough, I think to inspire other, like, you know, I'm quite proud that I am sole shareholder, launched my business on my own, no fucking investment. And I want to tell people about that. Now, I don't necessarily need to say female founder, but I want people to know that I'm a woman and I was fucking brave enough to go and do it because I think so many women have limiting beliefs that don't. So maybe the female founder brand isn't needed. But I do think we've got to fucking speak up more because those inclusive spaces really help other women who are maybe too scared or too doubtful or, you know, for whatever reason, aren't doing it, not to do it. Sorry, I just got the pinkest laughter in my face. Straight in my face. I'm going to meet the halfway here. It is if you are one who is going to start and set up a business, like you said, you did it all off your own accord. It is hard graft. And I used to always say, if you want something done, you give it to the busiest person in the room. And now I'm like, if you want something done, you give it to a working mom and they will get that shit done. Yeah. We talk about this all the time. We'll be like texting each other at eight o'clock being like, are you still working your fucking nuts off? But it's like, again, it's like those conversations are different. And again, when I was going through my private equity round, it was like, I was asking the question of like, how many businesses that are female led do you invest in? Because that was a telling sign to me of whether this was a token box tick of like, we've got some females here or whether actually that they had a really truly inclusive. And I was just part of the mix. I wasn't sitting at the kids table, but it is hard work. It's hard work whether you're male, whether you're female, but of course it's harder when you're female because you're constantly proving yourself. And then especially when you throw kids, heavily pregnant, like into the mix too, like that was the biggest thing for me when I ran connects and I was starting the business, I could work 24 seven. And I wanted to work 24 seven because the thing that was the most important to me was my career. And then I had a kid and I was like, fuck this. Like I can't work every weekend. I can't miss bed and bath time. I can't not go here because I, you know, the, the detriment was spending time with my daughter and that was not good enough for me. And they're the things that when you're founding and setting up businesses, like it's not okay to say to someone, you can set up a business when you're 27, which I was, when I set up mine, you've either got to wait till you're 40 and your kids are at school and you're, you've kind of got that balance and you're reworking things. So you need to do it early on. That's also not okay. So like that, the juggle, the struggle, the chaos comes irrespective of when and how, but it's hard work. Can I just follow up on something you said there about the funding and how you didn't want to be a token, like tip box six. That's what I mean about the female founder thing. To me, it's tokenism. You said something a minute ago, which I think is really interesting around like, you want to inspire other women to do it. Like I'm the same hundred percent shareholder. I had a shareholder. I bought him out of my business. I got strong armed into paying and it would have been a huge amount of money. Luckily, I've got a great legal team. So thank you very much. So this person who had done fuck all of my business, man, obviously, and he wanted this huge payout and I did it all by myself. I didn't have any help growing my business. I had mentorships, of course, and I've had this incredible group of women around me and men too supporting me and all that kind of stuff. But I have done it on my own. The only thing I would say is I don't want to just inspire women to do that. I want to inspire everyone to do that. I think that every young human being in this world, the number one thing that stops them from achieving anything in life is confidence and belief that they can do it. And if I can be up there and go, I look at me, I can do it and inspire a little boy or a woman or a man or like whatever to do it for themselves. That to me is a win. And that to me is true inclusion. That's not, let's like, get more women in more male dominated spaces is actually like, well, let's get the men into women spaces as well. And like, and it all be humanity. And I go, it's very like wishy-washy and whatever. And the world doesn't often operate like that. But that to me is why I don't like female founder that like, at its essence, I want everyone to feel like they've got a voice and everyone to feel like they have deserve a seat at the table and everyone to feel like when I approach for investment, they're giving it to me because I fucking deserve it. Not because they're trying to build some stupid fucking policy that they put on their website. Amen. Amen. Anything to add? Yeah. So I was recently at an investment pitching event. There were five, five, five pitching businesses, three run by men, two run by women. And the two presentations from the women were the best. I mean, and everyone in the room agreed, including the men. And I was reflecting on it and thinking, why, why is that? And it's, if you're a woman that wants investment, you've got to be better than everyone. Not, not just as good as you've got to be better. You've got to be slick. Your presentation has to be unfalterable. You have to know the answer to every question. You've got to be energetic and inspiring and you've got to be absolutely everything. Whereas some of the men just turned up and they were like, but it was okay. And they were sort of lacklustre. And I was like, why haven't you rehearsed this? You know, I've rehearsed this over and over and over again to be really good at doing it. And you've just come here on that. And that is the big difference, isn't it? That's the confidence gap. When you talk about this, it's the confidence gap. Oh gosh. Because we know the statistics that, you know, 2% of money's going to us. We've got to work really, really hard to get a tiny share of that 2% as well. It's bigger than that though, as well though. So there's statistics around, if a woman doesn't meet 80 to a hundred percent of a job requirement that she won't apply for it. If a man meets 20% of that job requirement, he will. And so it's that, that's why I'm so passionate about personal branding. It's not because I want everyone to build their personal brand. I do, but it's because I know what the confidence that you get from doing that. Like I would never in a million years be able to do this had I not started building my personal brand. I would never be running a business. I wouldn't be self-employed. I wouldn't have a team. I wouldn't be doing this. I would, God forbid, I would never be in a room full of people that I'd never known. Like I wouldn't have the confidence to do that. Building my personal brand has given me the confidence to do that. And that for me is the real driver of what I do. What I do is because I want people to go, fuck it. I meet 20%. Let's give it a fucking crack. Worst case, I get told no. Worst case, I don't get funding. Worst case, I do something else. Who fucking cares? It's just a storey arc in your long-term narrative anyway. It doesn't matter. But I think more people need to give it a go. And that's the problem is more men are up for giving it a go than women. It's true of minorities as well, right? Like black women, one of the most underlooked investment opportunities of this entire generation. Yeah. I mean, you've hit the nail on the head. Women for some reason don't and don't stand out as much as guys do. I think we're unwinding hundreds, if not thousands of years of stereotypes. And now it's starting to finally change. So my advice to anyone is, you know, regardless of whether you're a man, woman, black, white, whatever, stand up to stand out. Because like exactly like you said, Amelia, like if you don't, you're not going to get that muscle memory. It's about consistently showing up, being brave enough to show up, to stand up for the things that you believe in. Because if you don't, someone else will and your opportunity will go to someone else. I think also it's like give yourself permission to do what you want to do instead of waiting for someone else to give it to you. And that is the thing that we all have in common as we gay. We didn't wait to be invited. We invited ourselves. Yeah. Love that. Hey guys, me again. I hope you enjoyed the episode that you've just listened to. And if you did, I'm going to do the, you know, the annoying thing that all podcasters do, which is go and ask you to subscribe because it really does make a difference to our rankings. And please do go subscribe, leave a comment, give us a five-star review. If you did love it, if you want to get in touch, do check out the email address in the show notes. Most importantly, again, if you're on YouTube, please subscribe by clicking the button somewhere that is on this screen. Um, and it'll mean that you get notified when new episodes go live.