Those who have read my wrap up reviews before, will know that these are a raw and open account of the year that was. So as I write this I honestly feel like I am taking the biggest sigh of relief! The year is officially done.
Everyone is winding up. Celebrating the Seasons festivities. Putting on the Out of Office. Getting ready to eat their way through delicious food. Or perhaps just taking it one day at a time through a time, which isn’t filled with joy for all.
I keep going to write 2025 instead of 2024. Perhaps an ode to the fact I have already moved on from this troublesome year. Somewhat ready to wipe it from my memory. Personal challenges only added to the difficult nature of the year, a car accident, consistent illness in my family (this was even posted late after a week of sickness to end the year!), challenges with schooling and personal burnout just a snippet of the added personal layers the year bought.
As I have watched and celebrated the business and career successes of many around me, I haven’t had the same year. In fact, while I had success on the career front, one could say this year was quite the failure on the business front. And as someone who has high expectations of themselves, those failures can easily overtake the successes!
This year had me step further into the ‘career x business’ juggle, with my local government role excitedly made permanent. And the more I have spoken out about running both a business and having a career, the more I have met others doing the same! It’s been really brilliant to see women choosing their own career paths and not feeling boxed into doing just one thing. Both paths have their own challenges and joys, for me, it is actually been a wonderful growth experience to get to follow them both.
But for my Soar-y Review, let’s focus on business… Phew. Where do I start?
It seemed like every week I was opening up social media feeds to see more and more small businesses announcing their closure or their downsizing. Each time my heart broke, I know the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice that goes into something that becomes an extension of you. That is what small business is, they are individuals and families who have put their soul into what they do. Rarely a simple ‘business investment’, they often come from a passion or a purpose to do what they do. And making a decision to step away can sometimes be really hard. It can also sometimes be a relief and open up new opportunities.
As a business owner, that has heavily supported women in business over the last 10 years, the change in business climate, impacted SA Woman too. In fact, as interest rates rose over the last two years, a steady decline in membership ensued as people cut costs back wherever they could. The need for certain services post-covid dropped off, and the demands and expectations on business owners and what is delivered increased. Further, for our regional women, many facing drought and challenging times, this also heavily impacted on our members in our regions outside of Adelaide.
It has been incredible to see the government focus on women in business and the pouring of funding into something I have been advocating for, for 10+ years. However, the flip side was this funding into providing free or very low cost mentoring, events and support, further impacted us financially. We have also seen many more groups and organisations offering wonderful things for women too, creating many more options and opportunities. Which despite it’s impact on our bottom line, is something I applaud and hope to see continue. The more focus we continue to have on the needs of our women in business and the provision of supports to help them to build stronger foundations or grow, will benefit those of us with businesses today, the prosperity of our State as a whole and our women of the future.
Add to this my own downfalls of being overstretched combined with dealing with personal challenges and burnout. And there is no denying that balls were dropped, innovation slowed and we did minimal marketing. When in business you simply cannot pull back, because as soon as you do, you are left behind. And that was us this year. All the above led to a very dismal year when reviewing the numbers alone. Our revenue halved. Profit almost non-existent. Membership down by a third. And I barely paid myself a cent.
I would be lying if I didn’t say the thought of giving up crossed my mind many times.
This is the reality of business. Peaks. Troughs. Good years. Some not so great. And some downright woeful! Haha.
“This is the reality of business. Peaks. Troughs. Good years. Some not so great. And some downright woeful! Haha.”
But it wasn’t all a failure! We had many things to celebrate! And while we can get caught up on the statistics and the numbers (which have their place!), something harder to quantify is impact. So also in 2024 we note:
Our Breakfast Series Events sold out each time they were run. While we ran them cost neutral to keep them as accessible as we possibly can during tough financial times, the opportunity for exposure for our panelists and the connections on the day between women in business and careers is worth every hour we pour into them. Seeing many of our panelists be recognised and go on to further greatness in many varying ways and attendees building new connections and networks, is what it is about! You can keep up to date with events here.
Our Catch-ups continued throughout the year with over 200 women attending throughout the year. We kept these free for our members, again to try and remove the barrier of cost and we had incredible women in our community give up their time to host them (thankyou amazing ladies!!). Whether an event of 4 of 20, there were so many messages of thanks of the connections made, new collaborations created and support given around the table at a time a woman needed it most. Register for the membership wait list.
Our Soar Together group program happened this year, bringing my many years of business nurturing into a lower cost format with an online and in person option. We saw so many achievements in the women involved this year, and feedback was that having a supportive space to reflect, share and seek support each month was wonderful. We saw goals achieved, but also had the feedback that ‘just knowing this group was here for me anytime, was what I needed’. We look forward to doing this again in 2025. Biggest of thankyous to Carly Lukacs who facilitated and lead our online group to great success! We will send out an email when this reopens in the new year.
Our Women to Watch initiative, saw us showcase over 80 inspiring women throughout the year. Women from all backgrounds and all levels of success. Thankyou to Kytons Bakery, My Ability Pathway, Sum Total Accounting + Business, MILCO and BET Group for supporting this initiative! This was our alternative to our Awards this year. We saw many of our Women to Watch grow exposure and many went on to achieve goals, awards, grants and more! And while it became more administrative work than we thought it would be and didn’t quite hit the mark we had hoped, we are really proud that rather than just a select few winners we could showcase a really broad group of women. It was really great to try something a bit different and more aligned with our values. It ‘felt’ right to us in many ways, but needs some tweaks and definitely needs an attached event! So we look forward to bringing our Awards back in 2025, with a blend of our Women to Watch Initiative and our previous format. Check out this years women.
We launched our new branding after working with Milly from MILCO. A refreshed look that brought in the many elements of our previous brand identities, to help us soar into the future. It was met with really great feedback from the broader community.
Our Soar Magazine made a comeback. It’s been a couple of years since the last issue and I was determined to deliver on this promise. I spent every evening and weekend for over a month to piece it together. And I am so proud of it. Over 90 pages of South Australian women and girls doing great things inside!! It is everything I am here for and it filled me with so much joy creating it. I can’t wait to do another! Read the current issue here.
And finally, the other thing this year brought was clarity. Over the last 18 months I have faced many less than pleasant comments, actions and behaviours towards me and what we do. In particular, the changes we made a few years ago to SA Woman to be for women in business and careers. Sometimes the hardest thing is to stand tall and stay true to your values and vision, even amongst the criticism. I truly believe in SA Woman and it’s place here in SA, there is room for everyone. And I also believe in a network that recognises and connects women in both businesses and in careers. Now that I also have a traditional job, I have experienced first hand the feeling of being left out of the circles of business and entrepreneurship now that it isn’t my only identity. And it has spurred me on to keep working to better connect women across all facets of work life in SA, not just to be part of SAW, but also the many other wonderful groups and networks available. While it is great to network within your industry, the real opportunities and innovation come from pushing out of those boundaries and meeting others from varying walks of life. We may think that all our challenges are unique to our path, but I can assure you we face more similar challenges than we realise!
“Where we break down our own glass walls of superiority due to job title, income level or school we attended, and instead see one another as fellow women here to soar together.”
As I look towards 2025, I hold a lot of hope. I continue to believe in a State where women are connected, supportive and lift one another up. Where we break down our own glass walls of superiority due to job title, income level or school we attended, and instead see one another as fellow women here to soar together. We have some more events planned, our breakfast series will be back and Awards too. Our group mentoring will continue. We will have our new network and community memberships live in the new year. We have two regions selected to focus on showcasing. The Magazine will be back for at least 2 issues. And we will work on some new collaborations.
And most importantly, I’m keeping on trying. In the words of Chumbawumba ‘I get knocked down, but I get up again’. It’s been the theme song of my business journey. Haha. But let’s also add in some Sia, Unstoppable to the mix. Because I’m determined to keep going, to stay focused on the vision of SA Woman.
Thankyou to the many women who got behind SA Woman this year, our members, our event sponsors, our SAW Leaders, our families and friends. Your support meant the world to us and your compassion during tricky times gave us hope. And to those who opened an email, clicked a link, shared a post or engaged on socials – you gave us a boost to keep going! Thankyou to Carly Lukacs for your many hours spent on SAW, particularly with our women to watch initiative and events, I know it wasn’t an easy year for you either and I am grateful for the passion you poured in. Thankyou to the family and friends who supported me personally, whether it be a listening ear, the offer of help when recovering from injury, the deliveries of coffee, kid drop offs/pickups and so much more – it was all felt and I am incredibly appreciative.
So that’s a wrap. Farewell 2024, a year that challenged me beyond belief, but taught me so much, had me grow as a person, reminded me stay true to myself and gave me a new clarity and outlook on life. And I look forward to 2025 as a year of continuing to ‘soar higher together’.
Wishing all a wonderful and safe holiday break. And a new year filled with laughs, joy, opportunity and time with those you love most.
Soaring Together
Carly Thompson-Barry. xx