Taking a business venture- finding your feet!

In order to gain more work experience regarding PR and promotions, I decided to start up my own online magazine, an idea I've had for a long time now. I wanted to gain an insight into what it would be like to interview and promote other peoples businesses for them. when I first had the idea, I realised that the market for women's magazines were quite one dimensional. Gossip magazines are always telling women you have to look a certain way, act a certain way, be interested in certain things. I wanted to create a platform for women in business promoting their ideas and ventures. I didn't know how, but I just knew it needed to be done. My message was that it doesn't matter what you look like or what to you do, as long as you are passionate about what you're doing, you're doing great.

It took me months to even know where to start with it all, so I ended up listening to Sarah Akwisombe's No Bull Business Women podcast that gave me an insight to start my business. Sarah is the creator of the No Bull Business School, encouraging like-minded entrepreneurs to start their ventures and provide tips for others who are wanting to do the same. By listening to the women she interviewed on the podcast, I learned that if you invest all your time and energy into your idea other people will become invested, too. Your confidence in your business with further you along. So, that's exactly what I did. I jotted down ideas, possible names, possible people to interview, where I wanted to go with the website and when I was going to do it. I also took a lot of inspiration from the Pendulum Mag whose aim is to create an online space of encouragement despite obstacles in your life, whatever that may be.

"Our intention is to help you look inside, think, digest, ideate and go forth stronger with clarity. You will read about culture, business, trends, travel, lifestyle - but most importantly, we help you find the connection on how it is relevant to you."

Both media platforms encouraged me to plunge into the deep-end with my idea, as I believed my niche was something people would want to be apart of. So, Herricane was born. I was petrified to start with; I wasn't sure what reaction I was going to get from the site, I wasn't sure if people were going to be interested in being apart of it. I soon realised, after starting the interviews, that approaching women who were passionate about their fields of business or lifestyle are more than happy to help me with my website, and unknowingly I became a marketing platform for the businesses. One day I hope to make Herricane a credible platform of media marketing for independent businesses.

This spurred me on to attend a business-networking event in the Alliance Manchester Business School, in association with Masood Enterprize Centre called She's the Business. The day consisted of panel talks with social media influencers, Q&A's, workshops and tips for female entrepreneurs. It was a day of celebrating women in business.

"Inspiring and empowering women to embrace their inner-creativity and entrepreneurial spirit."

By attending this event, I learnt so much about media marketing and influencer work, which solidified what I'm doing with Herricane and this blog. I'm hoping my magazine takes off and I'm able to talk to many more entrepreneurial women in their own fields of business, becoming a platform of promotion and celebration for women in business. You can read about She's the Business more in my experience category.