CRONE | Self-Employed Success During Perimenopause

Aim

I'm building the online sanctuary we need for self-employed people who are experiencing the transition from perimenopause to post-menopause.

Three years ago, when I should have been peaking in my self-employed career, I started to shrink. I loved the business I’d built over 25 years, yet a foggy flatness had taken over. I found myself missing deadlines, cancelling launches, and googling early-onset dementia.

Two things stopped me in my tracks last year:

The Support Gap: I couldn't find tailored support for self-employed people in the UK navigating the transition from perimenopause through to post-menopause.

The Policy Gap: The 2027 Menopause Mandate is a win for employees, but where does that leave us independent income creators?

I felt isolated, convinced I couldn’t be the only small business owner struggling. It felt embarrassing to admit the lack of motivation and low confidence I’d been experiencing behind the scenes.

Recently, my oomph has returned just enough so I can build the support system we need as a self-employed community.

CRONE is where we'll reshape our independent income journeys to reflect where we are in midlife and together with peer understanding and support we'll go on to the best years of our self-employed lives.

Menopause is a life transition and it's one where we can access a real power decade of solopreneur / small business ownership.

While Crone has historically been used to disparage aging women, I view it as an archetype for wisdom and stepping into our full potential. I see this hormonal transition as an opportunity to evolve our self-employment - to shed the tasks we no longer have the energy for and develop a working practice that sustains us in our later years.

We don’t have to pack this in.

We just need a proper support system so we can thrive in our businesses.

CRONE is a private sanctuary.

It’s a move away from the always-on buzz of social media, where a joy-scroll can quickly turn into a doom-scroll. In CRONE, you pick what’s right for you and dip in and out as needed.

Our platform will include:

❤️ The HR Department for the Self-Employed: Guidance and protection frameworks that usually only exist in corporate environments.

❤️ The Roadmap: A confidential tool where you input your business goals and symptoms to generate a personalised, easy-to-digest guide for your specific season. Print it out. Update it anytime.

❤️ Peer Matchmaking: True to the connection at our core, we’ll pair you with a partner or a small circle for support and gentle accountability with people who get it. The process doesn't match you by industry, but by symptoms, business goals, challenges and energy levels, ensuring your accountability partner actually understands why you might need to reschedule.

❤️ The Audio Library: Bite-sized expert-created resources to help keep your business ticking when the fog is thick and confidence is low. Then, when you have capacity, dig into resources that align your business to your future goals and dreams.

❤️ The Local Hub: Tools to help organise real-life meetups in your area, if that’s your thing.

We won’t sell your data. We'll have full safeguarding. Inclusivity is at our core.

This Crowdfunder invites 1,000 Founding Lifetime Members to lay a brick in this foundation for £25. As a Founding Lifetime Member you will have forever access with no more costs.

We are skipping the pink tax model; for future members, this will be a simple, affordable annual membership.

This safety net needs building. 

Let’s do this for us and the next generation. 

We shouldn't lose our independent livelihoods because of our biology.

My developer friend Sam and I built our first platform together 23 years ago - a groundbreaking E-commerce website Lady Luck Rules OK! which sold my handmade jewellery to young people at a time before Topshop even had a website. 

Since then we've partnered on many more projects.

We know how build things that work really well.

Platform & Privacy: Building the private sanctuary - a secure, ad-free digital home that prioritises your data safety over profit.

The Connection Engine: Developing the peer matchmaking to link you with the right support circles and accountability partners.

The Roadmap Logic: Coding the confidential tool that turns your symptoms and business goals into a clear, actionable strategy.

The Resource Vault: High-quality audio production for our bite-sized library, ensuring the resources are clear and accessible when the fog is thick.

Online to In-person: Creating the local hub toolkit to help you bridge the digital gap and find your community in real life.

Inclusive Design: Working with an Inclusion Consultant and a professional Graphic Designer to ensure CRONE is visually intuitive, representative, and welcoming to every independent creator.

By funding these specific areas, we're not just building a website; we are building a professional infrastructure.

Your £25 ensures that the visual identity is beautiful, the audio is professional, and - most importantly - the space is fundamentally inclusive from the very first brick laid.

Every ambitious project comes with its hurdles. 

Here is how I’m planning to navigate ours to ensure CRONE becomes the sanctuary we all need:

1. Reaching the 1,000 Founding Lifetime Member Goal

The biggest risk is not meeting our Founding 1,000 target. If we don’t reach the full £25k, the build of the more complex tools (like the Roadmap Logic and Peer Matchmaking) may take longer.

• The Plan: I have a phased rollout plan. We will prioritise the core connection features first - the private sanctuary and community spaces - and layer in the technical tools as the membership grows.

2. Technical Complexity

Building a custom, ad-free platform that prioritises data privacy is more complex than using a standard social media group.

• The Plan: I am working with an experienced developer to ensure the user interface is intuitive and fog-friendly. We're not reinventing the wheel; we are refining it to suit our specific needs.

3. Maintaining Absolute Inclusivity

Ensuring CRONE is truly a home for all independent income creators - regardless of gender identity or background - is a massive responsibility.

• The Plan: This is why I have budgeted for an Inclusion Consultant from day one. We're not tacking on inclusivity later; it is being baked into the foundation, from the language we use to the actions we take throughout.

4. Personal Capacity

Navigating the very symptoms CRONE is designed to support means I have to be mindful of my own energy.

• The Plan: This is why I am building Peer Matchmaking and an Audio Library. I am designing CRONE to be a community-powered process that can be dipped in and out of when YOU need it.

Transparency is our Foundation

I've spent 25 years in self-employment; I know how to pivot and how to deliver. 

Your £25 isn't just a donation; it’s a brick in a structure built to last.

This project successfully funded on 31st March 2026