Empowering Women in Business

by Gemma Thirsk in Manchester, England, United Kingdom

We did it
On 3rd April 2020 we successfully raised £9,652 with 83 supporters in 27 days

Reach, support and empower as many women starting or running their own businesses as possible, and to help breakdown barriers they face.

by Gemma Thirsk in Manchester, England, United Kingdom

 New stretch target

Any extra pledges will be used to put together a range of online courses and membership packages to continue our work to help mentor, support and empower women as they progress through their business journey.


That's Her Business Crowdfunder

IMPORTANT NOTE: This project has been updated to address the need for more business support during current uncertain times. We have pledged to give away additional branding packages, lowered the cost of entry to the competition (any pledge, regardless of amount, will be entered) and created a support group for women. Full details of this update here.

About That's Her Business

We are a collaboration of talented female business owners, pooling our skills and resources to help other women do the same. We will be offering a package which includes web design, photography and content - all of which can be quite overwhelming when you're setting up a business! We will also build a community of like-minded women doing it for themselves to offer ongoing support to our clients.                  

The Whole Package, We've Got It

With your help, we will initially offer one core service - The Full Package.

The Full Package is everything needed to take a business from an initial idea to making sales and booking clients in just a few weeks. The package consists of logo design, web design, brand photography, optimised content, as well as ongoing support.

We remove the overwhelming, stressful bits that come with setting up a business, and make it easy and enjoyable for women setting up their own business. We will also provide financial support by offering a flexible monthly payment plan to ensure our package is accessible to as many women as possible.

Right - That’s Her Business Founder, Gemma Thirsk (Photography: Cassandra Lane Photography)


Who is she?

My name is Gemma and I am the founder of That’s Her Business - you can see me jumping for joy about my business above, and staring lovingly into my (7th) cup of Yorkshire Tea below. I’m 24 and have been riding the self-employed rollercoaster for the last few years as a logo and web designer, and I can’t wait to help more women set up their own businesses.



Above - Hello, me again! (Another one of Cassandra Lane Photography's brilliant branding shots)

Why Crowdfunding?

There are two main reasons I decided to set up a Crowdfunder for That's Her Business. Starting this collaboration project out of debt will allow us to go on to genuinely help as many people as we possibly can, it's that simple. The second reason is that we have been given an incredible opportunity by Natwest and Crowdfunder.

That's Her Business has been accepted onto the Natwest Back Her Business program, this means that you can receive amazing rewards while supporting a small business and we can access additional grants from Natwest to get our project running. We're entered into the Bring It 2020 competition too, with the winners receiving up to £10k in prize funds. So the more we can raise ourselves, the better chance we have of accessing grants and prizes from Natwest to help female business owners build their dreams. How exciting!


Why Do I Want to Empower Women in Business?

One of the main reasons I wanted to start That’s Her Business is because there were fewer women than men at the coworking space I’m based at, and I thought “this doesn’t make sense, where are all the girls?”.

Since then, some amazing female-led businesses have moved in (yay), but I could still see a difference between the female and male-led businesses. Study after study has shown that women are more risk-averse than men, making them less likely to set up their own business. The most recent and notable study, The Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship found that only 1 in 3 UK entrepreneurs are women, which accounts to 1.1 million MISSING businesses.



That’s when I decided to use my branding, graphic and web design skills, along with collaborating with talented female content marketers and photographers, to help other women to set up and scale their businesses. We offer everything you could possibly need to set up your business, from brand identity to incredible content, to get you one step closer to reaching your professional goals.

Above - Logo Style Guide (An example of Gemma's logo design work for female entrepreneurs)

Looking forward, we want to be able to put together a range of online courses and membership packages to help mentor, support and empower women in business.

How are we going to do it?

Your Crowdfunder UK campaign pledge will help us to reach and support as many women in business as possible. Helping women to successfully set up and run their own businesses is at the heart of what we do, and with your help we can make it happen.

In return for your generous pledge, we’ll be offering one-to-one brand consultations, access to our support group of lovely ladies and a few more exciting extras! 

For every £2k raised, we will also be giving away The Full Package to one lucky person, so whether you’re a woman with an idea, or you’re already running a successful business - our package will help you to maximise your business and increase your earning potential.

If you’re not a female business owner, don’t worry! We invite you to gift your reward or prize to an inspiring female who you think will benefit from working with us. After all, incredible things can happen when we support each other.

All pledges will also receive a handwritten thank you card. So if we haven’t quite got your support, I double, triple dare you to make my hand ache as much as possible with all the cards I’ll be writing!

Thanks so much for visiting That’s Her Business and believing in what we do. It’s with this belief that we can go on to support as many women in business as possible, helping to make a real change to those statistics. Keep up to date with the latest That’s Her Business News on our Instagram Story!  

P.S. Good luck in the competition!

Competition T&Cs: 1 full branding package will be given away to 1 winner for every £2000 raised. RRP after launch £2400. Package includes brand consultation, logo design, web design, copywriting, personal brand photoshoot, access to ongoing web support via phone and email and access to a network of likeminded women in business. Subject to availability. Entrants must be over 18. Competition closes April 1st 2020 23:59 and winner will be announced 10th April 2020. Winner will be notified by email and agrees to the use of their name and image in any publicity material, as well as their entry. The prize is non-transferable. Prize does not include photographer travel over 15 miles of M33, web hosting, domain or commercial font licenses. This competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Crowdfunder UK. Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions. Entries will be drawn at random to decide winners. That's Her Business has the right, at its sole discretion and at any time, to change or modify these terms and conditions, such change shall be effective immediately upon posting to this webpage. That's Her Business also reserves the right to cancel the competition if circumstances arise outside of its control.

Rewards

This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.

£2 or more

Virtual Birthday Card for Gemma

This one is mainly for all of my wonderful friends and family. My birthday is 31st March, and this year I am asking you kindly to send me a 'virtual birthday card' in the form of a small pledge to help my campaign along. The same price as a card but with no trees involved and funds are used to support women in business - perfect. Thank you and miss you, I can't wait to see you all, hopefully, sooner rather than later.

£1 or more

Access to Support Group for Women in Business

If you are a female freelancer or small business owner, please request to join our group for advice and general cheering each other on! Search on Facebook for That's Her Network. No pledge necessary.

£5 or more

1 Competition Entry - For Every Single Pledge

From 18/03, all pledges regardless of amount will gain entry into the competition. I am also looking to add additional rewards that will be useful to business owners in current times – suggestions are very welcome.

£25 or more

Your Name on Backers' Page

1 Entry to win The Full Package and we'll put your name on our supporters’ web page and Instagram Highlight.

£50 or more

1 Entry & Brand Consult

1 entry to win The Full Package, a handwritten thank you card and a 30 min brand discovery telephone consultation with our Founder and Brand Identity Specialist, Gemma.

£100 or more

2 of 5 claimed

2 Entries, Name on Backers' Page & Brand Consult

2 entries to win The Full Package, a handwritten thank you card, your name on our supporters’ web page and Instagram highlight, plus a 30 minute brand discovery telephone consultation with our Founder & Brand Identity Specialist, Gemma.

£150 or more

0 of 5 claimed

3 Entries, Name on Backers’ Page & Brand Consult

3 entries to win The Full Package, a handwritten thank you card, your name on our supporters’ web page and Instagram highlight, and a 30 min brand discovery telephone consultation with our Founder and Brand Identity Specialist, Gemma.

£250 or more

0 of 5 claimed

5 Entries, Logo on Backers’ Page & Brand Consult

5 entries to win The Full Package, a handwritten thank you card, your name on our supporters’ web page and Instagram highlight, and a 30 min brand discovery telephone consultation with our Founder and Brand Identity Specialist, Gemma.

£300 or more

0 of 3 claimed

Logo Design by Gemma, Founder & Brand Specialist

Gemma works with female business owners to find out who their customers are and help to attract them with beautiful visuals. Includes research, two initial creative concepts, unlimited revisions, one unique logo design & full range of web/print-ready final files & colour specs. (RRP £350)

£400 or more

0 of 1 claimed

Two-Hour Personal Brand Photoshoot in Manchester

Two-hour personal branding shoot showcasing your personality. Includes up to two locations of your choice and an outfit change, as well as up to 40 images to use across your website and social media channels. Provided by our expert collaborator, Cassandra Lane Photography. (Travel within 15 miles of M33 included, subject to Cass’ availability and terms & conditions).

£500 or more

0 of 2 claimed

10 Entries, Logo on Backers’ Page & Brand Consult

10 entries to win The Full Package, a handwritten thank you card, your name on our supporters’ web page and Instagram highlight, and a 30 min brand discovery telephone consultation with our Founder and Brand Identity Specialist, Gemma.

£1,000 or more

0 of 2 claimed

20 Entries, Logo on Backers’ Page & Visit THB HQ

20 entries to win The Full Package, a handwritten thank you card, your name on our supporters’ web page and Instagram highlight, and a 3-hour brand discovery consultation with our Founder and Brand Identity Specialist, Gemma at THB HQ in Manchester.

£2,000 or more

0 of 1 claimed

Early access to full branding package

Your logo design, web design, content and brand photography will be completed by us before bookings are open to anyone else! (RRP £2400).

£25 or more

6 of 6 claimed

Your Name on Backers' Page

You’ll receive a handwritten thank you card and we'll put your name on our supporters’ web page and Instagram Highlight.

£50 or more

1 of 1 claimed

1 Competition Entry

1 entry to win The Full Package and a handwritten thank you card.

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