Hello Fearless hopes to teach women to balance their life, business

It took Sara Davidson two major startup burnouts to decide that something about her life needed to change. After moving to Kansas City to do marketing for Zaarly, Davidson says that she started to feel the strain of the lifestyle she’d become accustomed to.

Photo courtesy of Hello Fearless

Hello Fearless logoIt took Sara Davidson two major startup burnouts to decide that something about her life needed to change.

After moving to Kansas City to do marketing for Zaarly, Davidson says that she started to feel the strain of the lifestyle she’d become accustomed to.

“We were literally killing ourselves and after six months of burning the midnight oil and three all-nighters a week, I left and had to take three whole months off,” Davidson told SPN. “When you put your heart and soul into a company, that’s your entire life. If you lose it, you’re like, ‘Who am I outside of this company?’”

After leaving Zaarly it didn’t take long before Davidson found herself in a similar situation again, starting her own consulting firm.

“Again, I was killing myself and I hit another burnout. I finally realized that I couldn’t live like this anymore, something was out of alignment, something was missing.”

So Davidson took some time to focus on what was important, not to the growth of her business, but to herself on a more personal level. Simultaneously, she was helping start the Athena League, a Kansas City-based group for women entrepreneurs, and realized just how many women had an interest in starting their own business.

And so Hello Fearless was born.

“It’s more than just a school for female entrepreneurs,” Davidson said of Hello Fearless. “It’s a movement to empower women to dream bigger and make their dreams a reality, to help them create a highly profitable business aligned with who they are and the impact they want to make.”Photo courtesy of Hello Fearless

The Hello Fearless program will use the Kauffman Foundation’s FastTrac curriculum coupled with lectures and training programs by leading experts from across the country. Through it all though, Davidson says the focus on creating a business that also is beneficial to its founder’s health and well-being will be a key focus.

“We believe that entrepreneurship is more than just building a successful company. It’s about building an extraordinary life,” Davidson (right) said. “What’s the point of building a company if all the other areas of your life are failing?”

Hello Fearless’ inaugural class of Boss School—a name Davidson says reflects the program’s mantra that women can be the boss of their company as well as of their life—will be the first time that Kauffman’s FastTrac program appears online, specifically tailored to female entrepreneurs. Hello Fearless was one of Spark Lab KC’s 2014 companies and was approached by Kauffman to collaborate following the accelerator’s Demo Day.

Each week of the 10-week course, themed lesson modules will be available online for Boss School students via video, audio and transcription. Then once a week, a guest expert will join entrepreneurs for a Google Hangout to share their expertise. Davidson says a Facebook group for the Boss School also will help provide continued support and foster collaboration for the class.

“The Boss School is perfect for any woman who has an idea she wants to make a reality, but also perfect for the entrepreneur who has a one- to three-year-old business who wants to become a stronger business owner and solidify that model,” Davidson said.

Davidson says courses will include everything from best business practices to advice on living a healthier, more balanced lifestyle.

“We are providing a lot of bonuses that address more of the lifestyle issues (associated with being an entrepreneur),” she said. “We all have lives outside of our business and it’s important to address how do we manage things like our health and relationship in addition to the traditional foundational pieces about building a business.”

Enrollment for the Boss School opens Sept. 15 and the first class kicks off Sept. 28. Interested in enrolling? Sign up to receive course notifications. Cost for the course is $1,200

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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4 responses to “Hello Fearless hopes to teach women to balance their life, business”

  1. […] Hello Fearless hopes to teach women to balance life, business Silicon Prairie News So Davidson took some time to focus on what was important, not to the growth of her business, but to herself on a more personal level.  […]

  2. […] Hello Fearless believes that entrepreneurship is more than just building a successful company. It's about building an extraordinary life  […]

  3. […] Hello Fearless hopes to teach women to balance their life, business by Megan Bannister (8/15) […]

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