Why Entering the Room Solo Might Be Your Most Powerful Move
PLUS: Win! A Midlife Luxury Wellbeing Goodie Bag worth over £300
There is an undeniable spark that lights when women gather around a dinner table. Sitting down as the guest speaker at the Mumble Forum Founders Table dinner last week - an intimate gathering hosted at AKI London - proved to me once again how transformative it is to bring driven, creative women together in one room. I absolutely love these spaces, and it was a delight to be in conversation with my friend and fellow founder, Grace Foder.
Here are my 5 five key takeaways on the magic of community, entering rooms solo, and resetting your mindset using the simple and effective principles from my new book The PRO Method: Pause, Reflect, Organise.
1. The Magic of Attending Solo
Walking into a room full of strangers can feel daunting, but it is precisely how you build your confidence muscle. Opening yourself up to organic, unexpected human connection is a powerful signal that your voice deserves to be heard. And believe me, everyone will be feeling a little bit nervous. As always, that initial apprehension swiftly disappears into genuine warmth and connection before the starters have arrived!
2. A Table Unlocks Collective Wisdom
When you sit around a table with fellow founders, execs and women on a mission, hierarchy disappears. I have always been a keen believer in the power of sharing our stories with honesty - and that includes the messy bits - and my motivation in sharing mine, is to open the floor for more vulnerable conversations from us all. We covered everything, from burnout to personal breakthroughs, challenges and ambition. Gathering around a dinner table reminds us that while our businesses might differ, our core human challenges and aspirations as modern women, are remarkably similar. You realise quickly that you never have to navigate any journey alone..
3. Community Is Fuel
Networking is no longer about exchanging business cards; it's about energy exchange. Leaving the table with new contacts is fantastic - a given at all of my events - but leaving with renewed purpose, fresh clarity, and more energy is pure fuel for the mind and body. Surrounding yourself with supportive peers reminds you of why you started this venture and gives you the resilience to keep building. That is always a useful reminder in what can often feel like a lonely founder journey.
4. Step 1 of The PRO Method: Give Yourself Permission to PAUSE
During the evening, I talked about the first foundational pillar of The PRO Method: Pause. As women, we spend a large proportion of our lives in top-gear, reacting to demands. It can actually be challenging for many of us to build in periods of restoration into our day, but consciously giving yourself permission for a deliberate pause gives your nervous system a chance to calm and from there we can make better decisions. A pause can be as simple as a breath, a walk or a conscious decision to quiet the noise and reset, before deciding what comes next. As I discovered the hard way, if you don't give yourself permission to pause, life has a way of enforcing one.
5. Steps 2 & 3: REFLECT & ORGANISE to Move Forward with Purpose
The true value of connection lies in how you translate inspiration into action.
Reflect: After an inspiring evening, step back to evaluate what resonated. Which ideas excited you? Which connections could move you forward? What values aligned with the conversations you had?
Organise: Turn those reflections into practical, bite-sized steps. Follow up with that new contact, schedule that coffee, or implement that one game-changing piece of advice that stayed on your mind on the way home.
My No.1 takeaway? Don't wait until you hit burnout or feel overwhelmed to seek out connection or reset your routine. Buy the ticket, walk in solo, pull up a chair, and let the room remind you of what’s possible when women lift each other up.
Are you enjoying The PRO Method?
I'm so grateful to all of you who have bought a copy of my new book The PRO Method, those who have shared it on social media or messaged me with kind words on how it is supporting you in different ways – it means so much to me. It is always rather nerve-wracking bringing a new book into the world and especially one that is so personal to me. But it has been my deep aim from the start that this book acts like a friend to anyone navigating a period change in their life and that it always offers a place to start when you don't know where to turn. That can feel especially prevalent in midlife when so many of us are experiencing shifts whether regards to career, relationship changes, children growing up and perhaps leaving home, hormonal changes and caring responsibilities – it is a lot!
If you have enjoyed my words on this subject, I would be so grateful if you might consider leaving a review on Amazon – reviews make a huge difference to book sales and it would mean a lot to me. In return I am going to put all reviewers into a lucky dip to win this incredible bumper, Rosie's Reinvention Retreats luxury wellbeing goodie bag. It contains many of the brands designed to support women in midlife and who we feature regularly on the retreats like Jo Loves, Made of More, The Better Menopause, Solgar, Dozzz, Scentered, Smart Strains, Studio 10, Ainslie & Ainslie, O&M, Skimono, By Sarah and Balance Me. Plus I will include an extra signed copy of The PRO Method to keep or gift to a friend who might enjoy it. This special goodie bag of amazing treats, beauty and wellbeing support is worth well over £300 and will be delivered to your door.
If you'd like more practical support on discovering your purpose, getting your ideas off the ground and building confidence for the next 15 years of work, don't forget that my Career Confidence Reset Masterclass is live now too. It's launched at a special introductory price and I'm hearing some wonderful feedback. This is a self-paced coaching course you can do in your own time. It is definitely worth checking out if attending a retreat is tricky or 1-1 coaching is financially prohibitive. It's been created with care to give you a thorough coaching experience through video tutorials with me and worksheets. Let me know what you think.
As ever, THANK YOU, for being a part of this community and for championing our collective believe that reinvention is always possible. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Love
