The start of the new school term in September is often marked by a time for renewed motivation, possible reinvention, and a good time to set goals for your future. After a tumultuous 18 months, we are beginning to learn to live with Covid. Perhaps many of you reading this article might be thinking about a change in career, learning new skills, or returning to work after a career break. One thing is clear, it’s never felt more important to have a supportive network around you. Darling chatted to Really Helpful Club founder, Sarah Austin.
I launched Really Helpful Club in 2014. It’s a unique network for positive, like-minded people. After a 10-year career in the City I took an extended career break to raise my two children, before taking a leap of faith and launching my own business. The platform focused on users sharing recommendations and testimonials and asking questions. I wanted to create a community of positive people, a safe place to share advice and connect with others – a sort of ‘online school gate’. Now, 7 years later, we have grown into a buzzing community of over 15,000 members. We deliver trusted resources, a directory of recommended experts, and valuable connections to a huge network of men and women with the aim to support each other in our personal and business lives. It’s certainly been a period of highs and lows as I navigated the tricky waters of building a business from scratch, but when I see the positive impact that our members have on each other (and themselves), I couldn’t be prouder of what my team and I have achieved so far.
Our community is made up of mainly women in their 30’s to 60’s facing real life’s challenges. A supportive network that listens. We are here to help and empower our members through key stages of transition. From early years parenting and career breaks, to the emotional needs of teenagers, returning to work, health challenges of the midlife, to juggling demands of the sandwich generation. Our shared journeys bind our community and is our greatest asset.
We bring our community to life with our events programme. These cover a wide range of areas from health and wellbeing, to supporting charities and helping members reconnect with the workplace, either in the corporate world or to start and grow a business. Our events help our members to make new connections, share experiences and learn and discover something new. Along with the keynote speeches, there will be roundtable workshops and networking sessions with leading experts from the worlds of business and finance, covering topics such as career change, fundraising & investment, branding & social media, digital expertise, financial literacy, leadership, and much more. We want to inspire you – giving you that boost to take the next steps along your career journey.
Two of the most popular topics covered by our members in our forum are ‘going back to work’ and ‘starting a business’. That’s why we launched our annual Back to Business conference in 2015. Since then, we have helped over 2,000 women take their next step forward in their careers by either returning to the corporate world or starting and building their own business.
Book your ticket today and pay £29.00 instead of £35.00 by entering RHCFRIEND at the checkout into the promo code box.
This year’s event will take place online on Thursday 30th September. This is the sixth in our successful series which aims to support you on your journey to building a career which is created on your own terms, a career that is defined by your own values and life choices and not dictated by society or a corporate machine. Our career journeys are dynamic and ever-changing. As we move through important life events we should be able to adjust our horizons and adapt to these changes, without feeling like we have lost out on an opportunity for a successful and rewarding career, or one that resonates with our individual needs and aspirations.
This year’s interactive conference is designed to help grow your network and build your confidence whether you are returning to work after a career break, scaling your business, or looking to expand your skillset for a new role. We want to help you ‘seize the moment’ when it comes to your individual career journey, with a special focus on the importance of financial and digital support in business. In this challenging year, with the increasing digitisation of business and shifting work dynamics, you may be taking some time to reassess your options for the future, and we are here to help.
Thanks to our sponsors, Vodafone Business and Brewin Dolphin, we’re bringing together experts who will lead online keynote talks and breakout session workshops. We are delighted to be joined this year by British accessories designer Anya Hindmarch CBE, Professor Heather McGregor CBE (aka Mrs Moneypenny from the Financial Times) and Victoria McLean from City CV.
You can find out more about the event and book your tickets on our website.
We’d like to offer Darling Readers a discounted ticket to attend as a valued supporter of Really Helpful Club.
Book your ticket today and pay £29.00 instead of £35.00 by entering RHCFRIEND at the checkout into the promo code box.
You may also enjoy reading about our Women to Watch in business.
