I recently spent an evening listening to Carrie Green, the founder of the Female Entrepreneur Association and one of the original pioneers of online community building and membership businesses.
As someone who has spent years building Asian Women MEAN Business and the Inspire Club, I know that creating a successful community takes far more than launching a platform and hoping people join.
It takes a clear vision, a strong sense of purpose and the courage to keep showing up, even when you are questioning yourself behind the scenes.
Carrie shared so many valuable insights, but these were the three lessons that stayed with me.
1. Visualisation gives your ambition somewhere to go
Carrie spoke about the power of visualisation and allowing yourself to see the life and business you want to create before it exists.
I’ve always believed that our greatest adventures begin as ideas that other people might not fully understand.
Asian Women MEAN Business began with a vision of creating a space where South Asian women could feel seen, supported and encouraged to pursue their ambitions. The Inspire Club, our events, programmes and growing community all came from being able to picture something before I knew exactly how I would build it.
Visualisation is more than wishful thinking. It helps you become specific about what you want.
What does success look like to you?
Who do you want to serve?
How do you want your work to feel?
What kind of life are you building alongside the business?
When the vision becomes clearer, it becomes much easier to recognise the decisions and opportunities that will move you towards it.
2. Reverse-engineer the dream
Having a vision is powerful, but Carrie also reminded us that we must turn that vision into action.
Start with the destination and work backwards.
If you know where you want to be in three years, what needs to be true by the end of next year? What needs to happen during the next six months? What could you begin this week?
Big ambitions can feel overwhelming when we look at them as one enormous leap. Reverse-engineering breaks them into smaller, more manageable steps.
This is something I have learned through building AWMB, growing a membership, creating events, producing a documentary and taking on challenges such as climbing Kilimanjaro.
The final result may be big, but it is created through hundreds of smaller decisions, conversations and courageous actions.
You don’t need to know every step before you begin. You simply need to identify the next one.
3. Imposter syndrome may never completely disappear
One of the most reassuring things Carrie shared was that imposter syndrome doesn’t necessarily vanish when you become more successful.
We often imagine that once we reach a certain level, we will finally feel completely confident and qualified. Then we enter a bigger room, take on a new opportunity or set a more ambitious goal, and those familiar doubts return.
The difference is that we learn not to let those thoughts make our decisions for us.
I have experienced imposter syndrome at many stages of my journey. I have felt it before speaking on big stages, entering influential rooms and pursuing opportunities that once felt far beyond what I believed was possible for me.
Sometimes the doubt still appears. But courage means taking the step while it is there.
Carrie shared a beautiful reminder for those moments of stress and uncertainty: place your hand on your heart and feel it beating. You are here, and there is still something you are here to fulfil.
That really stayed with me.
The dream needs both belief and action
My biggest reflection from the evening was that manifestation works best when it is supported by movement.
See the vision.
Believe that it is possible.
Work backwards from the destination.
Then take the next brave step, even if imposter syndrome decides to come along too.
Carrie deserves all the flowers for the community she has built and the path she has created for so many female founders. It was a powerful evening and a brilliant reminder that we do not need to feel completely ready, fearless or confident before pursuing something bigger.
We simply need the courage to begin.
