As we were planning the Between Us Ladies: Dinner Soirée, we worked through some lessons and learned to roll with punches. In honour of the event, which took place this past weekend, we wanted to share seven lessons we have learned through the process of planning this big event.
- Recognize your strengths and weaknesses and seek outside help to strengthen your weaknesses. To be successful you have to know what you are good at and what you are not good at and work with people that compliment you in different areas to bring your vision to life. For example, we had to get help from a decorator, photographer, graphic designer and other people with various specialties.
- Lead with gratitude. Always be thankful for the smallest victories that eventually give way to the bigger things. Also, when you are grateful, people are more inclined to help you out.
- You will be disappointed and that’s okay, just shift your thinking. Things will not always go according to plan and when the unexpected happens, instead of dwelling on the bad, try to zoom in on a solution. We tried not to dwell on the disappointments, instead focusing on moving forward and truly believing what is for us will work out. There is always a solution even when you don’t see one at that moment. Sometimes a good night’s sleep does wonders to help you think more clearly and move on from what did not work out in your favour.
- Don’t be discouraged. Even though we set goals for ourselves; not meeting those goals does not translate to failure. Be proud of yourself and keep pushing: we believe that what’s meant to be, will be. All you can do is control what is in your power and in our case we leave the rest to God and that has saved us many times throughout the planning process. We constantly reminded each other of our reason, our “why” for organizing this event. Focus on your focus and stay encouraged that you will get where you need to in due time.
- “No” doesn’t always mean No and it doesn’t mean there aren’t any Yeses. Sometimes people need a little explanation and sometimes they are genuinely not interested in your vision. Your goals are not for everyone and it doesn’t mean you won’t find people that are interested so keep going and you will find those that support you.
- Some days will be hard, that’s okay, breathe. Working with a partner is a blessing because when one can’t, the other can. Although there were days where coincidentally we both needed encouragement and simply talking through it helped to recalibrate our energy and pushed us to move on from the inevitable invading thoughts of discouragement.
- Celebrate the small victories along the way and have fun with it. We can say overall we enjoyed the process and we are proud of ourselves.
Thank Yous 💕
We would like to thank everyone who supported, sponsored and helped to bring our vision of supporting women to life.
- We are truly grateful for all the women who took a chance at showcasing their businesses as vendors. For some they had been in business for a long time and some were just starting out. Ladies, don’t ever let anyone discourage you. Keep going with your businesses and you will succeed. Believe in yourself and stay working on your goals.
- To our amazing guest speakers, thank you for sharing your journeys with us. We were all inspired by your strength and encouragement. The overarching message from all three speakers was of looking within, using our inner strength as women to thrive in our own lanes and always believing in ourselves and recognizing our worth.
- Shout out to our amazing volunteers! Thank you for giving us your time and working with smiles on your face the entire night!
- A huge thank you to all our wonderful guests. The ladies were all dressed up, smiles all around and there was joy and bliss in the air. For some of us, it was the first time getting dressed up in a very long time and there was excitement in that alone. Thank you for believing in our vision, thank you for supporting the women showcasing their businesses and thank you for showing up for us.
- Finally, we want to thank our friends and family who supported us, travelled to celebrate with us and the other women.
We truly appreciate you.
With Love,
Gina and Michelle
