If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.
Margaret Thatcher
In the closing hours of the Thirty Day Challenge a series of events came together that have set some serious actions in motion. Before I talk about the future let’s take a step or two back to earlier this month.
Think for a moment who are the actual “doers” around the place when you want something done. Look at the active moderators on the 30DC forums, females all! The “doing” thing does not only apply to the 30DC either; most of your “organisors” in the office will be women. Without being too stereotypical, women like to DO.
The other thing that women like to DO is to HELP. If we really think about how we are hard-coded most of us will admit that we get a thrill out of helping others (probably more so than helping ourselves!).
Barb Sabathill , Lisa Hartwell and I (yes the three naughty ones from Team AfterParty) spent some time discussing what we should do about this situation. We are approached by women on a daily basis to help, usually being asked the similar questions. We are asked to mastermind with other enthusiastic women. We also recognise huge gaps in the training that is out there for getting women into an online business and/or onto the internet if they already have an offline business.
Lisa, Barb and I have decided to do something about this. We are very excited about it…very!
Next week will be a low key announcement of a very secret place on the internet. A place for women only. A place for women who want to be successful in their businesses online. A place for women who know what they want.
The announcement will be just that… an announcement. There is not going to be any of the massive hoopla that goes into a usual “launch”. Barb, Lisa and I want to run this thing as the sort of place that we would be proud of to be a member. Now mind you that doesn’t mean to say we don’t hope our female friends will pass on the message to their friends and so on. So when our secret place really opens there is an enthusiastic queue of members waiting to come join us!
Keep your eye out on Twitter.
Planned and executed my exit from the corporate world. Walked away with a 6 figure payment to boot.
I’d like to be in your secret place Allison
I’m good at doing and helping and thinking (lots of thinking), if I was better at making money I could be the killer combination 
You have hit the nail right on the head, Allison. The “doers” are the women among us. They’re the one who get down to the nitty-gritty.
And as a male who agrees with you, I offer my sincere thanks. You ladies helped me on the forum — you offered a tip or two on the 30DC.tv chat window.
I appreciate every one of you.
Peace,
Ron Rink
I think there were plenty of male ‘do-ers’ and ‘helpers’ on the forum. I just can’t see this as being gender related. I can see how a ‘secret women only space’ appeals to some women but I think it’s just as wrong-headed as any other gender exclusive network. How would it be if a group of successful men set one up that explicitly excluded people on the basis of gender? BTW I lost the chance to take part in one team for being female so I know the prejudice exists. Thing was they guys were really nice about it. They said they ‘just wouldn’t feel as comfortable with a female around’ and they thought I wouldn’t either. Isn’t that just what is happening here?
Thanks for the comments all!
Linda I think you may have missed the “moderators” comment about the 30DC, not the entire membership
I make no apologies for being gender specific for this project. All markets have some form of entry qualification and target a very specific part of the population.
We feel there is a gap out there and we are going to fill it; same as every other business person does when creating a product (or should be if they are to be successful). We will be creating a safe environment where gender specific training will take place.
I have no problem with men doing the same thing for men.
In fact we will have some of the more visible male members of the IM community also come talk to us. Just because we are setting a curriculum focused on what women need to learn doesn’t mean that we will be limiting ourselves just to female presenters (but they certainly will have precedence as role models).
I am really looking forward to helping those women that really want to succeed and also work with other women to do it. A niche within a niche.
Good for you Allison, Barb and Lisa.. go girls I say!!! I’ll keep my eye out and pass the word around. I was and still am in a girls only team and we did great with helping each other out. I’m with you!
The aim is not to be sexist in any way, shape or form. We are simply acknowledging that some women want a different environment to learn in than men.
My Internet Marketing education has mainly come from men and I actually enjoy working with men. But our experience has been that many women feel less comfortable in open forums and worry about asking certain questions or expressing certain opinions for fear of being laughed at. Thankfully, the 30DC forums are not like that, but newcomers don’t necessarily know that.
There are women’s business organisations and events all over the world. There are also plenty of male specific organisations too. We may question why they are necessary in this day and age, but they simply work for some people. The majority of women feel more comfortable networking with other women and finding their mastermind groups among other women.
There is evidence to support that men and women learn differently and have different traits. Again, not all women or all men, but we hope to provide an environment for those women that do need something different.
As Allison has pointed out, we are not making apologies for being gender specific but at the same time we are not on an anti-men campaign. “It is… as it is” to quote a (male) marketer!
There was never anything “anti-men” intended in the creation of this project. The thought didn’t even occur to us. It’s simply a vision we had of a certain space for women, and as Allison said – we’re filling a gap. I certainly look forward to having some of our favourite male marketers contribute to this community; they have been some of our best teachers! ’nuff said