An Important Announcement

Please read

Hello lovely reader,

I am going to cut to the chase, this is the last newsletter that you are going to receive for a while - maybe ever. I have been trying to pen these words for a few weeks now. Going over in my head what I might say. Turning around the different possibilities of what it could be like carrying on and juggling so many plates. Then I asked myself, why?

And the answer was simple: I am holding on for you. Not in a singular, dramatic way. But as always, with everything Step Up Club related, this has been an equal partnership, a conversation really. Especially here, on the newsletter.

I know Substack has only been going for (exactly) a year, but this newsletter, this discourse, and all of its wonderful, enriching Step Up offshoots, has been in existence since 2017, so this feels big. It also feels right, right now.

Probably one of the most important lessons I’ve learnt since starting Step Up Club, and gently nurturing it through its several, changing incarnations, is to be braver.

Let me explain how I got to this point.

As many of you might know, I have had an up and down relationship with being an entrepreneur. Yes, it’s been brilliant having the flexibility that running my own business has afforded me (in time, if not always money), but with that comes inevitable sacrifices. I am fully aware of the privilege built into being able to consider this type of professional set up, that does not distract, however, from the challenges it also brings.

It did not pass me by that while I spent endless (wonderful, well-spent) energy supporting other women to reach higher and play bigger, sometimes, it felt like my own wings were a bit clipped. Not by the work I was doing, my purpose remains as resolute as ever, rather by being in the tricky position of not being able to grow any bigger. There are limits on so many fronts when you run a business and don’t aspire to the extra burden of financial investment.

In short, Step Up Club could only get so big, reach so far and impact a finite number of women. And truthfully, I’ve wanted more on all fronts for some time now. Then, rather unexpectedly, after missing out on a big corporate project, a job opportunity popped into my LinkedIn InMail.

Having started at AllBright on a 3 day a week gig in June, I am now, already nearly full time, and as much as it pains me to admit it I am struggling to find the energy to pen you emails each week. Worse though, sometimes it feels like a weight on my mind, another plate to spin, and I know the reason I am here in the first place is to make work better not burnout or drown beneath a weight of overwhelm, just because I’m too scared to call time. I’ve learnt to be brave, I kept telling myself: now is the time to be brave.

And yes, my 3 children need me, in the early evening, when I’ve been popping into the other room to write the newsletter, or schedule a Huddle, and that isn’t right either.

Oh the Huddle, for my paid readers, I cannot imagine a world where the Huddle does not exist. Can we please still make it happen? Maybe someone else can take the reins for a while, and I can join too? I would so love that. Substack is about collaborative communities, I am not joking, if you want to, then tell me. I am not ready to close up shop entirely, I just need a pause.

For those of you who are my coaching clients, or who are thinking of becoming one, my one day a week that’s spare, that’s for you. I am not giving that up.

So there you have it. I have been ignoring a little voice in my head for too long now. The weekly work that it takes to make this newsletter has become overwhelming and unsustainable, and I need to be brave enough to know when things are ready to come to an elegant end.

In terms of payments, Substack is very clever and has worked out if you are owed any type of reimbursement. Annual subscribers who joined a year ago, have now reached the end of their cycle, and obviously will not renew. If you joined midway through the year, we will issue a rebate. Please be patient, this will take a little bit of time.

And so, we have come to the end. Please stay in touch.

You can find me here on LinkedIn or, drop me an email: alice@stepupclub.co

I hope you don’t feel like I am letting you down. The Step Up Club remains a pioneering community of women who believe in bigger and better for themselves. I know that we haven’t just evolved ourselves over the past 7 years, we have changed the landscape of women’s professional status. Yes, there is a long way to go. If I look back though, I know that the Step Up Club has made a difference.

Thank you for playing your part. Please stay in touch.

Alice