Listen Up, Ladies. It’s Time for You to Be in the Room.
Have you ever had an idea for a business but felt like you had no one to talk to about it? Or been in a room full of people and felt like you didn't belong?
If you're a woman entrepreneur, you know that feeling all too well.
But what if there was a place where female leaders could come together and be their unapologetic selves? A community where women entrepreneurs could share their stories, connect with like-minded individuals, and get the support they need on their own terms?
Be in the Room is that place.
In this article, we talk to founder, Ryann Dowdy, about the community she created full of female entrepreneurs passionate about building businesses and lives they love.
Making Room for Change
You know those people who seem to have it all together? Everything about them is perfect and they always seem to be succeeding, no matter what they do.
On the surface, Ryann Dowdy was one of those women. She was a female entrepreneur with a thriving business, a gorgeous house, and a beautiful family. But there was one problem: she felt unfulfilled. She did everything “right” in life. She lived the American dream, but inside, things felt very wrong and like a nightmare. She was bored, stuck, frustrated, and guilty. She wanted more, even though everyone told her she had it all.
So, she decided to make room in her life for what she truly wanted- to change the lives of other female entrepreneurs that have felt the same way.
Today, Ryann leads a movement with strong, powerful, high-achieving lady leaders who are setting a new standard for success moving forward.
And she's not looking back.
What is Be in the Room?
There's no denying that reaching a certain level of success can be amazing. But as anyone who has achieved said level of success will tell you, there's also a downside: the isolation that comes with it.
When you "make it," people assume you no longer need anyone to support you, see you, or understand you.
The truth is, we all have basic human needs that don't just disappear at the top -and if left unmet- can lead to rock bottom.
Because being a successful, woman entrepreneur takes more than just business acumen and a strong work ethic. It also takes courage, vulnerability, and a willingness to show up fully in all aspects of your life. So, for female leaders, finding a community of like-minded women can be vital to maintaining sanity and avoiding burnout.
That's why Ryann Dowdy created a peer-led, mentorship community for high-achieving, female entrepreneurs searching for more.
More meaning. More fulfillment. More joy. More impact. And yes, even MORE SUCCESS!
Her company is called Be in the Room and it is a safe space for women to come together to fearlessly and unapologetically be themselves. This sisterhood provides the support, resources, and accountability that women need to go after their biggest dreams.
Whether you're struggling with imposter syndrome, dealing with self-doubt, or just need a place to vent or re-invent yourself, Be in the Room has room for you to be who you want to be!
In the Room with Ryann: The Interview
Be Helpful:
In your bio, it says you were feeling stuck, frustrated, and guilty. Why guilty? Was there a specific moment or was it more of an overwhelming, cascading feeling over time?
Ryann Dowdy:
Because on paper, I had it all and it didn’t feel like enough. I felt guilty for not being okay with what I had.
It was a snapshot in time; so not like a bolt of lightning but there was a very specific time.
My son, Davis is five and he was born in 2017. I had spent years prior to that traveling. I was always that person that would get parachuted into markets and go solve sales problems. So, to me, the dream job was running my own sales team in an environment where I didn't have to travel as much and I got that job, literally while I was pregnant! I consulted for a company and was like, ‘Hey, after my maternity leave, you should hire me.’ And they did. They brought me in as their director of sales.
I remember being excited to go back to work. So many moms will tell you the story of, ‘Oh, I cried on my first day back to work,’ and there I was having mom guilt over not having mom guilt. I was thinking, ‘Well, I get to go use my brain and I'm so excited to do that.’ And not that I don't love being a mom, but I love business and it's fun. So, I go to work, and I just remember sitting at my desk looking around thinking, ‘I feel like I'm supposed to feel different about this, right?’
So, Davis is born in February, I go back to work in April, I went to a conference in July, and then I wound up hiring my first coach in October. So, there's this period from basically April to October, where I just thought this experience would feel different, be different, and look different.
And so, I just remember that snapshot of time where I felt like, ‘What's missing?’ I very much felt that guilt of, I have my dream job, sitting in this beautiful office that overlooks this pond at an office park with all my own furniture. It was so much fun! And that's where the guilt came in. ‘Why can this not be enough? Why can't I just be happy?’
I remember leaving the office on a Friday and feeling so, so, so glad to be done and I had never had that feeling before. It was a period where I very much remember questioning everything.
Be Helpful:
You mentioned being a bit of a “control freak” in the beginning stages of building your business. How did you work through that transition and evolve?
Ryann Dowdy:
Excellent question. It started with the things that I didn't like to do.
I was learning about the gig economy and freelancers and so for me, it was social media. I really hated posting social media content. Someone was like, ‘You know, you could hire somebody to do that for you.’ And I was like, ‘That's fascinating. Cool, that person can do this!’ Then, that person was scheduling my social media. Then that person came to me and said, ‘You know, we could do this, this, and this to make that more efficient,’ and I was like, ‘Cool. You should!’
And the business continued to grow.
Then I asked that person, ‘Do you have this skillset? Can you do this too, this too, and this too?’ And I just kept giving her things.
In all fairness, this human happens to be my sister, but she just took it and ran with it. We paid people to teach her things that she didn't know how to do.
That kind of unlocked this thing in me where I realized that I never have to do anything that I don’t want to do, in the business world and in life!
The biggest thing in my business is that I give my people parameters. I have a team that I really trust. My sister works for me, I’ve worked with my marketing manager in a previous life, and my program director was a client before she worked for me. I haven't hired a ton of strangers and I’m very blessed to do so. I've also built a network where I don't know if I'll ever have to really hire a stranger. I hired people that I knew and trusted, people that were referred, people that were in my ecosystem, and people that already knew enough about me when they said yes to working for me. They knew the level of excellence that was going to be expected of them, the way that I show up, and what was important to me.
So again, I feel extremely blessed in that area. But from outsourcing things, I also learned that I can't be attached to how it gets done. This applied more at home.
My husband has been home since about February or March 2020, pre-pandemic, when he quit his job.
In the beginning, I tried to micromanage the way he did everything, especially the way he does laundry! That man does an obscene amount of laundry and it's completely unnecessary as far as I'm concerned. But you know what? I don't care because I don't do the laundry. My children have clean clothes to wear.
Same thing with what my three-year-old wears to school. Some days I'm like, ‘Did she leave the house like that?’ My husband says, ‘Yea.’ The point is, I didn't dress her.
I had to pick the battles, right? He does all the grocery shopping. Again it's the most inefficient thing on the planet. The way he goes to three different stores, and all this stuff. Now, I don't care. The groceries are in the house, right?
I had to not be attached to how things got done as long as they got done and I had to be okay with it not being done the way that I do it.
There are things in my business that are not done the way that I would do them, but I don't have to do them, and they get done, so I don't care!
We’re a pretty small team right now and I’m sure that as my company grows I'm going to have to pay somebody else to make sure that we operate efficiently and have more consistency. But for now, there's more than one way to get things done. As long as it's done and it gets done well, I don't care! But really, you can't just say you don't care and then micromanage. You have to legitimately not care.
It took me a long time to get there, but yeah, there are questions I just don't ask. And I am so thankful that there are people on this planet that have brains that care about those things!
For the full interview, please head over to the Be Helpful Podcast.
Making Room for the New
With female leaders like Ryann Dowdy at the helm, the future looks bright for female entrepreneurship.
Ryann knows that female entrepreneurs are a powerful collective. They have the ability to create change and make a real impact in the world. She knows that when women come together and work together, they are invincible.
No matter what your goals are, or how successful you may be already, it’s always important to have a support system in place; a group of women who understand the challenges and opportunities that come with being an entrepreneur is invaluable.
If you don’t have a community like that yet, I urge you to check out Ryann Dowdy’s Be in the Room. It could be the best decision you ever make to change your business and your life!
So, let's get connected, ladies - we've got work to do!
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