My 50th year in seven days: part 6

My research into different business models suggested that I needed to narrow down or niche my focus.  Helping people was too broad, helping who and with what?  I decided to ask the universe the question and wait for the answer.   

My spiritual connection is grounded in the concept of interfaith.  Interfaith is not a new religion, it's a way of being that holds, whilst our spiritual traditions are many and varied in what they tell their practitioners to do; in essence they  are all seeking the same thing: connection to each other and connection to our source.  Interfaith, accepts that our many different spiritual traditions are equally valid as long as their core message is one of love and respect for others.

Asking the universe meant praying and meditating on the question and waiting for the answer to show up, trusting that it would.  Sure enough it did.  It was just before International Women's month and this year (2011) was the hundredth anniversary of the International Women’s Movement.  I was doing some research for a workshop I intended to run and I came across these statistics, which in the context of 100 years of targeted activity focused on improving the lot of women shocked me.  

Actually it was more than a shock; it rocked me to my core.  Women do two thirds of the world's work for less than 10% of the wages and own less than 1% of all the wealth in the world including property.  So I found my niche, women, we definitely needed to help each other and my topic, wealth.  Women needed wealth and power or as history had shown, we’d never change things.

Although I wanted to work with all women, I remembered how difficult it was to focus on anything other than home making when I had a young family.  Not wanting to go down the route of piling more stuff on already over loaded young mums, I thought of my current circumstances.  There are many women like me, in mid-life, who if they do have children; their offspring are now at an age where they need coaching and mentoring rather than caring and nurturing. What if these women also had to restart their lives because something had happened to upset their equilibrium?  That is, they'd receive life's curve ball and their wild swing at the projectile had not only missed but caused them to unbalance and now they lay dazed on the floor.   

Many could be facing redundancy due to the large public sector cuts and wider economic decline.  Like me they would be highly skilled, and looking for a way to pick up the pieces and restart smart. 

Perhaps they would be looking for a way to start new careers doing something that they were passionate about. It was  also very likely that these women would be worried about their financial security – none of us are getting any younger and the prospect of being poor after retirement is a scary thought (even if the Government expects us to work until we drop!) 

Or maybe they might be looking to re sculpt their bodies and image like I had done when I hit my mid forties and suddenly found that I had put on 3 stone!  I had to discover a new way of getting back in shape and staying that way without the crazy diets or killer exercise routines.  

So many times in my life I have had to restart smart, fundamentally changing what I was about so that I could move forward effectively and be in charge of my life again.  When I reviewed my journey I realise just how much similarity there was between how I manage my life and the techniques I used to manage major world class projects.  I could streamline this so it was a more user-friendly solution and I could pass it on to empower women to create wealth, change themselves and change the world.

It's a known fact that where Development Agencies have educated and trained women, the women have taken the knowledge back into the community and the net result is the whole community has been uplifted and improved.  A nurturing nature means that we are more likely to give back.  Women are the way to change the world.  I therefore reasoned that empowered women could change the world; could redress the imbalance in wealth and power that resulted in those appalling statistics.  I was on a mission.

I needed a name, a way to capture the idea that could become shorthand.  Obviously it had to be the right name.  Words are so important; they convey ideas in an instant.  Often women are associated with softer, touchy-feely words which are lovely; however whatever words I used needed to say power conclusively, it needed to signify that women were 100% in charge of their lives. A word (or words) that even if you didn’t understand the deeper ideas behind the concept, was strong and powerful in its own right. I was mulling this over with a good friend when it came to me.  Tycoon: someone powerful, an amasser of great wealth and power.  Tycoon Women was born.

To be continued 

Read the exciting conclusion to the story of my 50th year here tomorrow.