TL;DR: 12 days after launching Indie CRONE on Instagram, I ran a Crowdfunder to fund a solution for self-employed people navigating any stage of menopause. While we didn’t hit our original £25k goal, 181 incredible backers raised £4,531 – which funded this very website. It wasn’t a failure; it’s just the beginning.
On March 6th of this year – just twelve days after launching the Indie CRONE Instagram account – I took a leap of faith. I decided to run a Crowdfunder to gather the initial funding needed to grow a seed of an idea into something real.
From the outside, it might look like everything happened overnight. But the truth is, I had spent the entire year prior navigating a deep, low tide in my perimenopause journey.
During that season, I looked for community-driven support tailored to self-employed people like me – people trying to sustain a livelihood while dealing with profound hormonal shifts and brain fog. I couldn’t find it anywhere. At times, it was the most isolated I have ever felt in my 25-year self-employed career.
Yet, even in the quietest moments, the cogs were slowly whirring away. I began visualising what non-judgemental connection with others and meaningful support could look like. I realised that my own experience, my skill set, and my fierce passion for this community made me a great candidate to build it.
When my energy and capacity finally began to open up at the beginning of this year, it felt like a springboard. I launched the Instagram account and quickly followed it with a Crowdfunder to test the waters.
Admittedly, my energy dipped during the campaign itself. I found I just didn’t have enough in the tank to push us past the £5k mark and towards our original £25k goal. But if my perimenopause journey has taught me anything so far, it’s that that is okay. I found it so much easier to accept that shortfall than I ever would have in the past. It wasn’t a failure. It was simply the start.
To the 181 humans who backed the very first Indie CRONE Crowdfunder: a wholehearted thank you. Because of you, we raised £4,531. That generosity has officially gotten this project off the ground, and it is the exact reason you are able to read these words on this brand new website today.
We are here. And this is just the beginning.