It’s Doone, your hype girl in business. We're back, baby. Hello and welcome to 2024! After the gift of a screen-free holiday I am so excited to be back in your inbox. It’s hard to put into words just how much I get out of writing this newsletter, and I am totally blown away that so many choose to be on this journey with me. Here’s to a value-heavy, fun and curious newsy in 2024!

Today we’re covering 👇

• Goal-setting & brain-dumping for the new year

• 2024 ecommerce predictions to be excited about

• Catch-up on the news over the holidays

• Fashion accelerator closing today

• Ways I can help you this week if you need more sales in your biz 🤗

• I’ll be in Vancouver next week: what do I need to see/do/experience?

Goal-setting for 2024 🚀

It can be hard to figure out what to focus your energy on. Brain. Clutter. As we gear up for 2024, let's dive into my ultimate tried-and-tested goal-setting strategy designed for founders and future founders. The ultimate point here is to write down every single goal, big or small, that is or has been on your mind at some point these past 3 months. You then trim that list right down, so you are laser-focused on those big ‘24 goals. Simple! Let's get straight into it.

Step 1: Dream Big Brain Dump 👉

Set a 10-minute timer and unleash everything you might want to achieve on paper. What do you want to learn, have, be, do, where do you want to go, create, contribute to, experience, see, and try in the next decade? This will be a long list. It’ll be overwhelming, BUT it’ll lead us to the next step. A couple of prompts that can help you:

• ️What do you want to learn?️

• What do you want to have?️

• Who do you want to be?️

• “My dream is to ___________”

Step 2: Timeframe Tagging 👉

Assign a number (1, 3, 5, or 10) to each dream based on the timeframe in which you want to achieve it. Whether it's seeing your biz right through to a successful exit (a solid 10-year dream) or learning how to master FB ads without an agency (a cool 1-year challenge), give each dream its time horizon.

Step 3: Distill Your Focus 👉

Now, it’s time to narrow down your extensive list. Pick 3-5 goals for 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years. As you’re doing this, you want to aim for a good balance across work, health, and relationships.

STEP 4: Don't Get Complacent ⚠️

You've done all the hard work, now let's make sure you stay on track to making this year the year you very much deserve it to be. One useful way to make sure you don't fall back into old patterns is to get SMART about your goals. Take your two or three goals and use THIS smart system to give yourself the structure & support you need to keep things moving forward.

For a deeper dive into goal setting for your business, we run a workshop here →

Ecomm Predictions to be excited about 🔮

Ready to jot down some ecomm insights for 2024? In our latest co-hosted chat, we skipped the proven blueprints and dived into our top 5 predictions shaping the ecommerce scene in this upcoming year:

1. AI in Advertising: great news, it's not just for the big players anymore! In 2024, AI is your budget-friendly ticket. Picture optimised campaigns, budgeting magic… Opening up the advertising playing field for small biz owners in the past reserved for those with hefty agency budgets.

2. Hybrid-AI Magic: in a u-turn, as we lean on AI for assistance, we find ourselves leaning into the human touch. In the coming year, AI becomes our savvy assistant, instead of our rival.

3. Live-Stream Shopping: the infrastructure has been there, but 2024 is the year live-stream shopping truly takes centre stage. TikTok Shop are offering enticing incentives ($1.5K carrots for brands diving into live shopping!), a big nod to old-school selling methods made sexy again.

4. Creator-Led Collaborations: this year is all about integrated, data-driven collabs. Imagine mini-brands emerging within a brand, smart collaborations, and a revolution in the rev-sharing model: the future of influencer.

5. Mobile Commerce Magic: the future of commerce is entirely mobile, and 2024 is all about smoothing out the process. Design and think mobile first, with a super smooth experience your top priority.

Listen to more tea on the podcast →

• Black women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs

• The latest Kardashian brand to make its Target debut 

• What Canvas Ventures cofounder predicts for 2024

• Hormone health could be a what trend in 2024?

• Blackpinks’ Jennie enters the chat

• Hummingbirds raises $3.3M in seed funding

• There’s $3.8M more to support women across Canada

• Are you prepared for the post-holidays returns hangover?

• Why we should keep saying Female Startup Club

• Canva is eyeing up a $1B secondary transaction at $26B

• Ruth Foxe Blader soft-launches her own venture firm

This week's accelerator...

Closing today: Evo Fashion invites you to join their five-month experiential programme aimed at growing fashion brands in London - join here!

This week's lineup...

This week's recommendations...

Ways I can help you this week…

San Fran 🌴

• Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global, improving the way we work and live, is hiring a Brand & Marketing Designer. Apply directly here.

NYC🗽

• Career fulfilment startup Landit is looking for an entrepreneurial Project Manager to join the team. Something for you?

• Sawyer, building tech to help busy parents, is on the hunt for a Director of Product Marketing to join the team. Apply directly here.

Chi-town 🇺🇸

• Food tech company AQUA Cultured Foods is hiring a Senior Food Scientist to help bring new product to market. Know someone?

It feels pretty damn good to be back in your inbox! If you loved something in the newsletter this week share it with us on IG tagging @femalestartupclub ✨