If you’re in your fifties or sixties and you’ve been quietly wondering whether it’s too late to do something different — this one is for you.

There is a really common and really damaging myth that starting a business is something you do when you’re young. That if you haven’t launched something by the time you’re forty, the window has closed. That the energy, the ideas, the appetite for risk — all of that belongs to a younger version of you that has already been and gone.

If you meet Ruth Leigh now, you’d never guess.

She walks into rooms with presence. She’s funny, warm, sparkly and magnetic. She has eight books published and a devoted band of superfans.

But Ruth was not always this person.

Are you sitting at home right now with a hobby that makes you a little bit of money and wondering whether it could ever be something more?

This blog is for you.

The Success Circle is our premium networking membership — the next level up from our pay-as-you-go WIN events. It’s an intimate, exclusive group of women in business who meet once a month at Hintlesham Hall for an afternoon of real conversation, expert talks, and the kind of deep, genuine connection that only comes from seeing the same faces month after month.

Nikki Reeve runs Insignia Limited, a promotional merchandise company that has been going since 1981. She took over the business in 2023 and is brilliant at what she does. But for a long time, nobody outside her immediate circle knew that.

If the thought of walking into a room full of strangers and talking about yourself makes you want to cancel and go home, this one is for you.

Gemma Gooch is a virtual assistant, a WIN leader in Felixstowe, and one of my most trusted sounding boards in business. She is also living proof that networking, done consistently and authentically, directly leads to clients.

Leah Scott is the founder of Bravely Together, a health coach, supporting medical mums — mums who have children with complex care needs. She is warm, wise, and one of the most quietly resilient people I’ve had the pleasure of chatting to on the podcast.

You’ve got the idea. You’ve got the passion. You’ve been thinking about it for weeks, maybe months. And yet every time you sit down to actually start, you feel completely overwhelmed and have no idea where to begin.

What would you do if someone told you that you’d never be successful at anything in life?

I want to let you in on a little secret. When people see Women Inspired Network from the outside, they see the events. The smiling faces. The reviews talking about incredible connections and leaving feeling inspired.

Can I tell you about the worst event I’ve ever run? Actually, scratch that. It wasn’t the worst event. It just felt like it at the time.