A call to heart-led action

You, friend. Are a leader. We all are.

Leadership is not a title given to us by someone else. It is a choice each of us make, every moment of every day. Leadership is not convincing someone else of our way of thinking, or telling others what to do (both of these things are more like dictatorship), leadership is finding and knowing our highest alignment, and acting in integrity, in accordance with our unique truth. Leadership is also reflection and introspection, and a willingness to look within in order to grow and evolve into what’s next. 

As another revolution around the sun comes to completion, I’m reflective of the year that’s been. For us at Growmotely, but for the world too. Let’s be real, there’s been a LOT going on for us all, and we’re in the midst of a huge evolution.

When change occurs, the old ways of being naturally hold on. Whether this change is within us, or within the collective, what was does not want to cease being. Resistance is felt and it can be hard to properly let go, grieve and welcome in what’s next.

My biggest challenge this year has been our capital raising journey. As someone playing the game of entrepreneurship, this is a part of the game, but it’s a part of the game I’ve not played before. My prior 12 years of entrepreneurship and business were all self-funded journeys… and now I know why…

I have a very strong independence story. It’s a protective strategy I adopted after my Dad left our family when I was a 10 year old child. My response to the situation was, I felt abandoned and unsafe in the world, so I decided I couldn’t rely on anyone but myself (and that I’d better look after others so that they also could be safe). This served me incredibly well as an entrepreneur, I learned how to hold a vision, set strategy and take a boat-load of action to ‘make’ it all happen. I’ve been working since the age of 14 making my own money, and my ability to make money for myself, and never need to ask anyone for anything was another perfectly honed skill related to this protective mask I’ve been wearing.

The thing is, it’s not true that I don’t need anyone.

I do. And now more than ever. As we usher in a new era for humanity, and with Growmotely’s role within that being ‘to redefine how we experience work’ there’s no way I can do this alone, and there’s no way I can do it without consciously employing the financial resources of others. I may have been able to convince myself of that illusion in the smaller companies I’ve run, but I certainly cannot with Growmotely.

And so it is I share with you the biggest area of healing, growth and expansion I’ve moved through in 2021. Putting down my long-serving story of not needing anyone, and controlling and creating everything on my own.

I’m not doing this alone.

It’s been a co-creation journey all along. I need you, I need our internal team, I need each of our investors, I need our partners, everyone within the Growmotely community is needed to bring this to life. And really, it’s not me who needs it, it’s that the world needs what Growmotely is, and together we’re bringing it to life.

What have we achieved together so far?
This time a year ago we’d met precisely 5,305 of you through pre-registrations. We were not live, still just an idea being born. Yet… over five thousand of us had already said yes to this idea.

1. We went live on April 24th, and the first official hire was made in June!

2. We’ve provided meaningful work opportunities to 62 conscious remote professionals in 15 countries around the globe.

3. We’ve grown our own team to 22 (ontop of the above) amazing peeps passionately committed to redefining work for humanity.

4. Our superstar engineering team have delivered over 700 enhancements and bug fixes to our product.

5. We launched our Community Hub, and our Masterclass series and Mastermind groups, and seen 9 remote professionals step into leadership roles as Community Leaders.

6. Our community all-in is now 32,803 strong (thank YOU for being on the journey with us)!!

7. Between my book Conscious Leadership, and our annual Future of Work survey, we’ve generated over 40 press mentions and podcast interviews that are helping us spread our message of conscious culture and leadership.

8. We’ve welcomed 16 partners, and we’re just getting started on our Partnerships Program!

9. We’ve raised over $1.2M to resource our efforts and flow thus far.

10. Launched the Align Summit (Feb 7-9, 2022), a first of it’s kind event for conscious business leaders featuring conversations with some of the most progressive thinkers at the frontier of conscious culture and the future of business. Register now!

11. I just today announced the carve-out of 10% of Growmotely, this 10% is now owned by our internal team to say thank you for being on the journey together. 

12. And finally, the most awesome thing is the courage we’ve embraced to grow what we’re building through a community-first and community-led approach. With integrity, moving away from things that don’t resonate with us (like paying facebook for advertising) and toward what does… Game B. YOU.

It’s been a huge year.

I’m grateful, and (as my husband always says)… we’re just getting started! As I turn my thoughts to the year to come, I’m beyond excited. We are calling in much needed change for humanity the world over. My ethos for 2022 is HEART-LED ACTION. 

If there’s a way we can help and support you, please ask. And in the spirit of asking, please support us by sharing our mission and who we are with the people in your life you know are ready for this.

I wish you peace, love and expansion through heart-led action as your year comes to a close and you step into a benevolent year ahead.  

Shine bright,
Sarah Hawley
Founder & CEO

PS. Stay tuned for some extra-special, super-exciting news in the new year as we launch a crowdfunding campaign, which will give you the opportunity to also own a part of Growmotely, taking our co-creating to a new level!