REGISTER NOW: Uncomfortable Conversations: The Skills Crisis
REGISTER: 8THIRTYFOUR Skills Survival School Founding Cohort

Building What We Needed for Women-Owned Businesses

Share the goods.

People standing around talking to each other upstairs.

19 years as a woman-owned business gives us some serious street cred when it comes to building and leading programs for women-owned businesses. We built what we needed before we aggressively grew and what we needed after the growth. 

Women own around 40% of U.S. businesses and receive around 10% of the funding they need to grow, leaving them to navigate entrepreneurship largely on their own… and it’s exhausting. 

In an article Kim wrote last year for Corp! Magazine, she pointed out:

When a woman CEO needs growth capital, she completes Personal Financial Statements, compiles three years of tax returns, and prepares detailed projections before any bank will schedule a meeting. Her male competitor discusses the same credit line over drinks at the country club, where documentation comes up after the handshake, if at all. 

We’re not the kind of company to sit around and wait for someone else to solve the problem, which is why we built what we needed as a woman-led small business. No matter where you are in your business, there is a place for you. 

Each program is built, taught, and led by business owners for business owners, because no one understands your journey better than those who have been there. 

The Program for What Comes First

The Women’s Owners Network is built for the one-woman shop, solopreneur, the smaller business, the one that needs support to take it to the next level – whatever that might look like and however you choose to define it. 

The six-month program integrates the emotional with the practical—tackling leadership, finance, crisis planning, paired with structured support for the isolation, emotional volatility, and decision fatigue that comes with owning your own business.

It’s designed by entrepreneurs who have navigated the same terrain and understand that sustainable business growth cannot be separated from the support network and resilience required to sustain it.

Think of it as your own board of directors, including Kim Bode and a group of kickass mentors, instructors, and coaches who will offer perspective, guidance, and feedback along the way.

Did we mention access to special events, including an exclusive retreat? 

*The program tuition is $1,500, and there is a cost to attend the retreat. 

Applications close for the 2026 Women’s Owners Network cohort by 10/1.

*If you are not accepted into the November cohort, you will be considered for the March 2027 cohort. 

The Program for What Comes After

You have the revenue, employees, success and you’re burned out. If you don’t get out of your business to work on your business, you’ll walk away from your business.

Through mentorship with experienced business leaders, peer-to-peer learning with women who understand your challenges, in-person sessions to tackle the hard stuff, and the WEF Learning Hub keeping everything connected, you’ll have comprehensive support designed around your reality as a business owner.

This is about building what you want next with peers who understand where you are and those who have been there before.

Apply for the Women’s Entrepreneurial Fellowship by 9/15

Leave A Comment

Recent Musings

Something on Your Mind?

Meet our first speaker spotlight: Dr. Karen May, DC, CCSP, CCIP.

Dr. May owns and operates Momentum Health Centers, and she's joining us for Uncomfortable Community Conversations: The Pause on September 24th to talk about something we don't talk about enough — her own experience with perimenopause.

Her career has spanned from elite sports medicine, including a stint as team physician for USA Bobsled and Skeleton as well as caring for pregnant moms and newborns and helping women navigate life’s transitions, always grounded in a belief in food as medicine and the body’s own capacity to heal. In 2017, that expertise was tested when a rare surgical complication left her fighting nerve damage in her own body. 

Drawing on decades of clinical practice and training, she rebuilt her health from the ground up — and has since helped thousands of people do the same. With over 20 years in holistic health care, she speaks today as both physician and peer: a woman navigating her own perimenopausal years while running a business and raising a family.

Join us for The Pause on September 24th. Link in bio.
FUN FACT FRIDAY: It’s only fitting for us to own a building where a trailblazing female operated her businesses in 1906. The Phillips family represented one of the longest-running retail tenures in Grand Rapids history; L.E. Phillips Jewelry in the 1365 Plainfield Ave. building from 1906 until 1973. 
Dr. Eva Phillips, a certified and licensed optometrist ran her practice out of the jewelry store’s secondary parlor and was an equal partner in the jewelry store. 

Together, they offered a unique one-stop shot which expanded to include appliances, record players, and more. The couple operated the shop through two World Wars and the Great Depression, acting as the neighborhood matriarch and patriarch. 

@crestongr @crestoncorridor @crestongrandrapids @citygrandrapids @grandrapidspubliclibrary
Have you tuned into The Happy Hour Hustle Podcast yet?
If not, a) you’re missing out and b) you need to follow immediately. Hosted by @bodespeaks, episodes drop every other week, and feature some pretty bada$$ guests if we do say so ourselves.

This week, Kim sits down with @kelsey_orchard , VP of Marketing and Communications at @fifthwheelfreight to chat building a personal brand, Gen Z entering the workforce, misconceptions about logistics, spotting fake LinkedIn profiles – oh and why your GPA doesn’t matter anymore.

Grab a watermelon margarita, sit back and enjoy for lots of laughs and real talk.

Listen now at the link in bio.
National Perimenopause Month starts today. We have a LOT to say, and we’re not going to be quiet about it, especially this month, so buckle up.

We were not prepared for perimenopause, much like our periods, sex, or anything else to do with our bodies. God forbid we talk about it openly.

We were taught to be ashamed, keep quiet, and to accept that it is just part of being a woman. We reject that narrative. In fact, like @bodespeaks, we want to bring it up in every conversation. 

When we normalize perimenopause and the conversation around it, we stop isolating, and we’re all more prepared.
Join us for Uncomfortable Conversations: The Pause on September 24th — a powerful conversation hosted alongside the @smallbusinessassocofmichigan 
Women’s Business Council, featuring some kicka$$ experts who will give you the real talk on perimenopause (more to come on them later).

Register at the link in bio.
You asked, we delivered.

Introducing the Women's Owners Network - a new program built for what comes first, joining our proven Fellowship model to support Michigan women at every stage of business ownership.

Whether you've got a team of 10 or it's just you and your laptop, you deserve a room full of women who get it.

Six months of leadership, finance, operations, capital access, paired with real support for the isolation, emotional volatility, and decision fatigue that come with owning your own business.

You'll have your own board of directors in your corner, including @bodespeaks plus a group of mentors, instructors, and coaches who've been exactly where you are.

Applications due October 1. Apply now at the link in bio.
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.