Founding Females® Helps You Take Your Best Next Step
WELCOME TO FOUNDING FEMALES®
Hi, I’m Francie!
In 2013, I had it all planned out. I chased a career into the luxury spa industry, only to find myself miserable inside a toxic corporate culture.
Intense soul searching led me on a journey to find what kind of work lights me up inside. In 2015, I took a bold leap.
Instead of hoping I’d find the fulfillment my heart ached for in someone else’s company, I set out to create that kind of value myself through business ownership and I’ve never been more glad I bet on myself.
It didn’t take long to learn that entrepreneurship is much more fulfilling alongside a group of like-minded and like-hearted females who get it and whose nature is to cheer loudly for one another.
Now, Founding Females® is everything I wished existed when I started my first business: connection, guidance, and encouragement.
We help women take their next best step in entrepreneurship, whether it’s just getting started or focusing on profit margins and scaling.
Trust me when I say, YOU CAN DO THIS!
Female Entrepreneur Community
THE GIRL GANG YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR
As women business owners, our natural wiring creates our superpower: Connection.
The culture of Founding Females® flows generously with experience and wisdom passed from one female entrepreneur to the next.
Here, you’ll find support and belonging. We’re women sharing business wins and failures transparently so others can learn and apply savvy insight to their own business.
Our culture is filled with hard-earned wisdom so we can all build our best business.
It’s by leaning into my own need for a female business community that I began to understand how life-changing a community is.
Connection, resources and encouragement for female entrepreneurs
Starting something new can feel intimidating. Left to our own thoughts, we can begin to doubt our ability to build a business that’s meaningful and impactful. That’s imposter syndrome and we all face it at some point. But together with like-minded and like-hearted women, we share invaluable wisdom and experience. That’s why the Founding Females Mastermind has been massively impactful for members’ growth.
Women are tenacious. With the right tools, we can do anything. Every page within Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business was written for ambitious women who want to start something life-changing. The Founding Females Blog and free downloads are available as a continued flow of inspiration for female entrepreneurs.
The Founding Females® culture rings with community over competition in focus and a "you can do this" baddie vibe.
Inside this community, you can feel a powerful energy of generous warmth.
We learn from one another and cheer each other on to greater heights as business owners. These are the women you want in your corner as you embark on your meaningful journey of entrepreneurship.
Founding Females® Growth
Building a successful business is a process that we can show you how to apply to your own ambitions.
As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t build in a day,” but they were laying bricks every hour.
Successful businesses aren’t built in a day either. A business that lights you up inside grows with diligence and ambition.
Take a peek at the evolution of Founding Females®.
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• Quit my “dream” corporate career.
• Started a marketing consulting company.
• Made it official by registering for a LLC.
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• Launched Lipstick and Lattes with a friend to bring the local community of female entrepreneurs together.
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• Continued hosting Lipstick and Lattes female entrepreneur monthly events.
• Hard into the “before it worked” stage of business where it felt like nothing was working. (Ask me about my part-time job sometime.)
• Having my first baby provided a life-changing perspective shift about the value of having the freedom of time.
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• Marketing consulting finally began to gain traction as I niched into Search Engine Optimization and Conversion Rate Optimization to help women business owners create a profitable online presence.
• Launched a Women’s Mastermind group to connect like-minded and like-hearted ambitious women business owners.
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• February - Created the official Founding Females brand with the help of design extraordinaire Chantell Marlow.
• March - took Lipstick and Lattes virtual when the world shut down.
• Began writing Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business - The business guidance I wished I had in 2015 when I started my business.
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• Continued sheltering in place while connecting with women business owners through the mastermind as we helped each other navigate an unprecedented business environment.
• Continued writing Dream, Build, Grow.
• Began planning the first Founding Females | Central Illinois female entrepreneur conference so women could gather in a safe, uplifting space.
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• Hosted the first Founding Females | Central Illinois, a female entrepreneur conference.
• Published Dream, Build Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business to help thousands of women learn how to start the business in their heart. The business book for women became available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart.
• Launched the first Business Bootcamp to guide women through the business start up process.
•Found out Dream, Build, Grow made it into Target!
• Put a ®ing on it by receiving our official registered trademark for Founding Females®
• Francie received the Women in Business Leadership Award through the Small Business Development Center.
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• Launched two more successful cohorts of the Business Bootcamp.
• Hosted the second annual Founding Females | Central Illinois female entrepreneur conference.
• Not all celebrations are in business. As we teach women to “build a business around their life and not a life around their business,” 2023 was a year marked with immense personal growth and development.
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In 2024, we grew our women’s business mastermind to over 30 strong members in addition to helping over 20 consulting clients, growing our in-person Meet Up chapters, and so much more!
Read our review of the year on our blog here: Founding Females® 2024 in Review: 20 Wins, 40 Member Wins, and 8 Lessons Learned
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In 2025, we’re on track to double our women’s business mastermind membership, plant new chapters of Founding Females® Meet Ups, and positively impact over 20 more businesses with 1:1 consulting.
In 2025, Founding Females®’ anchor, Francie Hinrichsen, received the 40 Leaders Under 40 distinction in her Central Illinois Community.
A few of our favorite things
Encouraging women toward their highest potential
A business that works around my top life priorities
Connection with ambitious female business owners
Freedom of time to enjoy life’s many blessings.
Work with Me.
Is your heart yearning for something different? Are you feeling apprehensive about the right steps to take to start your business?
With hundreds of success stories, I’ve guided women through the process of starting businesses that light them up inside and pay the bills.
If you’ve ever imagined yourself running a business of your own…
If you ever imagined enjoying time freedom while living out your purpose…
I’d love to work with you.
The Founding Females® Women’s Business Mastermind is a virtual space for female entrepreneurs to be guided and supported through building a strong business.
Join the Mastermind.
Receive tailored business guidance from Francie every step of the way to start, launch, and grow your successful business.
Work 1:1.
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