Who am I?

I'm Annie Ridout - journalist (Guardian, Forbes, Telegraph, Red etc), author (Raise your SQ, The Freelance Mum and Shy), qualified coach and founder of The Robora.

I've been in online business for 15 years - launching and growing websites, an online following (particularly on Instagram) and monetising online content and ideas.

My first website was a parenting platform - The Early Hour - which reached 100,000 parents a month, next I started a personal website annieridout.com and The Robora came after that.

It started as a way to monetise my writing while waiting for journalism and book commissions to come through but I soon became obsessed with marketing, mindset and business.

In its first year, The Robora turned over six figures, which was exciting and a little unbelievable, as I was also looking after my five-year-old, two-year-old and newborn baby.

We managed to ride the pandemic, running The Robora between me and my husband, Rich. And then we relocated and slowed the online business down to re-settled in Somerset.

Like many female entrepreneurs, I experienced burnout after the pandemic and so I started incorporating spiritual rituals and practices into my everyday life, which helped me to feel calmer and more focused.

That's what my latest non-fiction book is all about: Raise your SQ: Transform your life with spiritual intelligence.

And I decided to move the courses, coaching and consultancy over to Raise your SQ - my new platform - to mark the beginning of a new chapter.

The online courses, coaching and consultancy sessions are still helping women to launch and grow their businesses, secure book deals, get amazing PR and learn other online business skills. But also to reflect, revive themselves and dream.

But you book through the new platform rather than this one.

Annie x