How Women Entrepreneurs Scale to 7 Figures | Meghann Conter | Captivate the Mic

Are you tired of dry, boring networking events where you're the smartest person in the room but still stuck trying to break through your six-figure ceiling? In this episode of Captivate the Mic, host Elaine Williams sits down with Meghann Conter, Founder & CEO of The Dames—an international community built specifically for 6-, 7-, and 8-figure women entrepreneurs. Meghann dives into why women must do business differently, how humor and connection accelerate growth, and why making strategic, 5-minute "asks" is the secret to unlocking massive revenue and community support.

3 Key Takeaways:

• The "Reverse Mullet" Concept: Why putting fun, humor, and play at the front of your events breaks down defenses so real business and connection happen in the back.
• Jumping Into Bigger Ponds: Why high-earning women hide from traditional networking, and how surrounding yourself with higher-level mentors pushes you past revenue bottlenecks.
• The 5-Minute Strategic Ask: How getting clear on 2 or 3 quick, low-friction requests mobilizes your network into active power partners.

GUEST BIO & LINKS
Meghann Conter is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker, and the Founder & CEO of The Dames—the premier international community and business accelerator for women running and leading 6-, 7-, and 8-figure companies. A former corporate marketer who launched her first business during the 2009 recession, Meghann turned her passion for sketch comedy and high-level strategy into a global movement. Through The Dames, she empowers women to ditch hustle culture, leverage strategic power partnerships, and redefine success with impact, alignment, and hilarity.

🔗 Connect with Meghann:
Main Website: https://www.thedames.co/
Membership Information: https://www.thedames.co/joindenver
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghannconter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MeghannConter/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeghannConter/
Join the upcoming FunFerences: 
https://www.thedames.co/funferenceguests2026
https://www.thedames.co/FFSponsorships2026

Connect with your Host, Elaine Williams:
Check out Captivate the Mic Podcast on Elaine's YouTube Channel
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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Hello and welcome to Captivate the Mike with Elaine Williams. This is a really cool episode. I am interviewing this fabulous woman who has always marked to the beat of her own drummer. She has a lot of the same values as I do of like having fun in business and loving improv and comedy, and when you can bring humor to any situation, that usually speeds up the learning, the breaking down the walls, speeds up connecting. So I had heard about this group, the Dames, for years, and I didn't think I qualified because you have to be close to six figures or up. And luckily, people kept inviting me, and then I had a conversation with Megan, and I have been a proud member of the Dames for a couple of years now. And we are going to dive into the evolution of the Dames and women in community and Megan's vision and why everybody should come to Funfront in Denver in October. So you're gonna love this episode. She's very inspiring. And uh I'm I'm excited. She's a great storyteller. So I'm so excited for you to meet the fabulous Megan from the Dames. So enjoy and share this with somebody who needs to be uplifted today. This woman is so powerful, and I know I always say I'm so excited, but I'm really I'm like triple excited. I've been trying to get her on the show forever. So please give a warm welcome to Megan. Megan, I'm so excited that you're here.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Hey everybody, thanks, Elaine. I'm excited too. It's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Yes, so Megan is the founder of The Dames, which I talk about a lot, which I had heard about a lot. And you know, Megan, I always love to know how things evolve. I love the origin story. So for those of us who don't know, who are listening, can you explain who the dames are and how you came to create the dames?

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Yes, absolutely. Um so it I have been an entrepreneur since 2009 and was one of those happenstance entrepreneurs and uh didn't, you know, didn't ever have that in my plans, was working my way up the corporate ladder and quite honestly feeling very upset by that. Um, it contributed to a lot of my early issues as a young adult. I didn't feel like I fit in, like I belonged. I felt like I was way too creative and way too outside of the norm and didn't know how to take orders from others and really struggled with that because I don't know, maybe it's because I was raised by two lawyers who taught me to argue and question everything. So I got into that world and I was like, this just doesn't make sense why you guys are doing it this way. And you know, in marketing, especially, you're you start out really low on the totem pole and it takes a long time to crawl your way up. And I didn't like the fact that I would have a creative idea and it would take months and months if if even it would come to fruition. So when I started my business as this happenstance entrepreneur, it was in 2009. You remember that's the great recession. Oh yes. It was I decided to come out as a come out of the come out, as a I decided to really emerge as a social media expert, which nobody knew anything about, or if they did, they're like, oh that, you know, college Facebook friend star thing, and I also decided to, you know, start my business with no money in savings. So this might resonate with some of you because you might have been part of the the ramen club as I was for many years, where you're just trying to make ends meet and you're like, I don't, I think I might be slightly crazy or a little bit off kilter that I'm doing this, but I really feel like it's the right thing and I really love it, so I'm gonna stick with it. So I ran my marketing business. It morphed and changed a lot over the 11 years that I ran it. Uh, well, 10 years. And as I was running that company, I was always impassioned by and working with women who run especially B2B based businesses that are in the service industries of all of the outsourced, you know, operations, marketing, sales, branding, HR, etc. And that was always my passion was to help more women get from six to seven figures. That's who I was working with, that's what I was helping them do as a marketing and branding consultant and strategist for the majority of that time. And I was also leading other people's networking groups. And what I kept finding was it was, you know, necessary for us to get out there and meet people. And especially in those first few years, I'm really glad that I started a chapter of a women's leads group in Denver. I learned a lot in doing that. I led a couple of other smaller networking groups that were for men and women. But what I kept finding at that time around 2015 was I was having a really hard time growing past my limitations in business. And I was surrounded by a lot of different people who many of them had just different businesses of all different kinds. Uh, some were running an MLM structure, some were, you know, in business development for a large corporation or organization, and some were business owners. But many business owners, especially women, were in the initial stages of business. So, you know, sub-six figures, and I'm like, okay, I need to get past this place that I'm at at six figures, and I want to get to the next level. And I could not, for the life of me, find those women in Denver. And I personally believe, and I'll talk about this more later if we want that women and men do business differently. We have to do business differently, our physiology is different, our motivations are different, our uh our abilities of multitasking or being able to pay attention to multiple things at once are different. There's a lot that is different. Our emotional systems. So it was great that I could find some men who are beyond my stage, but I was seeking that female mentorship from other women who've been there, done that, who'd grown their businesses past the half million dollar mark and then into the million dollar mark. And I just kept finding that they were in hiding. And when I would ask women why aren't you out networking? They would say, Well, I don't really have much to gain from what is out there. I am the smartest person in the room. I don't ever feel challenged. I feel like everyone just picks my brains, and it is not enjoyable for me to go out there and network. So that was my impetus to start the Dames originally. I wanted to create a space where six and seven-figure women could come together and where we could think bigger, but also where we could uh support one another as women do very well in community to get each other to the next level and beyond, and where we would have mentorship from higher caliber women. So we started out having events every other month here in Denver, which were again tailored to that six and seven figure woman. The other problem that I was solving was the fact that most of those networking events that I had been going to as an attendee uh were so not my level of enthusiasm and entertainment. I felt like I was sitting in the audience oftentimes nodding off. And I'm like, look, there has got to be a better way to do this where we are lifted up and we laugh. And because you and I both know, Elaine, laughter is the best medicine. So we've always had the reverse mullet concept at at those big events where we have fun and entertainment and comedy at the front, and then we have business and connection and inspiration in the back. And that has continued on, even though the business has morphed significantly. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

That's where it all came from. I love that so much. You know, I had heard about the Dames. I would I would go networking, you know, on Zoom, virtual networking. People kept saying, Oh, Elaine, with your humor, you know, you you've got to check out the dames. And I was intimidated though. I was I was really intimidated and it took you know several invitations before I was able to come to an introduction. And then, you know, had to have conversations with you about it, about all my businesses, and and uh and then when I was new, I was like, I would have you know, some days I'd be like, oh, I don't know if I'm up for it, but I'm so grateful that I've I've pressed through my you know my limiting body syndrome, right? Because I I want I know I want to play tennis with people who are better tennis players than me, right? And my ego, I like to be the biggest personality in the room. I like to be the big fish in the little pond. And I know there's no cheese down that tunnel, you know. And I mean it is great to give back, but it doesn't, I'm not gonna grow, you know. And so that's one of the reasons I continue to do stuff with the day, is because I'm challenged and and supported and just thought, you know, just meet really smart women who are generous and who are up to big things.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Absolutely. And it we all have to make that choice many times throughout our career if we are going to continue to be big fish in a little pond, or if we are going to brave the wilderness and jump into the bigger ponds and be what some of the women in the dame say, like I wanted to be the dumbest person in the room, and I wanted to be challenged by the other women, and I wanted to be elevated by the other women, and I had to do a lot of that myself in the very beginning. I mean, one of the things that we did at all of our first events for the first um, well, for the first 10 years before I actually broke the dame's off as its own business and closed my marketing business was we would have a Dame of Influence award. And that would mean me finding women in the Denver area who ran seven-figure plus businesses and interviewing them in front of the room. And I was nowhere near that. I was at a hundred, you know, 150,000 at the time in my business. I had, I mean, that is a big chasm between a hundred thousand and a million. I had no idea how I was gonna have the Hutzbah to go and speak to these women. But what I found after the first, like, hmm, maybe first interview, maybe second, is like, wow, these ladies put their pants on one leg at a time, too. Or, you know, they get up on one side of the bed or another. They they are human, they have, they don't have like six limbs and two heads. So I had to really just look at them as the loving light beings that they are and equal to me. And that is what I've looked at every woman going forward is hey, if whether you're not at six figures yet and you're wanting to be lifted up, there are communities that I can recommend for you that exist that can help you, or if you're at the six-figure mark and you're wanting to get to a you know, a mid-six-figure level so that you can really be living a healthy lifestyle for yourself, or you're wanting to get to seven figures or eight figures so that you can bring up the local economy through your business by employing people and you know contributing to contributing to your local society. Every one of those stages is valid. And what I have found it requires is women at your level and just a slight bit above, if not, you know, maybe a next rung up. To be able to talk to, ask your questions, think of as a another person, but potentially a mentor, respecting their time, but giving, you know, seeing if they're willing to give 15 minutes to you as you crush through this next obstacle, which you know, at different stages is different. Those those are different, those obstacles are different.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

I love that. And I I have to tell you, so yesterday I had a 15-minute Zoom connect with a woman that I connected with through a dame, and this woman is like, whoo! Like she is living my dream life, coaching and traveling and taking, you know, like all over Europe, and she I was I was prepared, I was excited versus nervous, and like I, you know, not I didn't have her on a pedestal, but I was so proud of um how prepared I was, and then I had the gumption to set up this call with her, and then I asked all these questions and follow-up, and I'm gonna introduce her to people and blah blah blah. And it was it was so because of the dames, you know, it was she was so out of my comfort zone. And I have actually had several interviews this week, and I'm like, it's the dames, it's the dames. So I'm I'm so grateful, and I want to talk about the fun fronts, Megan, because you know, I know I have been to conferences where it's like, oh, it's just so tedious, or there's just so much. And I I've been to two fun friends, and I'm so excited to be speaking at this one. Can you tell us how when you started it? What was the impetus for that?

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Yes. So I think what we see a lot out there in the world is there are so many of us entrepreneurs who either identify as being super creative, some of us identify as having ADHD, ADD, uh, some sort of neurodivergence. Uh, you don't have to, of course, identify as these things, but I think that those of us who do have found the typical uh business events to be very hard to take. It's sitting there drinking from fire hoses for eight hours a day with no, you know, no way to integrate the content, and it's going to events where it's again, it's all seriousness and no, no, all serious business and no connection, true deep connection or facilitated connection, or no humor. And those things to me are a huge barrier to our growth and a huge barrier to our ability to learn. So because we've always been doing these uh in-person events where we have humor infused and then we have business education, and through the virtual community, which is a vast majority of what we are as an international organization in the Dames, we have always had these next level skills trainings, which, you know, you're dealing with about 45 minutes of content, and then you're getting to learn and ask questions and really absorb it. But then we're also having networking, quote unquote, events, we're having our think tank circles where we can be in the hot seat and do what Elaine did, which is, hey, I'm gonna ask some big questions, or I'm going to need some help from the outside of my peers to help me get through this problem that I'm solving. So all of those pieces of the membership have been intentionally created as I have been consistently in the presence of women who are growing six, seven, and eight-figure businesses, and we evolve, and so our needs evolve and grow. So Fun France was born five years ago in 2022, and it is an incredible place for our members who are global to be able to come and meet each other in person. And sometimes we get as women a little bit comfortable, like you were saying, being a big fish in a little pond, we also get comfortable with our local areas. And I think that if anything has shown us that we are a global community, just everyone is part of a global global community, it was the pandemic. So we came out of the pandemic, and you know, I recognize this deep, deep need for women to come together for multiple days and to go deep with one another, to be able to laugh, learn, and heal together. And that was the original impetus, and that is the undercurrent of what Funfronts is always. Uh, my tendency is as an my tendency in my training, if you will, is as an improv performer. So I am the kind of person who either creates sketches and comes out and delivers content through my different sketch characters, which really is a pattern interrupt and a an effective way to get people to learn what it is that is about to be taught. Or I will just improvise and make people laugh and help people break open because we have we face a lot of seriousness, and it's actually right here. Uh, one of our sayings is you know, the dames, because life at the top is serious enough. Right, it reminds us to laugh and it reminds us to not take life so seriously because we can do that very often and too often. So, fun friends is a three-day immersive experience for members and not yet dames or will be dames to come together and have a day of learning and that a day of business learning and a day of personal growth and deep collaboration and connection that are all interspersed with really fun moments and fun evening activities and ways that we can again break open and absorb the content uh in our beautiful neurodivergent brains, or just as women to be able to connect and have fun and realize that life is too short if we're just sitting behind our desks 24-7 and never getting out enjoying our enjoying our lives. And that's an important part of my mission to make sure that women are getting out there and truly um enjoying themselves and not forgetting about that, because we do forget about that. So Funfronts this year is October 7th through the 10th in Denver at the Limelight Hotel.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Oh my gosh, I'm I'm so excited. I'm like so excited to share about all being an embodied speaker and and you know, I reconnected with my cousin because of the dames, because of fun fronts. You know, I I was he lives outside of Hoover and I had said, Hey, I'm going to this other conference. Is it okay if I stay with you? And because of that, several years ago, we've like developed this whole um new relationship, and I actually got to officiate his daughter's wedding last year. So it's it's so cool how things come from being belly to belly in person.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Yes, and congratulations on being one of our selected speakers. We have 10 of them, and that came out of a list of close to 40 women who had applied, and we only accept speakers who are part of the dames and who have attended funfronts so that we know that they can be part of the energy that we create and the culture that we create in the DAMES. And you certainly have brought laughter to the stage through your comedy already, and brought deep connection by bringing people together in your chapter and bringing people together at funfronts, and that's what we want. And truly, that you are a uh an icon of what a true dame is, which is think beyond where you are comfortable, stretch yourself to the next level, and no matter how uncomfortable it feels, um, I can try anything once is kind of like an attitude that I see in you, and you don't have to keep doing it if something doesn't feel right. But just from the courageous story that you told about that 15-minute conversation you had, it brings me to one other concept that I want to make sure to highlight today because it's valid and applicable to any entrepreneur at any stage, which is you should always, and I hate saying should, uh I would invite you to always have prepared an ask, or two or three, or four. Because you never know, especially if you're building community. Like if you are not in the way of building community, then I I mean, and you're a woman. Um, I think that there's probably some growth that could be had there, and maybe I would consider coming to one of our Dames Connect experiences. And learning where your hesitation to ask may come from, because that is part of it. As women, we have had a lot of challenges in our positions in society, and you know, exact exactly. So there is an aspect of getting beyond those things so that we can get past the, oh, I was taught that it's impolite to ask. I was, I was taught that if I ask, I'm inferior. I was taught that women don't ask questions, it's inappropriate. I was taught that uh, you know, when I do ask for help, it just doesn't come back around. And so why I stopped asking. But what is ultra important here is that we look at each other as we're building community, as each other's biggest supporters, collaborators, we call it power partners, and that we make regular, consistent asks when we are when we are asked, hey, how can I help you? That we respect each other and respect the women, the other women's desire to help us by reciprocating in what our request is, that we actually have a request ready that our power partners can do in five to ten minutes. So we help women in the dames to really orchestrate those asks. And so, an example of what Elaine did in an ask was she talked to a fellow dame and she was talking to that person, it seems, about where she's headed next. And an ask of Elaine's could have been, and I don't know if this other woman just knew because she's a dame, she just knew to make a connection, but an ask of Elaine's could be, hey, I'm looking for someone who's in a similar field to mine who is at this level because I am trying to get through my own blocks, and I would really appreciate a 15, excuse me, an introduction to you know five of these women so that I could have a 15-minute, very strategic, very respectful of their time conversation to help myself get past these blocks. And that is a valid ask, that is a necessary ask, and it is a courageous ask. So I just recommend to all of you that you always have two to three asks that anyone who says, Hey, how can I help you can do in five to ten minutes at the ready at any given time.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

It's such a good point, Megan. You know, so many times I've done other groups or talked with women and they were like, Well, I don't, I'm okay, you know. And yeah, I'm okay. That's what you're alive. I'm I'm good. Oh, I'll I'll get back to you. And yet anybody who is like on their mission, they're like, Yeah, you know what? It would be great. Join my YouTube, listen to my podcast, you know, share this with five people. One person. Everybody I've ever met who's like really building something that was really connected with that, it's a natural expression to say, Oh, do this or share this, or you know, and so I think it's such a good muscle to practice. And I noticed so we do these connection, virtual connections, and I've noticed I part of my hesitation is I worry that people are gonna think I'm not as together or as successful as I want to come across, you know. So there's that fear of not looking good, and then uh there's also the fear of um feeling disappointed or rejected if people don't do it. And yet I know when you're building stuff, that's part of the game, right? It's just like trying, like, is this joke gonna work? I don't know. You you try it several times before you give up on it, you know, many times you try it different ways, like so it's anyway, it's been the irony of that, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:00

The irony of the not looking good is that our tendency is to then avoid getting clear on what our asks are, whereas in um behavioral therapy there's this concept called uh opposition or opposing action. So it's like, okay, I'm afraid that somebody would see me as not having my stuff as together as I would like them to. Our tendency then would be to hide or to not do anything, to just say, well, then I just won't ask. Right. But the opposite action would be I'm gonna take time, I'm gonna download the Dame's Ask worksheet, and I'm gonna get clear on what my asks are, and then I'm gonna practice them with a few power partners and make sure that they understand what my asks are. Because just like you said, when you need to refine a joke, you've got to practice it because you gotta hear when's the laugh coming in. That's not what I intended. I intended it for it to be here. Okay, we gotta riff on these things. And yes, it's true, a lot of times if we do things in a silo and we just come up with an ask and we say it for the first time, other people might not understand it. They might be lacking some detail. And so we need to refine that. But that's what our power partners are for: those trusted relationships where we feel safe to be able to workshop things and practice those things, which then the irony is as soon as we ask, we will receive. And it might not be from the first person, they might not know anyone that they can help us with. That's why we have a second ask ready. Because if they're not a good connector and they don't do well at introducing you to people, maybe you could ask them for a resource, a book that they've read. Maybe you could ask them for a specific interviewee you're looking for on your podcast. There should always be two or three things that you can say, oh, I totally get it. How about this? Right. Or how about this? And then the other part of being rejected, um, it is part of being a human. It's like when we're in sales. Just because you get a no, it doesn't mean that your entire suite of offerings is bunk and it doesn't work, and it's, you know, you need to go back to the drawing board on all of it. It means that person is not a fit. Just like making a request of someone, that person may not be a fit. So have others ready. Or like when you get to a certain stage of business, you start making asks that are like, hey, I am tackling cash flow management as my next big hump. And I need to talk with some people who, you know, are women business owners who've actually mastered this and I've written out my request of what I'm looking for. It would really help me if you helped me spread this far and wide to share this request with my picture and my introduction paragraph on your LinkedIn. Could you do that? Beautiful. You know, there's a way for me to then get connected to those people and I can have those interviews with those people and get that information. Or what I did recently was, you know, we have sponsorships to sell for fun fronts, and I don't really have a lot of corporate contacts. I'm in with women entrepreneurs 24-7. So I knew that it was going to be really challenging for me to get a warm introduction myself. So I went to my my network, to my dames, to my community, and said, hey, what kinds of companies do you know that are local in Denver that are med spas that have several women as entrepr uh as employees? And what kinds of companies do you know that have gifting companies, like product-based gifting companies that are in Denver? And I started making very specific asks, and the result is I've sold $20,000 in sponsorships in the last two weeks. Wow. Because I was courageous enough to stretch beyond my limitation and ask for something big. And so it's important for us as the uh teachers of this to take our own medicine, and it's important for me to do that. And trust me, I had tests, I had a very big test where I lost a sponsor because of something that I had missed, and that was a big lesson for me, and that could have put me in a place where I didn't want to do anything, right? But instead, I let myself have a woe was me, you know, half of a day. And then the next day I got up and I was like, nope, here we go. I'm not doing this, I'm figuring out a different way. And you know, you and I were talking offline about using AI to its best, to our best advantage. And I went to my my Claude and I said, Hey, this is what happened, this is what I've put together, and this is what I think I need to do to you know resurrect the situation, and then it helped me create a plan. So it's really important that we notice those patterns that we have as women, if we are growth-oriented, which dames are, if we are deep, which dames are, and if we are seeking to improve ourselves without self-flagellation and with just so much self-compassion, and that is the the way that we really move forward as women. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

I have goosebums, Megan. Thank you so much for sharing that. Because, you know, I'm I'm a creative, right? I've been a performer my whole life, and then all of a sudden I'm doing all these business things, and so I always think I'm the only one who's whatever. And so one of the reasons I have continued to be active in the dames, and I'm so passionate, is the generosity of spirit I have found. The willingness to share the lessons, willingness to be excited when you have a win, and the willingness to share resources and and really just cheer each other on. It's so lovely. So tell us about what we need. Tell us again about the dates for the fun fronts, just in case somebody missed it the first time.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

Yes. So um members know about it, but guests, you are welcome. And if you're someone who, you know, maybe hasn't quite reached the six-figure mark, but you want to be amongst women who have, this is your opportunity. And so I'm sure Elaine, will you share the link for them to be able to register as guests?

SPEAKER_01 34:24

In the show notes for sure, yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Perfect. So uh you can register now and before um September 1st, you get our current pricing, and uh you can do a bring, you can come and then you can bring a friend for half off where you guys can, you know, work the exchange in the background so that you both get you know a discount. Um, but that will give you the link for, and it's October 7th through the 10th here in Denver at the Limelight Hotel. Super easy flight into Denver and then light rail ride directly to Union Station, which is where the hotel is. So, no excuse. Flights are pretty cheap into Denver from most places. Um, we'd love to have you there, and we'd love to have you experience this unique culture of fun, love, and learning together.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

I love it. Well, thank you so much, Megan. I'm just thank you for all that you've poured into me through the years, and I look forward to another fabulous event. And just I'm so glad you're gonna be able to do that. I look forward to hearing you speak. Thanks everybody. Thank you. Thanks for watching. Please share this with somebody. Spread the news if they need if you know somebody needs to be uplifted, inspired, please share this because it helps the show grow. And please rate review and subscribe because that's how we get pushed out to other people who don't know it's about us yet. And thanks so much, Megan, again, for joining us. Bye, everybody.